Narrow, snaking pathways greeted Team Pelagic when they entered the Dungeon. When Lyra looked up, she could still see the clear blue sky above her. It still looked like she was in a normal forest, albeit one with narrow walkways. However, something was off. There was something wrong in the air. Something that alerted Lyra to the unusual nature of this place.

It took her a moment to realize what was so peculiar. Then, it dawned on her: it was the sounds. Or, rather, the lack thereof. There was suddenly no distant babbling brook, no wind blowing through the leaves. It was perfectly quiet, save for the noises of Team Pelagic, and the husk that was shuffling towards them.

Ah. A husk.

It just turned a corner, and was now approaching Lyra. It looked like a plant that spontaneously grew legs, and was now using them to shuffle towards Lyra. Its eyes were glossy and unfocused, like they weren't being used.

Lyra prodded Seph, who was looking in the other direction, so that he could see the approaching enemy.

"Oh! good eye, Lyra! That's a Bellsprout. Er, rather, a Bellsprout husk? A husk in the shape of a Bellsprout? I have no idea what the right wording is. You're closer to it, so you should fight it! Try using a move on it!"

"A-alright." Lyra looked back at the Bellsprout. It was still trying to make its way to Lyra. It was.. quite slow. A good opportunity to practice, Lyra figured.

She focused on the Bellsprout. She thought about how she wanted to stop this thing. To make it unable to approach her. She closed her eyes. She forced one word to surface in her mind: Thunderwave. Thunderwave. Come on, use Thunderwave.

A crackling of static energy jumped across the Mareep's wool. There were minute yellow strands of lightning, increasing in size and number as Lyra continued to focus. Now, lightning leaped all across her body, covering her in a shield of thunder.

Lyra opened her eyes.

As she did so, three waves of thunder leapt from her body, booming towards the Bellsprout. The waves encircled and shocked the husk, rendering it unable to move. The Bellsprout was paralyzed.

Behind her, Seph cheered. "Yeah! That was Thunderwave! You did your first move! Now c'mon, we gotta finish it off while it's paralyzed!"

Lyra nodded. "Right!" She started galloping towards the Bellsprout. White streaks of energy surrounded her as she blitzed forward. She was using Tackle.

Lyra collided with the husk, sending it sliding across the floor. The Bellsprout fell limp, unconscious and unmoving. Then, without a sound, the body of the Bellsprout began to fade. It became more and more transparent, until eventually vanishing into nothing. No trace of the not-quite-a-Pokémon remained.

Lyra couldn't help but sigh with relief as the husk vanished. The fight was a strange experience, but not quite as harrowing as she anticipated. She was relieved that she could, in fact, hold her own in battle.

Behind her, Seph cheered. "Woohoo! Yeah! That was a clean takedown, Lyra! Now come on, we gotta keep moving! We don't wanna be here when the wind picks up."

"The… wind?" Lyra tilted her head in confusion.

"Oh, yeah. Nasty stuff. I'll tell you about it later, though: let's keep moving!" Seph took off down one of the twisting corridors, motioning for his teammate to follow. He didn't give Lyra time to stop and think about how wind could possibly be 'nasty stuff'.

By the time they made it to the third floor of the Mystery Dungeon, Team Pelagic had started to find their groove. Lyra would lead the way - as it turns out, she had a great memory, and was able to remember what paths they had and hadn't been to yet - and Seph would hold the rear. Also, as Seph explained to Lyra, most of the Pokémon here were grass types, which were resistant to Seph's water type moves. All the more reason for Lyra to lead the charge.

Team Pelagic emerged from a corridor, spilling into a large room with nothing but a Treecko husk on the other side.

"Hey, Seph?" Lyra asked, moving closer to the husk.

"What's up?" Seph moved to the right of Lyra, trying to surround the husk.

"When we arrived at the guild last night, Zoroark said 'welcome home' to you. I don't mean to pry, but did you work at the guild before this?" Lyra prepared to fight as the husk noticed her and began to approach.

Seph used Tackle, slamming into the back of the Treecko while it was distracted, sending it tumbling to the ground. He looked over the top of the Treecko to look at Lyra. "Oh yeah, that! Nah, I've never been to the guild before. It's a tradition thing though: if you have family that worked at the guild before you, you're part of the guild's family. So they say welcome home."

"Oh." The Treecko picked itself off the floor just in time to see another Tackle surge towards them, this time originating from Lyra. "That's cool. Who in your family worked at the guild?"

"It was my… great great… great grandmother." Seph extended an arm upward as he spoke, summoning a small wave to slam into the husk. It wasn't very strong, but it was still enough to take out the weakened Treecko. "No, wait, scratch that last great. My great great grandmother. Yeah."

Lyra's eyes widened as the Treecko silently faded into nothingness. That wasn't what she was reacting to, though. "Woah. That's four generations ago. The guild has been around for a long time, hasn't it?"

"Yep! It's been around for over a hundred years! Though, I'm the only person in my family since my great great grandmother to work here, so that's cool. I'm surprised they knew I was even related to her." Seph went back into formation behind Lyra as they exited the empty room. Their nonchalant takedown had come to an end. Time to navigate the wayward hallways again.

Lyra was about to ask another question when a voice rang out through the dungeon. The voice was tired, and scared.

"H-hello? Is someone there? I heard talking. P-please help me, I can't get out…"

Immediately, Lyra began to sprint towards the source of the voice. Seph was right behind her, dropping to all fours to keep pace. Not a word was spoken between them - there was no need. Someone was in danger, and they were going to answer. Turn after turn, the duo moved as fast as they could, trying not to crash into the tight walls of the Dungeon.

Team Pelagic burst into the next room. A Turtwig sat in the far corner, flinching when the team arrived. The Turtwig analyzed Seph and Lyra, and let their body relax as they recognized the guild symbol on Seph's Treasure Bag.

Lyra approached the Turtwig. She noticed one of his front legs was bent at a strange angle. The leg was bleeding, too. A pool of blood had formed on the grass below.

Lyra tried to sound as reassuring as she could. "Hey there. We're from Zoroark's Guild. We're gonna get you out of here, okay? Can you walk?"

The Turtwig shook his head. "N-no," he stammered, "my leg really hurts. I think it's broken…" His face was contorted into a wincing frown as he spoke. He looked to be in immense pain.

Shit. Broken legs certainly weren't mentioned on the mission posting.

Lyra tried her best to sound confident. "Alright. I'm going to try to help you with that, but first we're going to get you out of here. Seph, can you get our badges?"

Lyra turned around to look at Seph. He had been uncharacteristically quiet since they discovered their target.

He was staring at Turtwig's leg.

There was so much blood.

What's going to happen to Turtwig?

What should they do?

What can they do?

"...Seph? The badges?"

Lyra's words snapped Seph back to attention.

"Badges. Right!" Seph reached into the team's Treasure Bag and pulled out their Explorer Badges. He handed one to Lyra, who was now sitting next to Turtwig. She was trying to get a better look at the injury.

Seph did his best to not look at Turtwig's leg.

"Okay Mr. Turtwig," Lyra continued, "I'm going to use my badge to take us out of the Dungeon. Are you ready?"

Turtwig nodded. He didn't say a word.

Lyra stood next to Turtwig so she was rubbing against him. Then, she stepped on her badge, pressing the button located on its back side.

The Mareep and the Turtwig vanished in two beams of light. They were enveloped whole, and when the light resided no trace of them remained in the dungeon- save for the small pool of blood left in the dirt.

Seph stood alone in the Mystery Dungeon. He couldn't bring himself to look away from the blood on the floor. The blood forced him to look at it, captivating him.

This was an ugly, grotesque pool of blood. It was not an elegant splatter, or a flat red stain against a surface. This was a pool of blood. It had depth, like a miniature basin. It had mixed with the dirt below it, forming a horrible dark red-brown color. Seph could almost see his reflection in the blood.

Almost.

Lyra needed him. This was no time to be paralyzed with fear. A few drops of blood didn't matter nearly as much as the living Pokémon it came from. He needed to be there for his teammate.

Seph pressed the button on the back of his badge.

When the light surrounding Seph faded away, the first thing he saw was Lyra, holding a stick in her mouth. She dropped it to speak to him.

"There you are! I was worried we didn't beam out in the same place. Now c'mon; I need your opposable thumbs. I think we need to make a splint for him."

Seph saw Turtwig lying on the ground. He was slowly chewing on an Oran berry. Seph recalled teaching Lyra about the healing properties of Oran berries when they found one on the second floor. The gash on Turtwig's leg was almost invisible now, although the leg was still bent strangely: Oran berries are usually only good at healing surface-level injuries.

Seph picked up the stick that Lyra dropped. "I'm on it!" He announced. "...What is a splint and how do I make it?"

Lyra was continually baffled by the seemingly inexplicable list of things the people of this world did and did not know.

"It's to keep his leg in place." Lyra scrounged through the nearby underbrush as she spoke, looking for more sticks. "We're going to put flat sticks around his leg and tie them together with fiber. It should keep the bones still so they can heal. Speaking of healing, can we use that other thing we found to help?" Lyra pointed at a Stun Seed in their Treasure Bag.

Seph was continually baffled by the seemingly inexplicable list of things that Lyra did and did not know.

The splint sounded like a good idea though, so he went to work.

A few minutes later, Team Pelagic were descending the path to Belleview. Turtwig limped between the two teammates, trying not to put weight on his broken leg. The splint was definitely helping. He could barely feel any discomfort as he walked.

"T-thank you again for the help." Turtwig said. "I don't know what I would have done if you two hadn't arrived."

Seph once again held a grin on his face. "Don't mention it! We're an Exploration Team. Helping people is what we do!"

Turtwig gave a dejected smile. "You guys are great. You went through that Dungeon like it was nothing at all. And I couldn't even escape without help. I went in there to prove I could take care of myself. But now… I don't know what to think."

Lyra felt a pang of sympathy for this strange little plant-turtle. It hurt to see an innocent victim blame themselves so much. She didn't exactly see herself as a motivational speaker, but figured she should say something.

"Hey. Don't beat yourself up about it." Lyra said. "Mystery Dungeons are strange and confusing places. They're dangerous. Especially if you're alone. Besides, fighting isn't everything, right? Just because you can't fight doesn't mean you have less worth as a person. Maybe… I dunno, maybe this is just a sign that you should focus on other things. Pick something you like and try to excel at it. Leave the dungeoneering to other people, you know?"

Turtwig looked at the Mareep, then down at the town they were descending into. The bustling city streets below suddenly seemed full of potential.

"I always wanted to run a nursery." Turtwig mused. "Maybe it's time I finally chased my dreams and stopped trying to be something I'm not."

Woah. Lyra was baffled by how effective her words were. She was not expecting to inspire confidence, let alone an entire career change. Seph gave her a thumbs up, silently mouthing the words "that was great".

The three Pokémon entered Belleview, and Lyra once again found herself caught in a sea of lively Pokémon. Thank God for Seph: he was able to navigate Turtwig to the medical clinic in no time flat. Seph held the door open as Turtwig limped into the building.

A bipedal Pokémon with a pair of glasses sat behind a counter. She stood up upon seeing Turtwig and immediately started examining the splinted leg.

"Oh dear," the Pokémon said, "broken leg, hm? Not to worry dear, we can take care of that. Come with me, we'll get it treated in no time."

The Pokémon slipped behind a curtain. The noise of shelves being opened and tools being arranged could be heard.

Turtwig turned to speak to Team Pelagic one more time.

"You two are a great Exploration Team. I really, truly, cannot thank you enough, but I hope this can suffice for now." Turtwig dropped a small pouch that was tied around his good front leg. He pushed the pouch with his head toward Seph and Lyra.

"That should have 1,000 poké in it." Turtwig said. "I hope you can use it to fund more rescues like mine."

A thousand poké? Lyra wasn't exactly sure what the value of a single poké was, but that seemed like a pretty big chunk of money to be throwing around.

Seph picked up the pouch off the floor. It jingled in his hand. "Turtwig, we really appreciate this. I promise you that we'll use this money to improve ourselves as explorers! I hope you get well soon Turtwig!"

Lyra raised a hoof and waved at Turtwig. "Bye, Turtwig! Get well soon!"

Turtwig smiled at the Exploration Team - a genuine, happy smile - then limped towards the back of the clinic.

"That was great, Lyra!" Seph celebrated as the two exited the clinic. "Our first successful rescue. Plus, I think Turtwig really took what you said to heart. You know, you're really good at reading people!"

Lyra looked at her partner. She thought back to that moment in the Dungeon. When Seph froze up when they found Turtwig. Now, it was like that moment never even happened: Seph was all smiles again.

"Thanks, Seph. It sure helps when my partner knows everything about how Mystery Dungeons work. But…"

Lyra cleared her throat. She needed to make sure Seph was okay.

"But, uh, I wanted to ask you something. When we found Turtwig, you seemed a little… out of it. You weren't talking. You kinda froze up, man. Is everything okay?"

Lyra looked up at Seph with big pleading puppy dog eyes. It was a tactically brilliant maneuver.

Seph put a hand on the back of his neck. "Oh yeah, that." He said. "That was just a new experience for me, you know? I guess I'm not really used to seeing people get hurt. And I know that's stupid. I know this is a job where I'm going to see a lot of injured people. And there's gonna be times, like today, where I can't stop someone from getting hurt. But it's still… painful. Seeing them hurt like that. I know I need to get better about it. But, I'm just glad you were there today. I would've never thought to make a spit!"

"Splint. With an L and a T. But yeah, I get it. Everyone has stimuli that makes them uncomfortable. Just… let me know if it ever happens again, alright? We're partners. I think I remember someone talking about how partners have to look out for each other." Lyra flashed a cheeky smile at Seph.

That forced a laugh out of Seph. "Hah, you're right! Thanks for looking out for me, partner. Now come on, we gotta let the guild know how we did! And we can show them the reward we got!"

Seph scrambled up the path out of Belleview with a burst of speed.

That Buizel never seemed to run out of energy.

"What?! That's highway robbery! That- that's nothing! You're giving us scraps! From the money we earned, mind you!"

Lyra was shouting at Infernape, who once again faced her from the opposite side of a table. The reward money Team Pelagic received from Turtwig was spread across the table.

"I apologize, miss," Infernape said, "but this is the standard for our teams. The guild takes a cut of the reward so that we can keep our operations running. Pay for food, resources, membership fees, that sort of thing. Surely you understand."

Lyra did not understand. In fact, she was fuming.

"I would understand if it was a small fee." Lyra said. "But this? This is insanity! There's no way you expect us to let you take this much from every single one of our rewards!"

Seph was standing in the corner, twiddling his fingers. It was awkward to see Lyra, who had been so agreeable and nonchalant for the past day, be so riled up. It was like seeing a teacher lose their cool in front of you for the first time.

"Oh, come on Lyra, it can't be that bad!" Seph said, trying to get his partner to back down. He wasn't really paying attention to most of the conversation, but he figured Lyra was just overreacting. "The guild needs to cover lodging and food somehow. It makes sense that they take a little money from every team to do that. How much of the reward does the guild actually take, Mr. Infernape?"

"Ninety percent."

Seph almost choked.

"That's… actually pretty bad." He admitted.

"I assure you," Infernape said, "most, if not all, of the funds we take are cycled back to our teams. Also, as your team's rank goes up, we'll take a smaller fee. Consider it something to look forward to while you keep working." Infernape tried to flash a reassuring smile. Lyra thought it looked more like the smile of a con man.

Thank God she would be here for just a month.

"Fine." She said. "Take our money, I guess."

Infernape sweeped up the money, leaving a single coin on the table. Infernape pushed it towards the petulant Mareep.

Right as Lyra was about to pick up the coin, something crashed into the side of the building. A resounding WHAM was heard as the entire building began to shake. Dust fell from the rafters and covered the table they were seated at.

Infernape perked up in his chair. "Ah, shit. You two, come along with me. Let's see what's happening out there." he tossed the coins in his hand back onto the table, before quickly heading outside. Seph quickly followed.

Lyra looked at the now-abandoned coins on the table. She considered maybe nabbing one or two extra. Infernape might never know.

She eventually decided against it. She already pissed Infernape off once, and that was more than enough. She followed Seph and ran out into the cove.

What greeted Lyra as she stepped out was at least 20 Pokémon standing in a half circle, bordering the building. Guildmaster Zoroark stood in the middle of the circle. She held her claws in a boxing stance, like she was ready to fight.

"Come on, Mr. Noibat! You best have better than that if you want to hold yer own against me!"

Zoroark was shouting at someone - Noibat presumably - who was shrouded in a cloud of dust and debris. It seemed like Zoroark threw her opponent into the side of the building, causing the ruckus from earlier.

A silence washed over the cove as Zoroark's words echoed away. The spectators waited with bated breath for the dust cloud to fade, hoping to catch a glimpse of the attacker.

A pause. Zoroark took a step closer to the cloud. It seemed like she was ready to charge in. But then-

A creature flew out of the dust at break-neck speed. Its wings glowed with energy as it accelerated towards the guildmaster. Zoroark only had a split second to react.

The guildmaster moved to the side, dodging the Pokémon's attack. She reached a claw up, grabbed their leg, and slammed them into the ground. The collision sent gravel flying into the air.

Zoroark took a step backwards. She was letting her opponent recover. "Think, Mr. Noibat! Don't just rush in! Look for my weaknesses and exploit them!"

Noibat pulled himself off of the floor. Lyra got her first good look at the guildmaster's challenger: he was a small bat-shaped creature, fur adorned in purples and blacks. His eyes were furrowed in frustration.

Noibat took to the sky once again, flapping his wings furiously to gain altitude. He flew well above the reach of the guildmaster. He began circling his opponent, traveling counter-clockwise.

Zoroark barely moved. She patiently stood in a ready stance, claws prepared to swipe as soon as Noibat thought he had an opening. The only movement of Zoroark's body was her head; swiveling around as Noibat circled her. She knew where her opponent was, at all times.

Noibat kept circling. He was struggling to find the opportunity he wanted. This was proving to be a more difficult endeavor than he anticipated.

"Well come on then!" Zoroark shouted. "Make your move Mr. Noibat! Prove to me you can hold your own!"

Zoroark's words had an effect on Noibat. Lyra could tell: his flying became more erratic, struggling to maintain a constant altitude.

Noibat's eyes narrowed as he circled around to the back of his target. He was about to strike. Lyra wasn't sure if it was because he had finally found his opening, or if Zoroark's goading got to him.

Noibat erupted into a violent screech, releasing visible waves of sound from his mouth. As the waves reached Zoroark, she easily sidestepped the Supersonic. The move was aimed too far to the right side of Zoroark's body.

Noibat had missed his shot.

Suddenly, Noibat did a 180 turn in the air, flipping over and doubling back onto the left side of Zoroark. He abandoned his looping trajectory and instead blitzed right towards Zoroark. That glowing energy surrounded his wings again. He was aiming for her left side - which was the side Zoroark was not expecting him to appear from.

Oh, damn.

Lyra realized what Noibat's plan was.

He purposely aimed his Supersonic too far to the right to get Zoroark looking in that direction. Then, he descended on her left side. Zoroark's eyepatch was on her left eye - her blindspot.

She couldn't see him coming.

The glowing energy on Noibat's wings bursted outward as he squarely hit Zoroark's abdomen. The guildmaster was pushed back across the floor, gravel flying as she struggled to keep her footing. She wiped her mouth with a hand. When her hand was removed from her face, Lyra saw the expression that was left in its place: joy. Zoroark was smiling from ear to ear.

She shouted at Noibat once more. "Yes! There you go! Use everything you can to win! Now, come on: once more, with feeling!" Zoroark let her arms hang at her side as she crouched into a ready stance. Lyra thought she could see black energy swirl around her claws.

No plan in the world could prepare Noibat for what happened next. Zoroark charged him with unrivaled speed, closing the distance between them in a fraction of a second. Zoroark unleashed a frenzied slash as she arrived at her target. Noibat tried to dodge backwards as quickly as he could, but it wasn't quick enough. A shallow gash appeared on his chest as he got caught by the tip of her claws.

The guildmaster wasn't finished. Not by a long shot. She continued to quickly swing at Noibat, each attack being avoided just in the nick of time. Noibat was struggling to keep up with her onslaught. Each consecutive strike was closer and closer to colliding with him. He flew upward at the end of the last swipe, trying to create some space between them.

Zoroark was not letting that happen.

She leaped into the air with impressive height, easily catching up to Noibat. He didn't have the time or the wits to react before she caught him in another flurry of blows.

Lyra watched as Zoroark pummeled Noibat midair. Punches and swipes battered his frail body. There was nothing Noibat could do: the moment he dropped his guard was the moment he lost. Zoroark finished the barrage with a downwards punch that sent her challenger plummeting back to the ground. Zoroark herself elegantly landed in front of the beaten bat.

Noibat didn't get back up. He was alive - Lyra could hear him groaning in pain - but was in no shape to keep fighting. This match was over.

Zoroark walked towards the Noibat-sized crater in the ground. "You did good, Mr. Noibat." She said. "You did good. But you're just not strong enough to set out on your own. Not yet. So, I'm sorry it has to come to this, but I'm giving you an ultimatum. You either join another Exploration Team by the end of tomorrow, or I'll have no choice but to kick you out of the guild. You're a great fighter, but you're nothing without a team. Remember that, Mr. Noibat."

Zoroark extended a hand towards Noibat, offering to help him off the floor.

Noibat looked up at his guildmaster and her offered hand. He snarled and swatted her hand away with his wing. He tried to stand up by himself, stumbled, and fell back to the ground.

Zoroark sighed before backing away from him. She turned to face the crowd that had gathered: every Pokémon present in the cove was watching their fight. They were stupefied by the absolute ass kicking they just witnessed.

"One of your fellow guildmates is injured." She said, pointing back at Noibat. "Do something about it." She walked through the crowd, disappearing into a building and slamming the door behind her.

The guildmaster's words snapped everyone back to reality. Several Pokémon rushed forward to help Noibat.

One of the first by his side was Nidorina.

"Does anybody have an oran berry?" She asked. "Let's get him some healing. How are you feeling, Noibat?"

Noibat, still on the ground, slowly raised his head to look at Nidorina.

He could only muster a single word as a reply.

"...Fuck."

His head fell back to the ground as he continued to groan in pain.

Smeargle, who had been watching the entire fight, poked Noibat's wing.

"Oh shit," he said, "I think his wing is broken. That's crazy, heh. Anybody know how to take care of broken bones?"

Seph raised his hand and pointed at Lyra. "Oh, she does! Lyra, show them that splint thing you made earlier!"

Apparently, Lyra was the guild's orthopedic expert today.