Chapter 10: Pre-Flight Checklist

After the session at Melissa's, Kiran left his charges to themselves to prepare for their excursion in the morning. The team of four made their way towards the harbor, as Pleo eagerly practiced the skill he had picked up at Melissa's. That is, hopping up high into the air every so often above the eaves of the wooden, canvas, and thatch roofs that covered most of Bluewhorl Town's buildings. Every time the white bird went up, he would almost as quickly come back down only to repeat the process again, hoping his latest launch might be the one to finally give him flight. The passerbyers on the path would turn their head time to time to watch Pleo pass... if not as frequently as they had a couple weeks ago. After all, the sea god had become more and more a fixture of their mundane routines.

As the group carried along their way, Crom began to get a little ahead of himself over what Kiran had told him about tomorrow's mission in the Mystery Dungeon.

"I don't believe it, we're finally going to graduate to Normal Rank!" Crom cried.

Ah yes, the moment that Crom and Nida had been waiting for all these moons was finally upon them at last. That said, the importance was a bit lost on Pleo, who came down from his most recent leap into the air and gave a puzzled tilt of his head to the Druddigon and Nidoran.

"Hrm? 'Normal Rank'?" Pleo asked. Didn't the two go on missions all the time with Kiran? So why was 'graduating' so important?

"It means we're gonna be able to do more as Rescuers!" Crom declared, puffing his chest in triumph. "Why, we'd even be allowed to start our own team if we wanted to!" He continued proudly… until Elty promptly knocked his little moment back down to earth.

"What are you going on about? You're being tested! If you don't impress your leader, he's not gonna pass you!" the Growlithe barked, flattening out his ears. "And frankly, I'm not exactly convinced that 'ganging up on the Growlithe' is gonna get you through a dungeon without handholding."

The Growlithe's words immediately dampened Crom and Nida's high spirits, and the two shot annoyed glares at the Fire type who so rudely dragged them back to reality.

"Elty, couldn't you have just let us have our moment?" Nida snapped, fanning her barbs a bit at the little dog's tone. Pleo, blissfully ignorant to why this 'moment' couldn't go on, cheerily tried to reassure the team.

"Aw, don't worry! I'm sure they'll pass with your help, Elty!" he chirped as he hopped up onto an awning of a shop that had been left intact during the raid. "Why, you can just dance around the ferals like you did on the battlefield!"

"Wait, what?" Elty spluttered. "Why on earth would I help you pass your ranking test when you've been using me as a sparring dummy for the last week?"

"Because Kiran said that the entire team was getting tested?" Crom said, giving a piercing glare at the Growlithe.

"Because you're supposed to help me?" Pleo replied, tilting his head before he jumped across the lane onto another shack's roof.

"Because it's a break from getting pounded on at the Dojo?" Nida asked, flattening out her ears in annoyance. "Besides if we don't pass, just what do you think we're going to be doing afterwards to toughen up?"

The former pirate opened his mouth to speak only to catch his tongue and blink. Elty had to admit, while he didn't exactly like the rationale, these 'teammates' of his made a decently convincing argument for helping them tomorrow.

"Grr… What on earth do they teach amatorzy at your guild anyways?" the orange and cream dog frowned.

"How to stand up for ourselves," Nida responded, sticking out a tongue. During this, Pleo hopped up once again. Although he flapped his wings hard enough to shake a few loose feathers free, he still couldn't seem to get the hang of staying airborne. This time he landed a bit less gracefully than normal on his breast, the 'lucky charm' that Guildmaster Hatteras fashioned from his stone ring jabbing him a little.

"Oof! What do we need to do to prepare for tomorrow anyways?" the young guardian asked as he dusted himself and his new charm off, ruffled his feathers, and took a moment to preen himself after his landing.

"Well, there's supplies, which we'll take care of as soon as we get to Calino's," Crom replied. "And we oughta check things with our parents to see if we have to do anything before we leave."

"Um… Yeah," Elty muttered as he flattened out his ears. "I'm just going to head back to-"

"You're sticking with us during this, thanks," Nida huffed. "Teams are responsible for their members' behavior and I don't trust you on your own."

"Are you supposed to be 'teammates' or 'babysitters'?" Elty growled under his breath, his words failing to elude Nida's hearing.

"Most teams don't have members that tried to rob other Pokémon just a week ago. Just saying," she retorted, narrowing her eyes at the Growlithe.

"Aww, come on! It'll be fun!" Pleo insisted. "And Calino's shop is right there anyways!"

Sure enough, Calino's little shack was right there, just across the main square by the harbor… If it was appropriate to call it that. Yes, it was busy with Pokémon again and not quite the moonscape of rubble and trashed shops that it was after the raid, but most of the businesses were still shuttered for repairs- or, as in the case of a few juice bars and sundry shops, had simply stubbornly continued their business in what was left of their tents and shacks as and slowly rebuilt around their customers.

Calino's store fell into the latter category. It was scorched, blackened, and had hasty canvas patchwork thrown up over gaping holes in the walls and roof. Even so, its Kecleon proprietor could still be seen dutifully shuffling merchandise around in the back.

Some things just didn't change, Nida guessed, as she hopped up onto the counter and called into the back of the shop.

"Hey! Calino!"

"Coming! Coming!" the shopkeeper's reply came as he hurried out, if a bit slower and more haggardly than normal. As soon as he saw that his customers included a certain town guardian once again, the Kecleon's face momentarily slipped into an expression of despair. The chameleon shook his head a moment and steeled himself before he addressed his customers.

"Before you ask, I really can't give any discounts this time," he said. The poor creature appeared sleep-deprived, the green scales on his body having developed a dull and dingy color to them.

"Eh?! But why not?!" Pleo cried, batting his wings out. Hadn't Calino given the party that 'buy one get one free' last time? By chance, Pleo happened to brush part of the shack, which shook, and with a groan, dropped a chunk of burnt timber from the awning onto his head.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Pleo groaned, nursing his head.

"Pleo, are you alright?!" Nida cried.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay," the young Lugia replied as he shook his head. "But-"

"Sorry about that, Protector. I can't exactly keep a hut up when it's dropping pieces of itself on customers. Even if it is a placeholder." Calino sighed, his scales starting to flush an apologetic teal. "Between this and that storm earlier, I'm never gonna get a replacement for my old tent at this rate… You understand, right?"

"It does look like Calino's shop took the raid kinda hard," Crom said to himself while looking around.

"Yeah, by the way, thanks for that, mutt," Calino growled at Elty, glaring from behind the counter.

"Hey! Hey! I didn't torch this shop!" Elty protested before he stopped himself to try and jog his memory. "… I'm pretty sure I didn't… I think. Kinda hard to remember with the whole 'getting beaten unconscious' thing."

"It's fine, Calino. We'll pay full price... This time," Nida answered with a sigh as she hopped off the counter.

"The usual, I take it?" Calino asked. The Kecleon's scales returned to their default green along with the congenial if business-like attitude he tried to greet all his customers with. That is, at least as much as several straight nights' worth of poor sleep allowed him to.

"Actually, I know it'll cost more, but can we get the same as last time?" Crom asked. "I'm sure Kiran will understand, we're exploring with a bigger team now and all!"

"So you... do want to help my renovation fund!" the Kecleon chuckled, turning a rosy pink as his expected burden on business transformed into a surprise boon. "Hrm… Lemme see what I can do."

Nida opened her mouth to object, but after sizing up the even sorrier appearance of Calino's already normally sorry-looking wooden shack, she held her tongue. Calino then ducked into the back of his shop and spent a short while rummaging behind some crates. Sure enough, when he returned, Calino brought over a tray full of the same berries and seeds that Team Traveler had ordered at their last visit to his shop. The Kecleon stuffed the goods into Nida's satchel and dutifully ignored Elty's protests that he also had a perfectly good satchel to hold stuff as well. After Calino gave his customary thanks for the team's patronage, Nida and Crom lead the team off and up towards the hills. On the way up, Pleo couldn't help but wonder...

"I don't understand, Nida. Why did we let Crom give Calino more of those shinies for the same stuff you got last time?"

"Well, Calino's kinda mean with his sense of humor sometimes," Nida answered. "But it just seemed wrong to press him when his shop was in the shape it was in."

"Huh? How come?" Pleo asked.

"Well, when a Pokémon is having a tough time, it's generally nice to not give them extra things to worry about on top of it," she replied.

Elty was quick to butt in. "So… That means that you'll go easier on me during sparring-" Only to be just as quickly cut off by Nida, too.

"Hey! I said 'tough' time, not 'deserved'!"

Soon enough, Team Traveler's younger members found themselves approaching a hut that smelled strongly of toasted grain. Barring a stray gouge into a wall here or there that had been hastily filled in with some manner of mismatching-colored resin, there was hardly any sign that this little shack had been visited by hostile company just a few days ago.

Crom was the first to enter the hut, calling in to the shop as he crossed the doorway.

"Mom? Are you in there-? Oof!"

Only to trip and fall down against one of the display tables that for some reason or another had a small pile of apples on it. Looking down at his feet, Crom saw a Trapinch that had been loitering in the doorway, looking around the inside.

"Yeargh! Watch where you're going, you abrasive clod!" the Trapinch squealed in pain, as he quickly scuttled into a corner to try and nurse his injury.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Crom replied as he rubbed his head from the fall and the effects of a few falling apples conking him afterwards. As his teammates entered the room, a realization dawned on him about his victim and the Druddigon's tone became less apologetic and more gruff. "Wait a minute-"

As Nida entered the room and saw the Trapinch, she lowered her ears, recognizing him as being one of Elty's former… erm... companions.

"Shouldn't you be digging ditches at Mildrew's field or something?" she asked in a biting tone.

"Psst! Managed to sneak one past your slave driver, eh?" Elty whispered to the Trapinch in a hushed tone from behind the Nidoran. "And got any tips?"

"Mrph. I wish, Eltenios," the little antlion chittered in a grumbling tone. "I only got allowed to come down here because I said I'd drop off some apples during my break!"

Aha. So that explained the pile of apples on the table. In spite of all of that, something still bothered Pleo about the Trapinch's actions.

"Why would you go through all that trouble, though-?"

"Veikka, is that you?" a voice cried out from the backroom.

"Pyry!" the Trapinch eagerly responded, as the voice's owner, a haggard-looking Gabite coated in flour, burst out into the room and scooped up the Trapinch in his claws.

"Pekka, please! Tell me there's an open spot to dig ditches!" the Gabite pleaded, staring into the Trapinch's eyes with a desperate gaze that seemed to all but bore into the creature.

"Um… Veikka? You're kinda scaring me," the Trapinch squeaked.

"I can't take it anymore with these weirdos! Stuck here all alone with nothing but flour, dough, and an oven all day! And they make me help with dinner, too! I go to bed each night looking like I fell into chalk dust!"

"Oh yes, poor you," Nida grumbled. Why, aside from all of the spilled flour on his scales, the Gabite just described exactly what Crom and his brother did on a normal day when not doing guild work!

"Hrmph! Maybe you shouldn't have stolen from here, then!" Crom snarled at the Gabite.

"Oh for crying out loud! Why are you going on about it as if you're being made to burn out waste pits? You're working in a bakery!" Elty groaned as he put a paw over his face. "Some of us would punt hatchlings for a chance to make food for this 'Community Service!'"

"Um… Pyry," Pekka said as he flailed his legs in the air. "I'm not saying that I don't feel your pain. But-"

"And worst of all, there's that whiny little ipana and his mother I have to put up wi-!" the Gabite continued, before a young Druddigon smaller than Crom stormed in from the backroom with a growl.

"Oi! Thief! Get back to work!" Cenn shouted.

The Gabite snarled indignantly back at the shorter Druddigon, upset that this little whelp was pushing him around. He dropped his Trapinch companion, who cried out a little after hitting the ground, and whirled around and advanced on Cenn.

"Okay, listen up you yappy little ru-!" only to yelp after he felt a claw digging into his shoulder from behind, as the voice of a much larger Druddigon who had just come in from outside with a sack of flour began to speak.

"Grr… For someone who complains as much as you do about honest work, you sure seem eager put your mouth to use!" Gwenith growled, giving an overpowering glare that seemed to all but say "Go ahead, make my day" at this Gabite that had the temerity to threaten one of her children.

The Gabite's aggression quickly evaporated with a blanch at the thought of having to stand his ground against the elder Druddigon.

"Erk! S-Sorry! I'll get back to work right away!" he squeaked, as he quickly ran back into the backroom to help with the next day's loaves. Cenn stuck out his tongue behind him as he followed Pyry into the backroom. Crom couldn't help but roll his eyes at the Gabite still not understanding who the biggest and meanest dragon in this house was.

"... I think I'm gonna get out of here before she gets ideas," Pekka said to himself. The orange antlion quickly bolted out of the bakery, leaving Gwenith to push the sack of flour into a corner and turn to her elder child.

"Something come up, Crom?" she asked.

"Uhm… Well-" Crom began, shifting a bit uneasily.

"We're getting tested to graduate into Normal Rank!" Pleo interrupted. Crom flinched out of surprise, hoping that his mother wouldn't be upset over his sudden testing getting in the way of baking. However, Crom quickly found that his apprehensions to be unfounded, as the very next words from his mother's mouth were...

"Oh! That's wonderful to hear!" Gwenith cried. "Why, with the way you're growing up, you'll be big and as strong as your father in no time! Here, let me get some things for your adventure!"

Crom's mother ducked into the backroom, her presence accompanied by sounds of rummaging and Pyry continuing to bellyache on the job. The backroom's sounds eventually died down after a Druddigon's growl, and Gwenith returned with a satchel filled with loaves fresh from the oven and handed it off to Crom.

"Just make sure to rest up well tonight," she instructed. "You've got a big day tomorrow!"

"Eh?" Crom asked. This had seemed to go over rather- Well, wasn't there supposed to be some sort of catch? "You don't need my help at the bakery tonight?"

"I'm sure that I can make my extra set of claws fill in," Gwenith replied. "It is a special occasion for you, after all. And it sounds like you'll already have yours full with some extra heads to keep track of."

"Ahehe, well when you put it that way-" Crom began before his mother interrupted him.

"Crom… One more thing."

"Huh?" the Druddigon asked, only to abruptly find himself being pulled into an embrace by his mother, who gave him a nuzzle with her snout.

"Be careful out there."

"Moooom! You're embarrassing me!" Crom protested, squirming a little to try and break free.

"Not to interrupt the moment, but doesn't the spike ball here also have her parents to check with, too?" Elty asked, rolling his eyes at Crom's struggle with his mother.

"Ack! That's right! If we dawdle here, I won't be able to catch Mami at the Day Care!" Nida cried, hopping up off the ground, and then bolting out the door.

"See you, mom!" Crom waved as he followed after his teammate.

"Bye, Gwenith!" Pleo chirped, as he and his Growlithe teammate followed after Crom and Nida.

By the time the two made it out, Pleo had to hop up into the air to see where Nida had gone off to. Seeing that she was making her way towards the creek that ran through Bluewhorl Town, he quickly darted off after her, Elty in tow behind him.

By the time the two caught up, they found themselves approaching one of the bridges over the creek, with a certain Froslass' tent visible on the other side.

"Nida? Why are we going to the Day Care and not your home?" Pleo asked, putting a wing to his mouth.

"Mami usually leads my siblings home from there at this time of day. So if we catch her there, we can explain things on the way to the guild hall-!" Nida explained, only to have her words interrupted by a protesting voice from the direction of the Day Care.

"What?! You said that I didn't have to worry about twerps that had parents after dark!"

As Team Traveler continued on, the protesting figure revealed himself to be the Quilava that Hariti had taken under her wing. The cream and teal stoat stared down a scowling Nidorina that Crom recognized as Marley, prompting the Druddigon to shuffle behind Nida to keep a healthy distance.

"First off, it's 'youngsters'," Hariti admonished. The Froslass floated to and fro at the entrance of her tent, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to make sure the rowdy children inside weren't getting too out of hand. "Second of all, I said that you didn't have to worry about most of them after dark. Specifically, you'll be dealing with-"

Suddenly, six purple and blue spike balls burst out of the tent entrance, hopping gleefully past Hariti and towards the Nidorina. The Nidoran sprinted towards their mother, prompting the Quilava to yelp and dart out of the way lest the lumps of fluff run him over.

"Whee!" a female Nidoran cheered.

"Mami! Mami!" a purple spike lump called out.

"You're back!" a blue ball cried.

"Who's watching us tonight?" a male Nidoran from the group asked.

"You'll be able to stay right here with your normal playmates until I'm done in the field with Papi tonight," Marley cheerily explained. "Auntie Hariti and I found someone to watch over you…"

It was then that the Quilava became aware that Hariti, the Nidorina, and all six of the Nidoran with her… Were staring at him.

"Those little dweebs?! N-No way! I've been picking their spikes out of my pelt all week!" he cried out. From the sidelines, Nida quietly sighed, somewhat relieved that she wasn't going to have to babysit her younger siblings tonight. As for the predicament that this former brigand found himself in… she couldn't tell if she felt sorry or amused about it.

"I heard you talking the other day, you've got a ton of kids of your own! Have some of them help you out!" the stoat protested.

"They're all grown and busy with their own lives. Also, need I remind you that I do have an alternate use for you if you don't pull your weight babysitting?" Hariti glowered at the Quilava as the little Nidoran began to draw near to him. "Besides, it is just six Pokémon. I'm sure a former pirate like you can handle them and keep them away from my Pomeg bushes."

"This is cruel and unethical punishment and you know it!" the Quilava whined as he started darting this way and that to keep the little poisonous pests away from him.

"Aww, stay still Mr. Fireplace!"

"We want to nuzzle you!"

The Quilava found himself running head-on into the Nidorina, and then felt his body getting lifted up by something pointy that was faintly jabbing his stomach.

"Oh yes, poor you. Now do your Community Service and get back to babysitting," Marley growled, the horn on her head resting on the Quilava's belly.

"And do be aware what I'll do to you if anything happens to the kits," she warned. The Nidorina jabbed her horn a bit more firmly into the creature's stomach before letting him drop to the ground. All just in time for her cheering children to swarm him as she began to head off.

"H-Help… Me…" the poor creature feebly whimpered as the six little Nidoran began to press up against him.

"Well, I guess that's one way to get a reliable babysitter for your siblings," Elty murmured. The little dog sighed out of relief, now quietly thankful that the Froslass hadn't taken a fancy to him on the night that Community Service sentences were handed down.

"It's an unorthodox solution, yes… But anyways- Mami!" Nida called after her mother, hopping off after her as the rest of her team followed her tracks.

"Eh?" the Nidorina asked, as she turned around just in time to see Team Traveler passing the Day Care and heading for her.

"Hey wait, they have older siblings?!" the Quilava cried out, hopping up and away from the Nidoran around him with a start as Team Traveler passed. "Why don't they just-!"

The Quilava suddenly yelped, and stumbled forward as a shard of ice promptly struck his rear. As the Nidoran caught up with him, the creature nursed his rump and hastily tried to mollify a glaring Hariti at the tent's entrance.

"Gah! Okay! Okay!" his voice trailed off as the team moved further up the path.

Nida came face to face with her mother, who waited with an impatient scowl for her daughter to say something.

"Um, well… I was just going to say-" Nida began. Had- Had she gone about trying to get her mother's attention the wrong way? "That I'm going to the guild hall tonight, and testing to graduate from-"

"It's alright, mija," her mother interrupted. "I knew this day was coming."

"You're... not worried at all?" Nida asked, a bit taken aback at her mother's apparent lack of concern.

"Of course not! Why, not every team has the Protector helping it!" the Nidorina chuckled to herself as she pointed out Pleo waiting with Crom and Elty a few paces away.

"This way, me and your papi can count on you wrapping up your service and coming to help work in the field again a bit sooner!" the Nidorina cheered.

"Uhm… Mami…" Nida grumbled, flattening out her ears a bit.

"Now, now, it's a part of growing up and becoming a responsible Pokémon!" she admonished.

"Mami…" Nida groaned. Why, Mami was treating this as if it was just another day's update from her elder siblings! Of all the nights to be just another face in her crowd of brothers and sisters, did Marley really have to be this way on this one-?

"Enough with the attitude already, Nida!" the Nidorina huffed, which abruptly caused Nida to hop back and brace herself. Only to find that the next words from her mother's mouth were softer than she anticipated.

"You'll want to save it for inside the dungeon, won't you? After all, tomorrow's the big opportunity to impress your team captain!"

"Heh, well I guess I can't argue with that-" Nida began, only to be cut off by her mother drawing forwards and nuzzling her snout.

"Good luck, mija. Your papi and I will be wishing you the best," Marley said. The Nidorina gave her daughter a pat on the head before she headed down a side lane.

Team Traveler turned and continued up the path, past some less damaged huts and tents. Slowly but surely, the team drew near to the entrance of the Guild Hall's complex of tents and buildings.

"Oi!"

As the team approached the Mission Board, freshly repopulated with listings since the trials and tribulations from last week, they found Kiran there waiting for them. The Swellow flew over, and cheerily greeted his charges.

"I was wondering when you all were going to show up!"

"Well, we're here," Nida answered.

"So, did you find out who's going to be our shadowing team tomorrow?" Crom questioned.

"That would be us," a voice answered. When the Pokémon of Team Traveler turned, they found that the speaker was a Shiftry accompanied by a Croconaw and Loudred.

"Wait… Team Sawtooth is shadowing us?" Crom asked, surprised at their team's company.

"Team 'Sawtooth'?" Pleo asked, tilting his head.

"Yup! Don't be fooled by these dainty-looking things here!" the Shiftry proudly answered, showing off the fans on her arms. "They'll cut through wood like cloth!"

"That's where the 'saw' comes from!" the Loudred cheerily explained.

"Yup, and Alto and I here have got the teeth!" the Croconaw added, proudly opening his stout jaws and showing off the fishhook-like teeth that lined them.

"I… guess that makes sense?" Pleo chirped, blinking a bit at the enthusiastic trio.

"Eh?! I thought that you were busy looking for an 'ahp-gredh'!" Nida cried out.

"Eh, I think we can put that on hold for a little," the Croconaw replied with a shrug.

"Who are these Pokémon, Kiran?" Pleo whispered over to his team's leader.

"The Shiftry is Pitys, the Loudred is Alto, and the Croconaw is Cardellini. They're one of the tougher teams at the guild. When Hatteras told them that you were going to be tested tomorrow… Why they practically begged to come along!" Kiran cheered.

"After all, someone's gotta make sure that the Protector goes through his test safely," Pitys proudly declared.

"And to keep fat little thugs like that Growlithe there from causing you too much trouble," the Loudred loudly chortled.

"Har har har-" Elty groaned, screwing his eyes shut in frustration before he abruptly flicked his ears. "Wait-"

The Growlithe whirled around, and saw a short green bug sketching on some paper a ways back on the side of the path, occasionally looking at the group further ahead.

"Was that Scyther sketching us earlier?" Elty asked the other Pokémon in the group.

"Scyther?" Kiran asked, as Team Traveler and their companions turned around. It was then that Pleo saw that the little bug was the artist with the blotched head from the Day Care he met last week.

"Oh! Hi!" he called out, waving. When the Scyther saw that she had been spotted by the white bird, she gave a startled buzz.

"A-Ah!" she cried out, before taking off down the path back in the direction of the Day Care, abandoning the piece of paper she had been drawing on.

"Hey! Wait!" Pleo cried out as he darted to where the Scyther was, and picked up her doodle. "You dropped your picture!"

Pleo then inspected the picture. It was a sketch of the Guild Hall's entrance, with Pleo and his teammates facing towards it. While the doodle was still a little basic, it had a remarkable resemblance to reality, the buildings and objects really looked like they were further back, and there was even some simple shadowing on it! As the others drew near, they too saw the picture, the elder Pokémon finding themselves commenting on the Scyther's work.

"Huh… Ander's kid really does have some talent with art," the wood sprite murmured to herself.

"Bah, Cassie shouldn't be sneaking out of the Day Care on her own anyways," Cardellini muttered.

"I'm sure she can just draw another one if she doesn't feel like coming by," Alto chimed in.

Pleo looked down at the picture, and then off in the direction that this 'Cassie' fled down. She seemed to have put an awful lot of work into the little image, and Pleo couldn't dislodge an uneasy feeling that surely Cassie would be in low spirits without her handi- uh… scythework.

"We can always stop by to give it back to her later, Pleo," Kiran reassured.

"I… Guess that's true," Pleo said to himself. Still, he couldn't help but wish that the Scyther hadn't run off before he could compliment her.

"Let's head on in, dinner should have just started being set a couple minutes ago," the Croconaw beckoned. It was getting late in the day, and Pleo could hear his stomach growling… As well as those of a few of his teammates.

After taking a moment to look out in the direction where Cassie had run off to, Pleo turned around, and followed the others towards the Guild Hall. After all, it was no use worrying about these things on an empty stomach.


Eating at the Guild Hall was always a rather raucous occasion in Bluewhorl Town. Every day- morning, noon, and night- food was served in a long, wooden hall full of rude tables and stools illuminated by candles and bioluminescent moss stashed in jars. The cost of admission was merely showing off a Rescue Team's scarf and badge at the door. It was an amenity that led the guild's Pokémon to tend to spend their free time frequenting the guild's grounds when missions and other obligations did not keep them away.

That is not to say that the mess hall was only good for the free food. It acted as a convenient place to find and interact with peers from other teams, to trade gossip, tips, and general enjoyment between errands and missions. A Persian's off-color joke at the expense of some past incompetent from the Company here, a Hoothoot's request for advice for finding a mate on another team there...

And of course, there were also a few scattered whispers and murmurs about the white and blue bird that was greedily inhaling a spread alongside a pair of teams.

"Liking the food, Pleo?" Nida asked as she looked up from her own dinner seated in her customary place right beside Crom.

The spreads were always simple, but filling, servings that were provided by the town. Meals were apportioned by species based off of the recommendations of a well-worn tome with messy notes and records of trials and errors that had been passed down through the years among the Pokémon that worked at the mess hall. The typical result was some mix of berries, leafy greens, grains or lentils, a salt or a sugar cube depending on the time of day, and of course- gummis.

The little morsels were about the size of small berries and about as colorful, but had a tough but edible exterior. Their insides had a pasty-textured filling and a savory flavor. Depending on how they were prepared, the filling would leave sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, or astringent aftertastes in the mouth. Nida couldn't remember what exactly went into them, but she was pretty sure that she remembered hearing 'seaweed' being involved once. All in all, it probably didn't matter so much what was in their recipes that had supposedly been passed down since the beginnings of the Cradle (and was probably better for keeping one's appetite). Whatever the diner's species or what their teeth looked like, gummis kept the conversation about dinner at the guild limited to what as opposed to who would be on the table.

It was all fine and dandy, but more importantly for Pleo...

"Mmm hmm! It's pretty and tasty!" the Lugia chirped in between mouthfuls of his dinner. That is not to say the gummi-laden servings at the guild were perfect meals. After all, a food that was equal before all also had the net effect of being equally odd before all, which Elty couldn't help but grumble about.

"Eh… Could use some meat, in my opinion," Elty mumbled as he scarfed down a few grains along with a half-bitten gummi.

"Not saying that I don't agree, but you know the rules, bub," the Shiftry lectured with an unamused scowl. "Pokémon that specifically want meat need to go out and buy it for themselves through a registered and inspected scavver like Ander."

"Yeah, 'whine' isn't on the menu here!" Cardellini snapped.

"Mrph, I know what a scavver is and how they work. We had them where I'm from," Elty grumbled, rolling his eyes. "All I'm saying is that if I'm expected to be buying stuff, then why'd my bag get cleaned out for 'reparations' then?"

"Well look at it this way... a full stomach, even if it's not your favorite food, will improve your alertness in the dungeon!" Kiran said while fanning out a wing. "Why, from my own observations, it helps raise your alertness by 150%!"

"Hmm? What will that do?" Pleo asked.

"Well for one, it'll help you sniff out traps easier so you don't trip over them," Nida replied, as she helped herself to another gummi from her spread.

"And tomorrow's mission is a simulated rescue! Why, sensitivity is key for finding stranded Pokémon in a Mystery Dungeon!" Kiran chirped. "After all, a Pokémon that's lost or damaged their badge in there can't communicate with the Psychics at all."

Ah yes, that was why the team and anyone else who entered a Mystery Dungeon always made sure to carry some paper and envelopes with them. If they ever somehow got completely stuck and deprived of working badges, they could write a distress note. From there, the winds that reshaped floors in the Distortion would catch them up, the note's light weight allowing the winds to carry them out of the Mystery Dungeon.

It was said that any self-respecting settlement always made sure to reward the discoverers of such notes, whether a resident, a visitor, or a feral. It was an erratic method to be sure, but as long as a team could tough it out, hide in stable zones in between the Distortion's wiping of floors, and didn't move around too much, an attentive team could find them. Except… that seemed a bit overly-detailed for this 'simulated rescue' to Crom. After all...

"Aren't we just tracking down a Substitute, though?" he asked. "I mean, I guess it's still important to be able to pick out entrances to stable zones hidden in alcoves and the like, but… It's not like it would up and run anywhere, right?

"Well, training mission or not, you never can be too careful. After all, a migrating feral getting blown in or stranded in the Mystery Dungeon sea una posiblidad real," the Loudred said as he snarfed down a fruit from before him

"Blown in? Stranded?" Pleo asked, as he stopped himself from grabbing another morsel with his beak.

"Yup, you never know with those cases. Sometimes they'll come up to a team they run into crying for help, and we'll bail them like we would a lost Pokémon from town. It's the ones that don't want your help out of there that are trouble," Alto said as he polished off his fruit. "Those ones are usually just itching for a fight. Sometimes they're about as tough as normal, other times they're a lot stronger and more dangerous. Why, Nida there got into a close shave with a feral like that that was out of her league just last year."

"Huh?!" Pleo cried out, knocking the table with a start with a wing. "What happened?!"

"It's really not-" Nida muttered. She usually appreciated others remembering her name as something besides 'Marley's girl', but this occasion was an exception. The Nidoran's ears folded back more and more, as the big-mouth at the table prattled on.

"She got ambushed and worked over by a Skarmory that blew in during a storm," he answered. "Big and fierce as ferals, hunt for food, too. Left her jittery about going back in those caves for weeks. Why, if Kiran hadn't been around to blow the metal fiend away, that feral probably would have made a meal of-!"

"Can we not, Alto?!" the Nidoran shouted, causing a dead silence to fall over the table and a couple nearby ones. Pairs upon pairs of eyes found themselves staring at a Nidoran half-up a table, barbs raised, giving a glare at a surprised Loudred that seemed to all but drill through his purple hide.

"Did... I say something that I wasn't supposed to?" he meekly asked in as quiet a voice his natural boisterousness could allow.

"You really do need to master the art of thinking before you speak," Pitys sighed as she buried her face in a leafy fan.

"It's just that… That was a really rough moment for us as a team," Crom replied. "And it's not one we like to dwell upon."

"Er… Hey, so about that 'ahp-gredh' you were looking for earlier!" Kiran hastily interjected in a cheery tone to shift the topic of conversation. Little by little, all signs of the outburst faded away as Team Sawtooth began to regale Kiran and his companions with their elusive quarry for Melissa. The snooping teams at the other tables similarly returned to their own discussions.

All signs but two, that is, as Nida scowled through the rest of dinner. The little Protector of Tromba similarly didn't return to his prior buoyancy, as he lost his appetite at the table and grew more and more apprehensive as the hours passed by about this test that was going to come tomorrow.


After dinner, the skies turned dark as the sun dipped over the horizon and the moon and stars began their customary ascendance into the sky for the night. The Guild's Pokémon traded goodnights among each other, some of them heading off to various abodes around Bluewhorl and its surroundings for the night. Many others, including Team Traveler that night, had lodging a bit closer to the watchful gaze of Hatteras' hut and signaling platform.

Much as with meals, the guild's members could claim a free space overnight in a rude, if roomy, hut with not much to much to speak of in the way of privacy. Dozens of Pokémon were assigned to each hut, their only furnishings being mats on the floor to square off spots for straw and twig bedding or hammocks hung from the rafters. In spite of that, the price and convenient location for checking the mission board bright and early in the morning provided some degree of compensation. As such, there was no shortage of Pokémon that chose this humble lodging, as Team Traveler's members did for this night.

In one hut, Pleo lay on a small heap of straw on a reed mat, Crom lay on another, half-curled around Nida and Elty, and Kiran was perched on an overhead rafter. Beside the Swellow, the team had hung their scarves and other personal effects for the night. All were now in the deep embrace of sleep...

All except Pleo, that is, who was wide awake, staring up at the wall. He fidgeted, trying this position and that to try and fall asleep, only to be kept up by the Loudred's words. Nida had really run into such a scary-sounding Pokémon in the Mystery Dungeon? The one where his old cave pond was? What would have happened if such a Pokémon found him before Kiran and Crom and Nida did? What if there was one waiting for him to come in tomorrow? As the questions continued to plague the young guardian's mind, he eventually found himself turning to look out the window. In the window, light winked intermittently from the top floor of Hatteras' hut and the sea of stars glimmered brightly in the sky.

"Can't sleep, Pleo? Or were you trying see one of the Travelers come out from behind the moon?" a voice asked.

"Eh?!"

As Pleo turned around towards the source of the voice, he found himself coming face to face with a blue Nidoran, who had gotten up from her straw bedding.

"What? I've got good ears and I've been hearing you toss around all night," Nida said, pawing at one of her ears. "And the Travelers are supposed to be the spirits of the-"

"Nida, I don't wanna go in the dungeon!" Pleo squawked, getting up and beating his wings. The racket caused some of the nearby Pokémon to shift about; Crom muttered something about "Yay, flour!" as Elty grumbled about some cards or some other manner of game he played with his old companions in the past, apparently not very well.

"Not so loud! Everyone's trying to sleep!" Nida scolded quietly, thankful that everyone else nearby seemed to be deeper sleepers than she was. "And it's the middle of the night! Of course you don't want to go right-"

"I don't wanna go in the morning, either though!" Pleo whispered back.

"Eh? But you were so excited earlier today!" Nida replied in a hushed tone, stepping back in surprise. "What-?"

Nida then noticed that Pleo looked, well... scared. Or at least she was pretty sure he looked scared, since the only other times she had seen Pleo like this were on the day that Captain Hess had raided the town. The Nidoran quickly put together just what could be making her teammate so antsy.

"Oh, this is about what Alto brought up at dinner today, wasn't it?"

"What if the Skarmory comes back?!" Pleo asked, as he looked about the hut anxiously. The matter made Nida screw her eyes shut and shake her head.

"That bird was taken care of ages ago and now is a long, long ways away from everyone else in a place where he won't hurt anyone," she replied, pawing at the mat. The truth was a bit less simplistic than that, but for Pleo's sake (and Elty's were he awake, she supposed), the Nidoran decided to leave the explanation at that.

"But what about the other ferals?!" the young Lugia insisted.

"They will only try to do what they think they can get away with. A scarf tells ferals that if they mess with us too severely, they'll be in big trouble afterwards," Nida replied, pointing up at the blue pieces of cloth that hung by their team leader's feet. "Besides, we've got badges to escape with, and an entire extra team watching our backs tomorrow. And…"

Pleo then felt a soft sensation, and saw that Nida had walked up and was nuzzling him under his chin.

"You won't be alone in there. We'll all be there right alongside you."

"You… Promise?" Pleo asked warily.

"I promise, Pleo. Now come on, go to sleep," Nida pleaded.

"... Can I have a bedtime story first?"

"How about a part of one?" Nida countered, sighing. Were the old gods also this demanding when they were little too? "I'll pick up on where we last left from the 'Prince of a Thousand Enemies'... If you can remind me where I left off."

"The Prince Nidorino got scared after hearing about his enemies coming and about the old gods being upset with him. So the Prince began to dig a hole for his children to hide in," Pleo replied as he slowly sank back down onto his straw. "Then the old gods passed by him as he was still digging saying they were looking to give the Prince a gift. The Prince then pretended to be someone else and they offered him the gift they were gonna give the Prince instead."

"Ah, right," Nida replied as she cleared her throat and shook her head to try and jog her memory. "So anyhow… 'I'm busy! My enemies are coming for me and my children!' the Prince insisted, before he spoke back to the old gods. 'If you want to give me a gift, then give it to my bottom! It's poking out of my hole!' The old gods then grew impressed with the Prince. Even as his thousand enemies approached, even as his children were in danger, even after the old gods found him after he angered them, he did not despair and give up."

Nida noticed that Pleo's eyes were beginning to droop, and he started to curl up on his pile of straw. All that sleeplessness must have been tiring, she thought to herself with a yawn.

"They murmured among themselves before they decided to humor the Prince, and so, the old god of the skies spoke on behalf of them all and said: 'Let it be so! Bottom, give your master strength and protection and character forever!' Just then, the Prince's hind legs grew strong and sprouted poisonous spikes that spread forward over his body. As the Prince continued to dig, his strengthened legs thumped and thumped, and shook even the very top of the skies, shaking bits and pieces of the moon off that fell to the earth-"

Nida then saw that Pleo's eyes were firmly shut. That was a good enough place to stop, she guessed. The Nidoran looked back at her space and saw that Elty had tossed about in his sleep and drifted over it. Nida grumbled to herself, and were it not for all the sleeping Pokémon around her, she'd have had half a mind to ram the little fatty and make him give her spot back.

But… She supposed that it wasn't unmanageable. After all, there seemed to be space enough for her next to where Pleo had curled up. She quietly crept over Pleo's feet and shuffled into the straw by his belly, settling down and drooping her eyes.

She then felt a feathery sensation brush up past her. Nida looked up for a moment and saw that Pleo had spread a wing over her, before she became too tired to care anymore and let her eyes close entirely as a soft voice spoke.

"Good night, Nida."


Author's Notes:

- amatorzy - Polish: "amateurs"
- ipana - Finnish: "brat"
- sea una posiblidad real - Spanish: "is a real possibility"