Chapter 10
Rapture
Kerrosian Territory - Kerrosia
Once more, they sat upon chilled-stone, waiting for their name to be called. A week had passed since the team got back together. Since then, day after day, they trained Dillan and, much to their surprise, each other.
Having gone against Guild Master Kaimana before proved to be pivotal. Through her spout of demeaning comments came positive critiques - mistakes they'd made before that hadn't even occurred to them. And they used everything they remembered to perfect their abilities - their teamwork.
Dillan recalled one, grueling morning in particular. The group had taken to using the bottom of the ravine for practice - a flat area normally shaded by the surrounding walls. The city's river poured from shelf to shelf, draining into a basin at the bottom, where a sort of run-down park sat.
It wasn't well-kept in the slightest, with paper scraps and bits of rubble scattered across the ground. Not even the pool survived the city as refuse floated on the surface, along with some slimy, sticky gook. Dillan couldn't imagine touching the swamp lest he get some flesh-eating bacteria. Not to mention the smell of mold in the air. It seemed to him that the pokemon of the area regarded this place as a public dump.
"Why are we here again…?" Dillan asked slowly, grimacing at what appeared to be a green, half-eaten loaf bobbing in the water.
Ryan walked on towards a flat spot near the center of the shaded ground and began brushing the trash away with his foot. "The Guild's training grounds are off-limits, and the sun would kill me outside."
"It's not that b-" Hazel stopped half-way from a gag reflex, "bad…" She retrieved a small cloth from her satchel and stuffed both ends into her nostrils, effectively plugging out the abysmal smell of rotting cheese and molding mud. "At least we have… uh… running water?"
Dillan took another look towards the floating loaf of mold. "Not even Hazel can make this place positive." He smirked defiantly through the nausea and turned his head to Ryan.
The pachirisu had begun scaling a small pile of wood, hopping up the side with precision. "Okay," he began, perching himself at the peak. "Let's get down to business. Dillan, we brought you out here to learn 'dig'."
Dillan found himself smiling stupidly at the pachirisu. "You want me to… play in the sand?" He kicked a small mound of dirt next to his foot, which broke into a cloud with a "puff".
Yet Hazel's eyes only seemed to grow in excitement. "That's an amazing idea, Ryan! Dig would be perfect! Dillan, you could avoid Kaimana underground, or- ooh!" She bounced towards the gabite in excitement. "Or you could jump up from underneath her! Not to mention she-"
"Anyways," Ryan brushed away Hazel's ideas with a paw. "He needs to learn it first before we bombard him with ideas."
"So… it's an attack?" Dillan asked. "Like Flame Thrower?" Though the idea of becoming more proficient in battle had an appeal, the only thing he could imagine "dig" would be good for is picking up sand with his fin and tossing it at an enemy's face - a bit too underhanded for him. However, if this would help him, he'd do whatever it took. "What do I have to do?"
Ryan smirked at the gabite: "It's actually pretty simple, and I heard it comes naturally for ground-types. You sure you've never done this before?"
"W-well…" Dillan felt his face growing hotter, having encountered one more difficult (and potentially revealing) question. "I guess you… ah… don't really need to… dig where I'm from… A-and like I said, I never really got into fights, either."
Ryan took the excuse pretty easily, clearly preferring to get down to brass tax instead of dwelling on other things. "My old partner was friends with a ground-type back when we were on a team, and I asked the guy once about 'Dig'. He said digging felt almost like swimming to him. All he needed to do was throw himself at the ground and it just… slid around him. He could move through it literally like water. Not to mention you ground-types have that weird… echolocation… thing in the ground."
Dillan's eyes grew wider at the explanation. Echolocation? Was that what happened to him back in Void Canyon? Echolocation? Maybe it wasn't some sort of 'Miracle Sense' afterall.
He guessed it made sense now that Ryan mentioned it. After all, tapping the walls showed him everything. It only made sense that it would be some form of echolocation. And Ryan's knowledge on the subject meant he must have known about Dig, too. In that case… could he really swim through the ground?
"So…" Dillan hesitated. "What now?"
"Well…" Ryan began.
The pit fell into silence only broken by the river. Dillan and Hazel both looked towards the pachirisu with pressing gazes whilst Ryan stood there with crossed arms and a finality in his eyes. They just continued to stare. To wait.
"Well… what?"
Ryan just blinked in response. He found himself sitting atop the pile of wood and rock, crossing his arms with pursed lips. "Well… I dunno. Dive at the ground, I guess?"
Dillan practically jumped away from the ground as the image of himself squishing like an accordion shot through his brain. "Really?!"
Hazel's face twisted into a sneer: "And suddenly my coaching skills don't look so bad."
"Maybe there's an easier way…?" Dillan bargained. "Preferably one I walk away from without pancaking?"
Dillan looked towards Ryan with a pleading expression but the pachirisu just scoffed: "Do I look like a ground-type?" the pachirisu insisted. "The guy just said it was natural. What am I supposed to do with that?"
"When you sound like you know what you're talking about," Hazel continued, "We assume you do."
"That's all the guy said! I assumed you just throw yourself at the ground! Roll around! Something! It's all instinctual anyways! Learning 'Discharge' was for me when I first tried. So was Ember for Hazel, right?" The charmeleon slowly nodded in agreement. "How hard can it be?"
"I guess you have a point," Hazel shrugged. She walked on towards the remains of a busted table and sat up on one of the less-splintered ends (her scales would resist the shards). "You should give it a try, Dillan."
"O-okay…" Dillan agreed less-than-enthusiastically.
As Ryan moved from his wood pile to join Hazel, the group watched as Dillan eyed a small patch of grass in the ground. There, amongst the blades, was a small, white fleck of a flower. That was his bullseye. If it was anything like his local pool, Dillan would just… jump at it… and die.
He took a steely breath of muckish air and bent at the legs. He bounced up and down, swinging his arms to psyche himself up. Up and down. Up and down. Eventually, he'd jump at the flower. Eventually, he'd lunge. Eventually, he'd… splat.
The gabite bit his lip, just swaying his arms back and forth. "I don't think I can do this…"
Truthfully, every inch of him demanded this was wrong. "¡Te romperás la nariz!"his mother would have warned, accompanied by a slap to the arm. A warm spot formed on his shoulder scales just thinking about it. Was he really about to lunge at the ground? Just like that?
"You want this, don't you?" Ryan chided.
"Come on, Dillan!" Hazel cheered, paws cupped aroundher maw. "Just go for it!"
Dillan took a deep breath, looking down at his feet - those blue, scaly meat patties. By now, he'd gotten used to seeing blue scales instead of black sketchers. And that in itself felt wrong.
Ryan was right. He wanted this. More than anything, he wanted to get home. And this was the only way. If diving straight at a flower like some feral chipmunk was the answer… he'd go straight through it.
And with a final crunch, he did just that. He vaulted from the ground, like an olympic diver, aiming his snout at the ground. He eyed that flower with steely determination, allowing himself to fall towards the ground. His arms moved on instinct. They shot ahead of him to break the surface. And in a second, his body crumpled against dirt and sand.
Dillan felt his arms bend awkwardly as his face slammed into the ground. He squeaked like a bent mouse. His tail swung lopsided in his vision, and his face began to burn.
"Ah, shit…" Ryan groaned from above.
"Dillan?!" Hazel gasped. Pretty soon, Dillan felt a warm claw pushing him over and onto his back (which was propped up by the fin). "Are you alright?!"
Dillan's claws pressed against his snout, rubbing out the wrinkles and sore muscles. "That didn't work… That didn't work at all…"
"Well, you actually have to dig," Hazel said before mumbling, "I think…"
Dillan's head slumped limply backwards. "I thought I was supposed to swim?"
"Maybe…" Hazel said with a claw to her chin. "Or maybe… it's like attacking the ground itself? I mean, that's how my friends used to describe swimming. You just swipe at the water over and over. Maybe Dig is like that?"
Dillan looked towards Hazel from the corner of his eye. "Attacking the ground…?" he thought. Yet he just shook his head. "Are you sure this is something gabite can do?"
"You're a ground-type," Ryan scoffed as though it were obvious. "Of course, you can. You just suck at it."
Hazel pulled Dillan to his feet again, looking him in the eyes with a smile. "You can do this, Dillan. You picked up on Dragon Claw relatively fast, right? Why wouldn't you do the same for Dig?"
The gabite considered Hazel's words for a second. Regardless of her words or the pain in his snout, he didn't see much choice but to try again. This was their way of standing a chance against Kaimana.
As Hazel stepped back, Dillan thought about how best to do this. Attack the ground… he wondered, looking back to a now-crumpled flower. Attack the ground… Maybe… Could using Dragon Claw help? He shot his fin quite easily into the low-humming blade. It had cut across pokemon quite easily before… He couldn't imagine the soil would be too difficult - like slicing into moldy whipped cream. Would using Dragon Claw help with his dive? Or would it be just another hit to his schnoz?
"Pinche…" Dillan hissed, rubbing his muzzle. The pain lasted the week. He could still feel it, even as he sat in that waiting room. He remembered trying over and over again to use that move. Hazel and Ryan threw in suggestions here and there, but they eventually formed a solid plan. And now, sitting in that room, all that was left was to wait.
Dillan's heart raced in his chest. The test was upon the group. The last week to pass. There wouldn't be any redos this time. No more time to spend practicing. What they had now was all they were going to get. Hazel mentioned these tests take place only once a year, so failing would mean he'd have to wait another year for access to the Guild's library, and he couldn't afford it.
The downside to waiting as long as they did meant sitting in the waiting room alone. While during their first time, multiple teams of pokemon all waited for their names to be called, there were only three now: a group of black-and-white dog pokemon, a team of bird mons, and of course, the trio of friends.
Hazel sat beside Dillan, making popping sounds with her mouth as she twiddled her thumb-like claws together: the epitome of an ADHD kid. Ryan had taken to pacing across the carpet in deep thought. His cheeks sparked uncontrollably with each step. And Dillan… He could only sit with the crackle of an overhead lantern fire and the worry in his brain.
Butterflies swirled like a twister in his stomach. After all, a week ago, Kaimana handed him his own ass on a silver platter. She might have even asked, "Is this yours?" He couldn't remember over the crack of her bone staff.
In fact, Dillan couldn't remember a single fight in this world he had won. Even with the training and Hazel's plan, he wondered if he'd be able to hold his own.
"Just stick to the plan and it will work out fine," Ryan assured the team, still pacing.
Dillan let a small laugh escape. "Are you assuring us or yourself?"
"You, obviously," Ryan sneered, though he kept his eyes on the ground.
"We've got this," Hazel added, still finger-twiddling. "I'm not even worried this time around."
Dillan couldn't help but smile at his friend - a source of confidence in this unsure time. Yet even still, he wondered if there was anything else he could have done to make the coming battle easier.
A deep inhale sounded from beside the two pokemon, loud enough to stop Ryan's pacing, as Hazel pushed off the chair. She turned to face them with a bit of a nervous smile.
"I, uh…" Hazel began, kneading the strap of her bag nervously. "Let me start by saying… You both know I've been trying to join a rescue team with the Guild for a long time now. And things… Well, things haven't ever gone to plan for me."
"Oh, you're doing a speech now," Ryan said snarkily.
Dillan jabbed him lightly with the base of his claw, and Ryan raised his hand apologetically. "My bad," he squeaked with a smile. "Continue."
Hazel couldn't help but laugh a little at Ryan's shenanigans. In fact, her grip on her bag's strap seemed to loosen a bit more. "Look. Whatever happens today, I want you both to know you're my partners now. Even if we don't get into the Guild. We'll just become mercenaries… or something. We'll help towns where we can. I mean, we've lived off the land for a bit now, and…" Hazel took another breath and laughed. "Anyways…"
She undid her bag's lip with a small, "pop" and reached inside. Her claws only rested surface-level before, with a great smile, she brought out a set of purple cloths that caught Dillan's eye. With a white, vine-like designs across the front, they encircled a swirling sun pattern. They glistened in the lantern light, and as she offered one to Dillan, he found it felt as soft as silk against his scales.
"Cool!" Dillan said with a wide smile. "Are these like friendship bracelets or something?"
Hazel handed the second to Ryan before answering. "Better than that! Here!" She wrapped the third one - her own - around her neck. Its ends draped across her chest like a scarf, and she fluffed out the bunches underneath her chin. "They're magical items! They give you special powers when you wear them. Like, mine's laced with a sacred charcoal dust right out of the Phoenix King legend! It feeds my inner flame, making my fire-type moves better. Yours," Hazel took the cloth from Dillan's claws. She shifted closer to him on the bench and helped wrap it around his neck like a bandanna, "Yours was supposedly bathed in Jarondai's volcano, where the Darmanitan knights are said to reside. They made this to keep themselves warm even if they traveled to the coldest climates. I figured it'd help on cold nights when we're camping."
Hazel finished tying it off at the back, and the cloth draped neatly over his breast. Almost instantly, a warmth seemed to radiate from the band into his throat, and with each breath, that warm energy carried into his chest. The gabite smiled at the sensation, like breathing in steam at the gym's sauna. "Awesome…!" he sighed. "It's like magic!"
"More or less," Ryan shrugged dismissively.
"No more awful breezes," Hazel confirmed. Then a look of recognition dawned. "By the way…" she reached once more into her satchel and brought out the Sapphire Star.
Dillan's eyes went wide for a second. "O-oh, right!" he stuttered. "I forgot I'd given it to you." He tried to shake out the image of Lily's fiery eyes.
Hazel strung the sapphire around his neck once more before stuffing it underneath his bandanna. "There," she said. "I figured you'd want that back, and the bandanna should hide it easily enough."
Dillan beamed at the charmeleon. She was right - with the bandanna, the Sapphire star was now shielded from onlookers.
He gave a light tug of the cloth. "Thank you, Hazel," the gabite smiled.
"Don't mention it."
She then turned to the pachirisu who had just finished tying the band around the base of his tail. "Now for you, Ryan, yours comes from Avis Valley. It's said that the birds who lived there found a way to harness the wind itself. They used-"
But Hazel's explanation was quickly put to a stop as the double doors opened, and a minccino - the desk clerk for Kerrosia's Guild, stepped into the room. She called out from the front, "Next!" She held a small clipboard with a band towards the top that held a page which she eyed with an upturned jaw. "Team Rescue?"
"Oh, God," the pachirisu groaned, stepping towards the minccino. "Look, Team Rescue's not going to cut it. We need to change that."
"You want to change the team name?" the minccino said, showing the group her page - a mess of letters Dillan found to be illegible. That wasn't to say it was jumbled or sloppily written. In fact, the writing looked pristine: pristine chicken scratch. It was a language Dillan didn't understand, which made the gabite's heart shrink. Was… this the world's writing? Had he really gone this long without reading… anything? Was all of Ganderosa's writing like this? Not… english?
No. He couldn't focus on that now. He'd just end up psyching himself out. He needed to remain focused on the objective ahead: beating Kaimana and passing the exam.
The minccino pressed a finger to a line of writing with, "See? Team Rescue." Both Hazel and Ryan scoffed simultaneously. However:
"Yeah, we're changing that," Ryan said. The pachirisu stepped up to the minccino - who stood only a foot above him. Without even asking, the pachirisu took the piece of charcoal nestled within the rubber band at the top, along with the clipboard. Ryan scribbled something into the page and pushed the clipboard back at the minccino. She looked over the change, attempting to read it but groaned aloud. "You write like an infant."
Ryan stood tall, defiantly, hardly closing the gap in their height. "Look, you fluffy grammar queen. Try reading it again."
The minccino blinked a couple times, unsure of what Ryan just called her. She looked back to the page, then to Ryan, then to the page again. Her arms inevitably fell to her sides in defeat. "Just… just go fight the Guild Master already."
"Thank you," Ryan said with a lazy tap to his chest.
"Wait," Hazel looked between Ryan and the minccino in panic, the latter already half-way through exiting the room. "What name did you put down? What's our team name?"
"It's a surprise," Ryan said with a smirk. He flashed his tail towards Hazel, pointing towards the newly-acquired purple band. "So, tell me what this does already? You got me all psyched up talking about 'harnessing winds' and whatever. What does it do?"
Dillan eyed the pachirisu playfully. "Is that really more important than our team name?"
Ryan merely shrugged. "It is to me."
Yet Hazel didn't seem all-too pleased. Instead, she gave a mock smile at the pachirisu. "You wanna know what it does?"
"Yeah," Ryan answered back. "That's why I asked."
Hazel waited a moment before smirking ahead. "It's a surprise," was all Hazel said before walking away.
Ryan was just left blinking in confusion, watching her flame flicker back and forth. "W-wait! Tell me what it does!" he insisted.
"That's not how this works," Hazel laughed. "Unless you tell me what you picked for our team name, I won't tell you about the band."
Ryan opened his jaw, assumedly to beg, but resisted the urge. He then turned to Dillan as if to say, "Can you believe this?"
To which Dillan responded, "She might have told you if you shared what you'd wrote down," before he followed Hazel towards the double doors.
Ryan was left staring, though Dillan knew he was smiling as he hopped over to join them.
And with a push of the doors, the team found themselves again in the rocky arena. The once pristine pillars that surrounded now stood chipped and worn from previous battles. The wooden stands held very few occupants: only three pokemon watching - pokemon with glistening, silver Guild badges. Yet Dillan felt a burning in the air.
The giant lantern of glass and flame above once bathed the field in an almost unattainable light. The shadows of the pillars once stood against the gabite's face like a beast. But now? The light seemed to drive those shadows back. It burned brighter than ever, and Dillan felt his scales warm. Even his steps, once heavy from exhaustion and worry, now felt invigorated with each movement towards the throne opposite them.
There she was. Kaimana. Sat cross-legged across the throne's arms, she held a bag of ice on her knuckles. Beside her was the same minccino as before, having whispered something in her ear. Yet hearing their steps across the field, Kaimana dismissed the minccino with a wave. "Welcome to the Kerrosian Guild," she said, not yet looking towards the approaching three. The ice was quickly set on the throne's back and she turned to them with a smile. Yet having taken a more serious view, Kaimana stopped as disgust made its way past her previous pep. "Team Rescue, was it?"
"Not anymore!" Hazel called, the group stopping mid-way. "Apparently, that name was awful!"
Ryan pounded his fist into his open palm. "Damn straight!"
Dillan stood with pride and adjusted his new bandanna. "We're here to retake the exam!"
The group all struck their breasts and kneeled towards the lucario (albeit, Dillan a bit delayed having followed Ryana and Hazel's example). Yet her expression did not soften even at this show of respect and unity.
"You waste my time and your own by being here," Kaimana demanded, placing the ice on her knuckles once more. "I suggest the three of you cease this charade and exit my Guild."
Dillan, standing tall on his own feet, looked Kaimana in her eyes. "We're not leaving until you give us a second chance!"
"You could always give up without a fight," Ryan mocked. "I'm sure that's the honorable thing to do."
Kaimana's breath ceased at those words. Her eyes narrowed with sharp intensity to her eyes. "I would suggest you not make such comments in my presence, fopdoodle."
The word seemed to shoot over Ryan's head entirely. However, Hazel's eyes shot open at the comment. "H-hey!"
"This is your last chance to leave my Guild before I personally throw you to the streets."
"Bring it, chippy!" Ryan announced, gritting his teeth.
Dillan and Hazel followed suit, the gabite's fins shooting out into the blue blades and Hazel blowing smoke out the sides of her mouth as they both stood ready.
"We're beating you this time," Dillan assured, "as a team!"
Kaimana's eyes went from one to the other, scowling deeply at each one. Her chest expanded from behind her copper breastplate as a sigh escaped her maw. "Very well. We shall see if you three truly are ready, though I doubt you are up to the challenge."
Kaimana watched the pokemon with disgust. Her breath stank of discontent at their very presence. Regardless, it didn't stop her from taking to the arena.
"Robin, you will watch over the match this time," Kaimana stated, gesturing towards the minccino. "Just in case these three get out of hand."
"She's scared we'll cheat?" Ryan huffed. "Really?"
"It doesn't change anything," Hazel assured. "If we stick to the plan this time, we'll win."
Kaimana raised her arms in the air. This was it. In a split second, she would clang her bracelets together and the fight would officially start. Only this time, they had a strategy and each other to rely upon. Confidence in his friends assured Dillan: they would win.
And with a sharp motion, Kaimana's iron bracelets clanged together, starting the fight.
The lucario took off like a bullet towards the group, leveling her nose with the ground as she sprinted. The three Guildling onlookers cheered for the start of the fight, all the while the trio nodded.
"Let's kick her bony ass!" Ryan demanded.
With a cloud of sand, the pachirisu took off at a great speed - greater than even he'd expected. In fact, Dillan was left slack-jawed as the pachirisu became a speeding blur of mad cackling. Kaimana immediately stopped in place as her jaw hung open by the blinding speed at which Ryan ran. He circled her like a mad pilot.
"He's running so fast!" Dillan said in awe.
Ryan took a glance back towards the purple band wrapped around his tail. "The band makes me run faster?!"
Hazel waved a paw with joy towards the pachirisu: "You said you liked using your speed to out maneuver opponents! I thought you'd appreciate it!"
"Hell yeah!"
Ryan broke from the circle in a second and darted at Kaimana. And as he did so, the plan was set in motion.
"This again?" the lucario snapped. She drove a fist towards the pachirisu, but he changed directions quickly with a skid. Her fist collided with the ground followed by an instant surge of heat bathing her body. Kaimana shouted from the burning across her fur. She stumbled away from the flames in shock, singed at the tips of her fur from the heat.
She looked back wide-eyed towards Hazel, whose tail-flame flared wildly. Ash left her nose in a breath. Yet Dillan was nowhere to be seen. Where is the…
Kaimana's feet shifted from underneath her. And she jumped in a panic, narrowly avoiding the gabite as he shot out from the ground like a shark from water. His glowing fins swung at Kaimana. Both blows cut into her armor before Dillan dove at the ground once more. He slashed at the ground with Dragon Claw and punctured the surface.
Dillan grinned wickedly at how easily the attack came to him. The hurdle was breaking through the ground's crust, like it were the surface of a pool. Without the use of his blades, he might as well be belly-flopping. He'd never move anywhere. Yet by slicing at the ground, breaking the crust of dirt, everything shifted around him like water. All he needed to do was, well, swim. Pushing with his fins did all the work. And each push sent vibrations into the earth. It allowed Dillan to see exactly where his enemy was. And after a week of practice, he could move beneath his opponent.
Kaimana spun around, spotting the hole Dillan had retreated into. "This basic strategy will not help you if you do not work together," she spat. Yet a jolt of lightning shot across her face, barely missing its mark.
She looked to the side to spot Ryan on all-fours, darting around her.
A smirk set across Kaimana's lips.
The Guild Master clapped her hands together with a clang of her bracelets, and a blue, bone-like staff shimmered in her paws. She drove it towards Ryan, which struck his face with a "crack!" Ryan rolled across the floor a couple times before shooting back to his feet, yet he merely smiled through the red mark as another jet of flames hit Kaimana directly.
She let out a cry of pain as the metal piece on her chest grew in heat and intensity, like an oven baking her chest. She quickly spun her bone staff, creating a shield. She hid behind it with strain in her bulging muscles.
Hazel didn't let up. The heat slowly began to eat at her arms and at her chestplate. Kaimana grinned wickedly at the outcome. "You three are doing better," she began. "Using the flames to burn me within my armor gives you a better chance. However… it also makes you predictable."
Without warning, she side-stepped. And up came Dillan, who instantly slashed at where Kaimana would have been. Having missed his attack, the gabite seized.
"Crap!" Even with his in-ground echolocation, Dillan was outmaneuvered by the lucario. He felt the crack of her bone against his skull before she even hit him. However, with Kaimana in the middle of a devastating swipe, Ryan dove in. He barely latched onto Dillan's foot, twirling him in a cartwheel and out of the way.
They both landed on the ground with a "thud." Yet they avoided the blow. And before Kaimana could recover, another wave of flames engulfed the Guild Master, forcing her backwards.
Kaimana laughed aloud at the three. She watched Dillan and Ryan scramble back to the end of the field, opposite Hazel, who ceased her flames to check on her team. And with a great grin, Kaimana laughed. "Where was this fire a week ago, Team Rescue? What happened in such a short time?"
"We got our shit together!" Ryan called out.
"We made a plan!" Hazel announced.
"We're a team now!" Dillan said. "Like I said, we're going to join the Guild today!"
"The progress is truly impressive!" Kaimana called out, her grin never fading. "But brute force is hardly teamwork!"
Kaimana leveled her chest with the ground and ran straight ahead for the real threat - the lynch pin in their plan: Hazel's flames. Dillan grimaced at the sight. Truth was, Hazel's flames were the real threat. Dillan could make holes, but he hadn't learned how to make 'Dig' into an attack yet. It was all transportation for him. Hazel was the real tank. And if Kaimana got to her…
The charmeleon pushed out another flume of flames. They licked the air and brushed against Kaimana's fur, but the lucario skirted around it easily enough. She closed the distance in an instant, reaching a grip of literal iron towards the charmeleon. Her claws outstretched with fingers like razors. However, her attack never hit.
She noticed too late that Ryan's small body appeared from just beneath the flames. The pachirisu had stayed low enough to the ground to run underneath the stream of fire and obscured completely. Kaimana had no time to react before he slammed head first into her ankle, managing to roll her foot.
The lucario shouted from the instant sprain but didn't waver. She quickly summoned her club, driving Ryan into the ground. And with the other end of her club, she struck at Hazel's legs.
The pachirisu ate a face-full of dirt and stopped in his tracks. Meanwhile, Hazel's body flipped out from under her. She fell to the ground with a large "bang" of her head against the dirt. She immediately cradled her aching head in her claws, and she hardly recognized the glowing staff lowered at her head.
"This is over," Kaimana called out. "You fought better than last time but you hardly did much convincing." She took a look around her and found Ryan struggling to his feet. However, Dillan was once again nowhere to be seen. "Having your friend fight from under the ground leaves him unable to effectively cover you. It makes for poor teamwork."
Yet a surprising thing happened. In spite of Kaimana's words, Hazel seemed to grin wickedly. She clutched at her head to try and dull the aching but her smile didn't falter. "You haven't been using your aura sense us, have you?"
Kaimana's brow tensed upwards. "You realized…?" she began with shock. "How-"
"You're a lucario, and I knew you'd hold back." Hazel grinned wickedly, blowing smoke from her maw. "Call it a lucky guess."
Hazel blew a stream of flames straight towards Kaimana's face, forcing her to double back. Yet her feet seemed to shift underneath her weight. She looked down in shock. "Wha-"
Then she understood why Dillan continued to dig underneath her feet, why he didn't fight her directly, but by then it was too late.
She made to swing at Hazel's head, knowing if she'd truly fallen into a trap it would be best to subdue the threat now, yet a blur of white soared from beyond view, slamming directly into her head. She stumbled under the blow - a single move that shook the ground beneath. The very rock underfoot shifted like sand, obviously a pitfall, set up by the gabite and his digging… And they used the fire-type as the bait, drawing her right into a trap. With the combined weights of the lucario's body and her iron armor, the ground crumbled beneath her.
Kaimana's back slapped against solid stone, stopping her descent at the bottom of a make-shift pit. Her breath was immediately forced from her lungs as she stared upwards towards the ceiling in surprise.
"Now!"
A barrage of electricity and flames filled the hole. Hazel and Ryan threw barrage after barrage into the hole. It became a pool of crackling energy, all the while Dillan came up from behind.
"Did we do it?" Dillan asked, stepping out of his newly-dug hole.
"The fight won't stop until she clangs her wrists!" Ryan roared above the crackling.
Dillan watched the vortex of energy swirling below his feet. Hazel's plan had worked perfectly. Down there, shrouded in rolling flames, Kaimana had to be there. The plan would work. It would…
Dillan's heart raced in his ears. His breath became shakier and shakier. He watched the faces of his friends. They waited and waited, stretching their own abilities to their limits. Hazel's flames, while they once licked at the air above the pit, seemed to become confined to the hole. The electricity from Ryan's cheeks grew quieter and quieter by the second. All the while, Dillan watched with a growing hole in his stomach.
She wasn't surrendering… Did they make that awful an impression the first time? Was the Guild Master really that petty?
Hazel was the first to break. Her knee came out from under her - perhaps more injured from Kaimana's blow than before. She doubled over in a panting fit. Ryan followed suit soon after. But as they looked over the rim of a now-smoking hole, as the fire and electricity dispersed into the ground, their faces all went white. Kaimana was nowhere to be seen. What's worse, there was an exit hole.
Dillan took a step back in horror. "No…"
He had hardly a second's notice to spin around before Kaimana appeared from a hole behind. It was the same hole he exited the ground from. He inadvertently left her an exit from the pit.
In the blink of an eye, Dillan felt Kaimana's fists beat against his stomach. He fell to the ground in gasping pain. And Kaimana's shadow disappeared towards Hazel.
Ryan tried sprinting towards her but his movements were slowed. Hazel could only bring her arms up and shield her own face from Kaimana's bone. It beat into her brain before rebounding into Ryan's teeth. Kaimana forced the staff into the ground and pivoted, driving her knee into Hazel's chest.
Hazel coughed, strained beneath the blunt-force of the blow. Before she could imagine reaching out to push herself up, Kaimana stood atop her, using her like an island.
The lucario surveyed the remaining arena from atop Hazel with a grin that made Dillan sick. He looked towards Ryan and found the pachirisu stumbling on the ground. He tried desperately to get up but his head seemed to fight him, swirling like a leaf caught in a twister.
Kaimana was left to stare in absolute astonishment as her body sparked from atop Hazel, but she didn't stumble. Blood dripped from her maw, and Dillan saw teeth marks etched into her lower lip. She stared him down with a merciless gaze that made him shiver. "The fight is over. You lost. Embrace it with honor."
"You lost," he repeated in his brain. She was calling him out. He wondered if she could sense his nervousness. After all, their plan failed. He let their plan fail. How could he be so careless as to leave her an escape?
His brain told him the fight was over. His instincts told him to run. His eyes watched Ryan, still struggling futilely against his own vertigo, and Hazel who struggled just to breathe beneath Kaimana's weight. He caused this. Again. His own uselessness.
He couldn't win against her. He never could. Running would have been the smart thing to do.
But his own teeth grit together in defiance. Running was a thought he couldn't afford. Grace couldn't afford it. He left her alone, sick, and in need. He couldn't stop now. He would lose, definitely, but he needed to win. He needed whatever miracle God could give him. Grace needed him too much to quit, even if he'd lose.
His chest began to burn from a single point. It burned at the tip of his ribs. Right against the skin beneath his bandanna. Yet he took no time to think of it. He leveled his arms towards Kaimana, summoning his blue scythes in front of him. "I'm not done!"
"Then prove it!" Kaimana swung the bone over her head and hurled it. A blurring, blue disc set on running him down.
Dillan didn't think this time. He didn't let himself. He was afraid he'd convince himself to run. Instead, he focused on that burning feeling that touched his chest. He focused every emotion and thought into that feeling and allowed his body to react. And the bone seemed to slow midair.
It gave him just enough time to cut directly into the bone. The attack felt like an aluminum bat beating itself against his fins. He roared against the pressure. He pressed the bone down and drove it into the ground with a blast of rock and dust suspended in slow-motion.
The gabite instantly dove through the cloud towards Kaimana. He felt the dryness in the air, burning in his nose, but he didn't stop. He felt his arms move to slash into Kaimana's chest but never stopped. Kaimana seemed caught off-guard by this sudden attack - something she'd never seen from the gabite. She moved her arms up to block Dillan but her movements looked like she moved through jello: slow enough for the gabite to catch Kaimana's knee towards his chest.
Dillan dug his fins into her leg. He twisted them in a single, violent motion. It rolled in Dillan's arms. Kaimana let out a drawn-out howl and stumbled. But Dillan didn't stop. He threw a jab towards her breastplate and managed to connect. He ignored the shooting pain it sent up his wrist for the sake of winning.
The spot on Dillan's chest got hotter and hotter as Kaimana slowed more and more. She attempted to block another jab from Dillan but couldn't move fast enough. Her attempted blocks became stuck in time, leaving her defenseless. He beat into her breastplate with clanging crashes. Each blow felt like it shot up his arms in bone-splitting pain. Yet he couldn't think. He couldn't stop. He couldn't. All he could see was a blinding, blue light. He could hardly even see Kaimana's arms anymore.
And then, a final jab split Dillan's claw at the base. Dillan instantly stumbled back as all cylinders in his brain blared in warning. He gave a short gasp before a swift palm forced itself against his head.
Dillan blinked in stunned horror as the world caught up to him again. Kaimana made two blindingly fast strikes - one to his chest and the other to his leg - and crippled Dillan. He fell backwards in a daze before cradling his claws beneath his arms
"¡A-Ai…!" Dillan panted furiously. The pain finally caught up to his own brain. He felt the bones in his arms scream from attacking Kaimana in such an unnatural way. He could hardly breathe from the agony his arms were under.
He could feel the wetness running down his claw and down his arm. He held both claws forward in shock. The final jab had cracked his left claw down the middle, splintering up the base and under the skin. His right claw seemed chipped from the attacks while warm blood trickled, dribbling off both claw tips and into the dirt below. Alarms went off all across his skull, screaming "body horror!" as loud as possible. "D… d-damn it…!"
"Mr. Gabite!" a squeaky voice called. In an instant, Dillan found his arms being pulled by the fins into the fluffy paws of Robin the minccino. She traced a finger across the crack in his claw with gritted teeth. "How far up does it hurt?"
Dillan hardly registered the question. His teeth remained gritted as he stared at the puddle of blood beginning to form at his feet. "D-damn…" he moaned. "A-ah, damn it…!
"Robin," Kaimana's voice rang above Dillan's moans. "He needs to see our physician."
Those words snapped Dillan from his own thoughts. "W-wait!" he urged, looking wide-eyed to Kaimana. "Are you p-pulling me from th-the fight…?"
Yet Kaimana just clanged her wrists together, signaling the end of the battle. "It's finished. You can no longer continue in this state."
"Dillan…?" Ryan managed. The pachirisu stumbled past the lucario towards Dillan, clutching his head in his paw. Yet he stopped at the sight of blood. Ryan gritted his teeth and reared on Kaimana: "What did you do to him?!"
Yet before she could say anything, the lucario was brushed to the side as Hazel rushed past. "Dillan?" She knelt down to the seething gabite, next to Robin the minccino. "Oh, Arceus! Your claws! What happened?!"
Dillan's eyes locked shut as he cradled his claws. "I punched her…!" he groaned. "I punched her really hard…!"
"Dillan," Robin began by pressing a paw to his leg. "You need to see the Guild Physician. A crack like this might have damaged your inner arm."
"No!" Dillan seethed. "I can't! That'll mean… losing the fight!"
"Gabite, the fight is done," Kaimana stated. "Stand down."
"We worked too hard for it…!"
Dillan shifted his weight to stand. Yet before he could, he felt Hazel's paw press itself against his shoulder. "Dillan, Kaimana's right," Hazel said. "These cracks could be bad. You need to see the doctor!"
"How can you say that?!" Dillan forced out through the pain. "You still want this, don't you?!"
"Yeah, we did," Ryan said with a scowl at the ground. "But the fight's over, man."
"I'm not quitting."
He made to stand - ignoring the sudden agony in his arms - but found himself pushed back down by Hazel once more. "Dillan, please," she pressed.
"Hazel," Dillan urged, looking right into her eyes, "you don't know how much I need this!"
"Damn it, Dillan!" Ryan snapped, hopping up to Dillan's legs. "Would you knock it off?!" He gripped Dillan's arm at the base and pulled the claw into view, much to Dillan's agony. "Look at yourself!"
Yet as Dillan stared back, he didn't see his own claw. He just stared into Ryan's face.
The pachirisu's brow was furrowed into intense worry. Not a speck of anger was present on his face. His fur stood on-end as he stared into Dillan's eyes. He stared with fear. He stared with desperation.
"This is bad!" Ryan said, squeezing him. "You could lose your arm if you keep fighting! Just let it go!"
Let this go…? Ryan was telling him to let this go… Looking down at his injuries, his brain said "horrible" but he didn't really know the extent of damage he'd done. After all, he was a dragonic monster. This could be serious for all he knew. The only hint as to its severity was how insistent Ryan was being.
And he must have been serious about this. After all, he's never looked so concerned for Dillan's safety. He was truly worried about his friend.
The pain shot up once more. It burned like sticking his hand on a hot iron. The gabite finally crumpled into a ball of pain. He pulled his claws once more underneath his arms and groaned. "F-fine…"
He felt tears come to his eyes once more. The match was over. This time, there weren't any redos. This was it. And they lost because of Dillan.
He left Kaimana an escape from their carefully formulated plan. And then he made himself incapable of fighting. Dillan failed the exam.
Defeat became an all-too familiar scent for the gabite. It smelled of iron and pain. Its stench soaked into bandages that were wrapped around his arms with care. It smelled of chemicals and tasted of dirt. It felt bitter - like bruises that sat across his body, or the aches in his muscles. It felt like grinding teeth.
The gabite desperately wanted to stop thinking about what had just occurred. Yet finding himself pushed into yet another cushioned bed, being doted over by yet another doctor, he found himself teetering between swallowing what just occurred or dealing with imaginary scents of hand sanitizer all over again.
At least this time, he had Hazel and Ryan with him.
The two seemed a bit dazed from the earlier beating, but nothing more than bruises (as evident by the welts across Hazel's face and legs. Ryan's fur, however, covered most of his own damage). They'd been allowed to sit on a mattress next to within a dark room: one deep within the Guild's orange underbelly with a multitude of beds and a lone door to the north. The physician, a pink pokemon with spiky wings (clefable), had given them both some sort of herbs. Although both pokemon bit their tongues upon eating them, they quickly scarfed them down. How Dillan wished it were that simple for him.
"On the positive side, they're fixable," is what it told Dillan, finishing the bindings with a cutesy bow at the end. A pink aura pulsated outwards from its hand, effectively numbing the pain. "Like some sort of mage…" Dillan thought in astonishment.
"But you really did a number on your claws," the doctor went on. "The blunt force you exerted on your claws definitely cracked the bone. It stretches up your forearm to about… here." The clefable tapped a spot just below his fin - half-way up the arm. "But it could be worse. Count yourself lucky you stopped when you did."
Thankful sighs went through both Ryan and Hazel. The gabite, however, felt nothing but frustration.
"How is that possible?" the gabite asked, lightly rubbing his claws against each other. "Isn't this just… breaking a nail?"
"It's all bone, dear," the clefable explained, taking his remaining claw in-hand. "And this one is just chipped. You're lucky it isn't worse."
"But the other one's broken…" Given how long it took for his last broken bone to heal, he could expect to spend… a week inside the hospital?
The gabite groaned at the mere thought. "Fantastic…" He lowered himself backwards, his back fin sliding deep into the mattress. However, a soft hand pulled him back upright by the shoulder before slipping a sling over his head.
The clefable slid his right arm in the sling. "Keep your arm in this for a few weeks, and try not to strain it."
"You don't have any berries to fix this faster?" Dillan pleaded. "I mean, I'd take that… exploding dust at this point."
Yet the clefable simply laughed the same laugh his mother used to use whenever he;d asked something silly. "This isn't magic, dear. It's medicine."
"Besides," Hazel chimed in, pressing her palms against her knees. "Figgy pollen doesn't heal bones."
"Just stab wounds," Ryan chuckled.
But Dillan didn't laugh. He just laid back in bed and stared at the ceiling.
How could he injure himself like that? Why was he throwing punches again? He knew they only ended up hurting him. Was he that desperate he'd thrown what should be common sense now out the window?
Then again, was any of this common sense? Sure, he'd spent a few weeks as a gabite, but was that really long enough to adapt to all the ins and outs? Looking at his bandaged arm, clearly not.
He lied his head back and went over the fight: what he did wrong, what he could have done better, how he could have avoided injury. He became lost in his own thoughts, in the realization that losing the fight just put him back at square one. He wouldn't be getting access to Ganderosa's biggest library. His only lead - one that admittedly was shaky at best - had slid through his fingers. Come to think of it, would he have been able to read the books anyways, or would he have had to come up with some elaborate lie to get Hazel to read it? He might as well be limping across those dark plains right now. He was no closer to getting home than when he'd first started.
Grace would be so disappointed in him…
He was so lost in thought, he didn't notice the physician leaving the room, nor Ryan and Hazel hopping onto his bedside. The pachirisu laid down atop the bed next to Dillan while Hazel just continued sitting at the edge.
Ryan punched Dillan's leg playfully. "Y'know, you could be losing your arm. That'd sucked, huh?"
A part of Dillan's mind had broken from his thoughts to respond. He pursed his lips with, "I guess you're right."
The gabite's gaze drifted across the ceiling, tracing different cracks in thought. He wondered how long they'd been broken that way. The ceiling couldn't always have been busted. Would it ever go back to normal or did the world keep it that way? Did it want it looking like that for some unforeseen grand design? Would it be stuck like that forever?
He traced the cracks in the wall with his gaze, seeing how they ran down the wall, but stopped seeing Hazel's face obscuring them.
It was the first time Dillan had gotten a good look at the charmeleon since the fight. She held what appeared to be a frozen pouch of water directly onto a swelling lump. Her claws clenched against the seam of the mattress, hanging onto it as if she could topple over at any second. Her eyes studied the wall just as closely as Dillan. And all of a sudden, he felt very stupid.
"This was your dream," Dillan said to the charmeleon. He found his head fall backwards once more. "I'm… sorry I screwed it up for you…"
The bed shifted underneath Hazel's weight. "What does that mean?" Dillan could hear an uneasy edge to her voice, yet she laughed the sentence out.
"He blames himself," Ryan said simply. He layed back against Dillan's leg atop his own fuzzy paws.
"Well, it's my fault," Dillan argued. "I mean, you came up with a foolproof plan. And it almost worked." Dillan remembered feeling Kaimana within that hole. He sensed her in there, her head panicking back and forth as she scanned for an exit. Yet he was so concerned with coming above ground and so wrapped up in the moment he'd neglected to take everything in. "I left a hole for Kaimana to escape."
"Of course, you did," Ryan laughed. "We all did, really. The plan was half-baked."
"That makes it my fault in the end," Hazel sighed. "It was my plan. I assumed the tunnel would collapse when the floor gave way, but…"
Ryan gave a mock laugh. "Way to take all the glory, Hazel. It was a team plan, remember? You came up with the 'aura' thingy, but I wanted to go with the pit."
"Well, I still messed it all up," Dillan insisted. "All I did was dig holes and hurt my arms."
"Oh my God," Ryan snapped. "Can you be more dramatic?"
The pachirisu stood up on the bed and slapped Dillan across the leg (it felt like being hit by a teddy bear). "Look, geniuses. That fight wasn't on any single one of us, it was a group fuck up. We fucked up as a team. We're Team Fuck Up."
"How inspirational," Hazel laughed.
Ryan smirked at the charmeleon. "Look, all I'm saying is that losing was a team effort. So stop trying to take credit for everything. Jeeze."
Dillan found himself smiling at that. Even now, Ryan still had his back. Hazel, too. They were still his friends, and they didn't blame him for what happened even if he blamed himself. Somehow, it made the bitterness start to slip from his chest. It made him feel warm inside, like the sun was coming through layers of clay and heating his body.
"Thanks, Ryan," Dillan said with a smile, placing his claw closer to the pachirisu.
But Ryan just blew air through his teeth. "I'm just making sure the credit goes around."
Dillan looked towards Hazel, whose shoulders seemed to loosen at Ryan's assurances. But still, she seemed sad.
The gabite tapped at her arm with his foot. "Hazel, I'm sorry we lost. Honestly."
Hazel blinked a couple times before wiping away a few tears. "It is what it is, right? We can always become bounty hunters instead. I hear there's someone who used to take some jobs here and there." Hazel nudged Ryan's arm playfully. "We could always do that until next year's exam… if you guys want."
Dillan sat upright, thinking over Hazel's request. They'd talked about this alternative a couple times. But honestly, it didn't seem like a bad idea. Regardless of whether he planned on being in Ganderosa that long, at least it'd be a job. He wasn't sure what other gigs he could land anyways. His only work experience was "Little Caesar's pizza maker" though that didn't seem relevant to anything in the world. Wandering as a bounty hunter seemed like a good job. And besides: maybe it'd lead to finding some clue about why he was here. He could get lucky.
Regardless, looking across the faces of his compatriots, it occurred to Dillan that he'd enjoy it. Not because being a bounty hunter sounded appealing, but because these pokemon were his genuine friends. They were the kind of friends he never made sitting underneath the park tree. He had their backs and they had his. Considering a bounty hunting job with these two…
"I think bounty hunting would be fine," Dillan smiled.
Ryan just shrugged. "Honestly, I could get back into it."
"Hopefully you won't have to," a gruff voice said from the doorway.
All three pokemon looked on with surprise as Kaimana entered the room, now stripped of her armor and metal cuffs. Aside from the earring, she seemed like a normal pokemon, but Dillan knew better.
Ryan scoffed aloud upon seeing her enter. "What do you want? Here to gloat?" Yet Ryan quieted as Hazel shot him a warning gaze.
The charmeleon made to step off the bed. However, Kaimana quickly stopped her with a paw on her shoulder. "Please, Ms. Prince. I am not here to be honored, nor am I here to gloat. I am here to apologize."
"Apologize?" Dillan asked as all three pokemon exchanged confused glances. "For what?"
Kaimana looked from Dillan to Ryan and Hazel. She seemed to have an air of seriousness about her that commanded their attentions. And when she spoke, she sounded nothing but sincere: "When the three of you entered my Guild, I assumed you were trouble-makers here seeking glory with no care for yourselves. And… perhaps you were when you'd first arrived."
Ryan scoffed. "Is that supposed to make us feel better?"
Nevertheless, Kaimana continued: "But today's battle was a better show of cooperation than I thought possible from the three of you." Kaimana straightened her posture and addressed the pokemon face-to-face. "You baited me into thinking Dillan was just one more show of brute force when, in fact, he was forming an expert strategy. That alone is commendable.
"But Dillan was only a part of the plan. You three went above and beyond. Hazel and Ryan provided a smoke-screen of power to keep my focus divided, covering each other flawlessly, all whilst Dillan manipulated my restrictions. And I fell into the pitfall blindly. If not for the exit in your pit, I would have been finished."
Dillan's brow furrowed in frustration. "But there was an exit, and I left it there."
"Yes, you did," Kaimana stated. "It was a mistake that cost you your fight."
Dillan could feel his jaw rotating just listening to her words. His teeth gnashed against themselves in irritation. Yet he felt Ryan's paw press itself lightly to his scales. He looked up and saw that confident smirk, and everything came back into focus.
It didn't matter if Kaimana disliked their strategy. In the end, it didn't matter. He would be fine. They would continue. He'd be ready for Kaimana to do her worst.
However, Kaimana never said anything irksome. Instead, she took a deep breath and approached the bed. Her fist closed in front of the three, and she struck her breast just below the spike. She kneeled at the foot of the bed.
Hazel found herself gasping at the sudden show of humility while Ryan just crossed his arms in suspicion. Dillan continued to eye her curiously, wondering if this was commonplace for Guild Masters (he assumed not given Hazel's reaction). And with that in mind, what exactly was she doing here?
"All three of you acted with valor and honor. Each of you saw the other in danger and acted without thinking. And gabite, you may have injured yourself, but it was in the pursuit of defending your friend's safety. You challenged me and struck me, even at the cost of your own body.
"For the battle you three fought, you have gained my respect."
All three pokemon were stunned by what they'd just heard - even Ryan went wide-eyed. Kaimana… respected Dillan? He couldn't believe his ears. "Kaimana…" was all the gabite could manage.
"Do not say a thing," Kaimana urged him. She stood up straight and reached behind her. She retrieved a small letter. It was a pristine letter, looking as though it had come off a tree earlier that day. And in the center, holding the letter in place, sat the red seal of Ganderosa: the Dragon Skull.
Kaimana held the letter out to Hazel. "I assume based on how you handle yourself you can read?"
Yet Hazel didn't answer. She seemed at a loss for words. She just stood there, looking at the letter as if it were a delicate gemstone never to be directly handled lest she smudge its pristine coat. She reached out a hesitant paw and took the document.
"Is this…?" Hazel began.
Yet Kaimana neglected to answer, instead saying, "Rapture is defined as having feelings of great joy, yes?"
"Something like that," Ryan smirked.
Kaimana merely smiled towards the three. "How fitting," was the last thing she said before departing the room, leaving the group to their letter.
Both Dillan and Ryan turned back towards Hazel, who held the letter in her claws with wide-eyed wonder. Such an ornate piece of paper that wrestled their breaths. Each member wordlessly shared the same thoughts. "What's inside?" "Is it what we think?" "Could it be worse?" "Should we even open it?"
"What do you guys think…?" Dillan asked cautiously. Given Kaimana's surprising calm, he feared what hid underneath.
Apparently, Ryan shared his hesitation given the furrowed brow. "She better not be rubbing this in or I swear to Arceus…"
Hazel held the letter delicately whilst she stared down the intricate wax seal. "There's only one way to find out… right?" She bit on her lower lip as her claw wriggled beneath the paper's lip. It crinkled under her careful movement, and echoed against their ears. It was the only sound in the room, drawn out in an infinitesimal amount of time. Each member held their breath over such a small piece of paper. No one said a thing. Not until Hazel finally tore the page from its seal, allowing the paper to unfold in front of her.
Neither Dillan nor Ryan could see what was written inside, and as Hazel spoke, the room became dead silent.
Hazel began with a hard swallow: "Dear Guild applicants. By order of the Kerrosian Guild, you three are-"
In an instant, Hazel went deathly silent. Dillan watched as her claws began to shake, and her eyes welled with tears. And Dillan's heart shrunk.
"Oh, Hazel…" the gabite began. "It's… We expected this..." Even so, he knew his words felt empty.
Hazel looked from the page to Dillan, but when he expected to see a tight lip he instead found a great smile stretching from cheek to cheek. "We… We passed the exam…!"
"What?!" Ryan practically leapt towards Hazel before tearing the page from her grip. He looked over the page himself as a grin came to him also. He sounded a hearty laugh. "Kaimana gave us the exam!"
In an instant, Dillan forgot about all his pain. He felt like he'd just been jump-scared. His heart leaped into his throat, yet he didn't feel tense. He felt overjoyed. "We won?!" he cheered.
And Hazel joined in with, "We won!"
Dillan couldn't believe what he'd heard. After all that, after the failures, and they still won? He thought it might be a dream. He moved his arm to pinch himself, forgetting he lacked the fingers to do so. Yet the mere movement caused enough pain to confirm this was reality.
The three pokemon all began pumping their fists in the air. They cheered like friends at a basketball game watching their team score at the last second. They howled like wolves worshiped the moon. They celebrated like frat bros at a party.
"What does it say exactly?" Dillan asked ecstatically.
"Here," Hazel said, taking the page back from Ryan. She started to read but found instead an elated laugh escaped. "Ah, excuse me!" And with a final clearing of her throat, she flicked the page:
"Dear Guild applicants,
"By order of the Kerrosian Guild, you three are henceforth assigned the rank of Guild member with all the included perks. While the Guild has yet to decide where you will be stationed, you are to attend the Accolade, set to occur one day after the final exam. This is a ceremony to welcome our passing Guildlings into Ganderosa's Guild.
"A great banquet will be provided to your team as newest Guildlings with appearances from Ganderosa's Guild Masters to commemorate the occasion. This is to be a formal event, so all members of your team are expected to dress in their best attire.
"We thank you, Team Rapture, for your courageous sacrifice and continued efforts to strengthen Ganderosa.
"Glory to the King!"
"Team Rapture…" Dillan repeated with a wicked grin. He looked towards a smirking pachirisu and chuckled. "You went with Team Rapture."
The tears, once just budding in Hazel's eyes, now fell in a roaring stream as she mouthed the words, "Team Rapture". And looking at Ryan, her smile quivered. "You used my name…?"
Yet Ryan just rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Look, it's not that big a deal. It's a pretty badass name."
But Hazel seemed to think otherwise, taking Ryan into another hug. She began sobbing just like before: "Thank you, Ryan." And looking to Dillan, she reached out and pulled him close, as well. "Thank you both. This… This is everything."
Dillan took a deep breath, enjoying the moment. For the first time in a long time, he couldn't smell the iron on his bandages, nor could he see the mistakes of his past laid out before him in a tapestry of defeats. This wasn't a place filled with pain nor despair, not right now. The room seemed full of life. More importantly, it felt full of friendship: with a hug not even Ryan tried to push away. Instead, the three sat on the bed with hope in their hearts. They'd passed the Guild Exam.