"Alright, Beck, you ready to start?" Rye asked me, a thin book in his hands.
"Sha!" I exclaimed.
The noon sun shone brightly through the sick bay's window, the now familiar sound of exploration teams going about their day piping through. Following our agreement the previous night, Rye had managed to convince Team Apex to lend him a notebook to help me out. Apparently, only more well-off Pokémon could afford actual paper, so we were both a little puzzled as to why they had decided to give us a notebook full of it. Apparently, in Arden's words, it isn't every day you get chummy with a feral, now is it?
Fair point, I guess.
"Let's start with your name, okay?" Rye asked me. Another nod prompted him to pause for a second before hanging his head.
"...uh, come to think of it, I'm not sure how exactly you can just learn it... sorry, I'm a bit new to this whole teaching thing..." he sighed. "J-just try to copy what I say, I guess."
'Okay, sounds easy enough.'
As it turns out, it wasn't. Instead, we found ourselves making bizarre noises at each other for twenty minutes straight in the hopes I would get it right at some point. What fun.
"No, no, try to touch the top of your mouth with your tongue. Beeeck," Rye explained, putting emphasis on the 'ck'.
"Sheaagh."
"No, don't, uh, put your voice into that last bit. Do it like this. Beck, not Begh."
"Sh-sheaak," I managed out. Despite my still rather limited vocabulary, Rye seemed to be pleased with our progress.
"All right, you look like you're getting the hang of it! Now, let's-"
He paused as a small snicker sounded from the door. Turning our heads, we found Ms. Audino with the amused Arden and May standing behind her.
"H-how long have you been standing there?!" Rye choked out, his face reddening.
"Long enough, kid. Long enough," Arden said, still grinning. I swore I could see years crumble off the Treecko's lifespan as the two veteran explorers straightened up.
"Don't worry, that's not what we're here for," May said, turning to Ms. Audino, who was giving her usual warm smile.
"Guildmaster Arcanine says he wants you two in his quarters," the nurse said.
Seeing as I was still in no condition to actually walk, Arden had to carry me like a baby through Arcanine's Guild as our group, now including Pike, left the sick bay. Whatever dignity I had left from being spoonfed berry pulp that morning was lost right then and there, I think.
The Guild's headquarters was what I could best describe as a small village of its own. On the hill it was built upon, a grid of team housing, various utility buildings, a mess hall, and an amphitheater rested. From what I could tell, it was arranged in a hierarchy of sorts, the more important locations and teams being placed further up the hill, with an unassuming building I could only assume was Guildmaster Arcanine's quarters resting on the hilltop. The Pokémon I had only heard outside my window now walked beside me, heading out for lands unknown. Some looked at our little group oddly, exchanging whispers.
"Don't worry, it's just that Team Apex's a bit well-known, and, uh, that you're new here," Rye explained.
'Please let it be that.'
Thankfully, any unwanted attention was taken off my situation as an annoyingly high-pitched voice rang out.
"Hey-hey, if it ain't ol' Team Pixies!"
Rye immediately flared up, though was put down by a glare from May as we turned to find the source of the insult. Behind us, a Persian and Weavile sneered at our group, prompting an exasperated sigh from Pike.
"Glad you decided to show up, Team Asslick," Arden responded, a forced smile on his face. The Weavile snorted before... uh, what? One second, he was standing twenty feet away, the next he was standing next to Arden, clapping the annoyed Quilava on the back.
Okay, then.
"I see you've got the little squirt here with you, huh? Good to hear ya didn't get another one killed!" he hooted while gesturing to me. Rye and I recoiled as best we could while the Weavile laughed, his high-pitched tone still sending shivers down my spine.
The Persian, having caught up with the Weavile by now, gave a grin at Rye's confusion. "What, you surprised? Nothing goes on 'round here, news gets around fast, kid. Some little shit finding a feral and nearly getting its guts eaten out counts as good watering hole talk, I'd say!" he sneered. Rye's eye twitched as the two gathered around Team Apex, still laughing their ugly laughs.
Arden started trying to talk through the laughter. "Look, fellas, I'd love to talk, but we've kinda gotta get to Arcanine's and-"
"Ah, shit, Gold, ya hear that? They're still the old dog's little pets! Ain't that rich?" the Weavile wheezed. "Doesn't matter if they got fucked over in the woods, I guess, they're probably on their way over to compensate!"
"Yeah, one suck for each Zubat bite, eh? Where do you think the jizz goes, Mustie?" the Persian laughed.
By this point, May was summoning vines out of the ground to physically hold Rye back. I had never seen him actually angry before, and seeing the shy but good-natured Treecko I had come to know actively trying to attack Mustie the Weavile was... scary, to say the least.
"I advise y'all run along before the kid tears ya a new one," Pike said, watching the scene impassively.
"Yeah, what he said. Heck, we'll even let you know where we're going if you want to duke it out like the good old days. What do you say Bewilder Forest in three days, Mustie? You win, we buy you drinks; if we win, I don't think it matters. Arceus knows how many drinks you owe us by now," Arden offered, much to May's annoyance.
"Hah, you're on!" the Weavile snapped back as the two began weaving their way through the crowd, still laughing their heads off. A panting May finally let Rye go, who clawed at the air in the two's general direction. Pushing herself off the ground, May looked to me apologetically.
"Don't mind them, they're just Team Assail. Thorn in our side for fifteen years, let me tell you. They're all bark and no bite, so don't let them get to you, alright?" she told me. "...actually, thorn's too nice of a term. How about a massive, splintery stake?"
I let out a small laugh as Rye finally turned around to face us, having calmed down for the most part. We continued up the hill, Team Assail's cackling still echoing in the distance.
As it turned out, it wasn't the distance that made Arcanine's home seem small, it really was that small. I doubted it would be enough to house the powerful figure I had heard of, much less a regular Arcanine. Looking at Rye confusedly, he gave a nervous but reassuring nod as we went inside. Inside, several chairs and tables surrounded a ladder sticking out of the ground, presumably leading to the actual structure.
Climbing down, I found myself in a hallway with a large, circular room at the end. Many paintings hung along the walls of the hallway, depicting dozens of Pokémon standing in a row, which I guessed were the Guild's members throughout the years. I couldn't help but notice Rye looking in awe at one of the last twenty, depicting what looked to be a young Team Apex: a Cyndaquil and Eevee standing near the edges of the painting, the Eevee making Buneary-ears over the Cyndaquil. Standing center frame in all of the group pictures was Guildmaster Arcanine, wearing a confident smile.
'...wait, aren't Arcanines supposed to be orange?'
Either the pictures were faded somehow, or Arcanine was a golden-yellow color. Huh.
As we walked into the Guildmaster's room, I found myself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of... stuff in the room. Littering the perimeter were piles of treasure and various unnatural-looking trinkets, most of which I could recognize as human artifacts. Among these seemed to be books, faded paintings, Pokéballs, shiny discs, strange metal hunks, and...
'Is... is that a human skeleton?'
Morbid, but sure, I guess.
"I see you like my humble collection?" a deep voice inquired. I jumped as a large shape stepped out of the shadows, looking at me curiously.
"G-Guildmaster Arcanine," Arden stammered, bowing his head.
The Arcanine, who, yes, did appear to be yellow, wore the same smile I had seen in all those group pictures as he sat down before us.
"I take it you've never seen a Shiny before, young Oshawott?" Arcanine asked.
"Sh-sha," I managed out. I honestly didn't know what to think. I mean, come on, piling his room up with all this had to occur to him as creepy at some point, right?
"Of course, I could say something along that line for you. A feral capable of linguistic understanding and higher thinking such as yours without prior teaching is rare, indeed," he responded. "Of course, that is beside the point, I should be getting to why I've summoned you all here."
His smile faltered.
"Firstly, I am rather disappointed. Given your past, I would assume retrieving a seed would be easy work for Team Apex. I can tell you, Mr. Lotad was not happy that no other teams would do it after your failure," he said. May began to speak up when Pike interrupted.
"Look, Sir Guildmaster, we would have done just fine if the damn feral didn't give us away!" he interjected, his feathers puffing out defensively.
"Sha?!" I replied, my paws twitching. He was pinning the whole blame on me? Talk about Tauros crap.
"I understand that, Pike. However, I do doubt the Oshawott was solely responsible for what happened. That does bring me to my next point, though. The feral... or Beck, as I've been told Mr. Rye here has named him, is of special interest to the Guild. As you know, the extension of knowledge is one of this Guild's primary goals, and having someone who could tell us what life within a mystery dungeon is like, or perhaps even share how ferals like him could gain such intelligence, would contribute to this goal greatly," Arcanine continued. As Pike tried to find a response, the golden dog turned to face Rye. "As such, I would like to ask the Treecko a question."
Rye, visibly shaking now, made a weak croak in response.
"Young Rye, how would you two like to establish an exploration team on this Guild?"