01 - 02
"So your treasure hunt didn't go well, huh?" the Sentret asks as he and the Shinx are heading towards the exit of the building.
The Shinx sighs. "I was so ready to have my paws on some bling, too..."
The normal-type laughs. "Who doesn't? Sad that there wasn't any treasure though..."
The Shinx gives him a doubtful look. "And you know this, how?"
The Sentret shrugs. "Lots of other teams went treasure hunting when news got loose, you know. All of them claim to have found nothing."
Blowing through the late afternoon air, a chilly breeze greets the duo as they exit one of the largest structures in the city, the Guild, that dwarfs the rest of the structures in comparison. Street lamps and lights from buildings start to light up, illuminating the cobblestone road where Pokémon of many different shapes and sizes walk to and fro in the streets of the city of Tabindagat.
"Either they suck at exploring or some of them lied," the Shinx grumbles as they walk on the sidewalk, heading down towards his favorite pub. "We could have found that treasure by now if they didn't decide to rescue some rando in the dungeon."
"Speaking of," the Sentret starts, blinking. "How's the guy anyway?"
"No clue, and I really don't care." He groans. "Damn, I'm pissed. I need a drink, and you'll be my drinking buddy."
"Of course I am," the Sentret says with an amused smirk. "You better be able to carry your own ass 'cause I ain't carrying it back to your place like the last time."
"Don't worry," the Shinx says with a smirk. "I ain't going back to my place tonight anyway."
"Oh? You getting some fiery ass tonight, huh?"
"It's the only silver lining I have, and I'd be damned not to grab it."
The Sentret chuckles. "Damn. I should really find a girl soon."
"You two should get some rest as well," the Chimecho says with a gentle smile as she ushers the Cyndaquil and Vulpix away from the occupied bed, where an unconscious Eevee lies. "He won't heal any quicker if you stay."
"Fine," the Cyndaquil grumbles as the Chimecho closes the door. "Just remind him to do the rescue request when he wakes up."
"Cindy, really?" the white Vulpix asks in mild annoyance, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, are we trying to rank up or not?"
The Chimecho chuckles, waves them goodbye and floats elsewhere as the duo walks down the stairs, heading to the main lobby of the guild building.
"You know," the fire-type starts as they reach the last flight of stairs.
They reach the main lobby, a spacious area where a lot of rescue teams gather to check out the latest available missions pinned on numerous bulletin boards stuck on the walls of the large room.
"I sometimes wonder why wilds attack each other sometimes," the Cyndaquil says as they walk through the calm sea of walking and loitering Pokémon and stand in front of one of the many bulletin boards.
"They're wilds," the Vulpix says as the two look up and scan the pinned mission requests. "No one really knows a lot about them."
"Mhmm," the fire-type nods. "I heard from other rescuers that wilds get stronger if they defeat another Pokémon."
"Huh... That's scary to think about."
"Yeah. I wonder how it works," the fire-type asks no one in particular as she points at one of the requests.
The Kirlia standing by the board uses her telekinetic power to levitate the letter towards the Cyndaquil.
"Vixie, look at this," the Cyndaquil says as her friend leans closer to read the mission's contents.
The Vulpix frowns. "A wanted poster?" She looks at her grinning friend. "You want us to capture an outlaw?"
The Cyndaquil shrugs. "Why not? Let's continue this 'change of pace' our perverted leader proposed."
Her ears droop as she rereads the contents of the letter. "Cindy, it's for Bronze rank and up. We're not Bronze yet."
"It'll be fine."
"Maybe we should just stick to rescuing Pokémon."
"Calm your tits, girl," the Cyndaquil says with a confident smile. "See, if we do this, it'll earn us enough points to rank up to Bronze!"
"We'll get there eventually anyway if we just—"
"And look at the cash reward," the fire-type cuts her off as she taps the letter on her paws. "We're not really flowing with cash at the moment," she reminds her. "With this, we can rank up to Bronze aaand earn enough money for stuff!"
The Vulpix's frown goes further down. "What kind of stuff?"
"Rescue team stuff, of course!" The fire-type frowns. "I could use a few more Elixirs if Shino continues to make me lead our party."
"I could always just give you some of mine."
The Cyndaquil shakes her head. "Nah. You're our backup support, so you need it more than I do, or use it on me when I really need one." She pats her friend's fluffy white curls on her head. "Don't worry your silly little head over it. Trust me, we can handle this! And besides, I gave you that Escape Orb for emergency use, remember?"
Vixie sighs in defeat as she tries to blindly fix the curls on her head. "Fine... I suppose you're right."
"Mhmm." The Cyndaquil then turns to the Kirlia and hands her the letter. "That orb costs a fortune, too."
"We found it right in front of us the very moment we entered our first ever dungeon together."
"Details, details," the Cyndaquil says as the Kirlia levitates the mission request and the fire-type's badge.
Using her psychic abilities, the Kirlia registers their team accepting the mission. Seconds later, she bows and returns the letter and badge back to the Cyndaquil.
The Cyndaquil grins at her friend. "And it's registered!"
The Vulpix sighs as she follows her friend walking towards the exit of the guild building. "I'm still not really sure about this..."
"Relax, already," the fire-type says as they exit the building and walk on the cobblestone street. "We'll be fine, I promise."
"I just can't help but worry."
"And nothing's wrong with that," the Cyndaquil says, smiling at her friend. "But I'm confident that we can handle this! You've seen how Shino and I handle the wilds, right? And not to mention we got you watching our backs!" She lightly and playfully punches her friend's shoulder. "We got this."
The Vulpix manages a smile, and finally chuckles. She blushes as she looks ahead. "So, you and Shino are gonna, you know...later?"
"Heh," the Cyndaquil grins. "We've been at it for five nights in a row. Tonight's gonna be the sixth."
Her blush reddens more. "O-oh wow..."
"You sure you don't want to join us?"
She freezes in place and unable to make a reply, her face turning redder and redder, making the fire-type laugh.
"Relax! I was only joking!" She shakes her head. "But really though, if you wanna join, just let me know." She leans close to the blushing Vulpix's ear. "I'll make sure you'll have an enjoyable night."
The Vulpix slowly pushes her smiling friend away. "I-I-I'm good, thanks," she says, chuckling awkwardly.
"Still pining on that Lithe guy, huh?"
The ice-type looks away with a shy smile gracing her features. "Mhmm..."
The Cyndaquil shakes her head. "When are you going to make your move though?" she asks as they resume walking.
"I...don't know?" She sighs, her ears drooping. "I don't think I can."
"Girl, you either tell him before another female snatches him from you."
"I know, I know..." the Vulpix says, and sighs. "I'll...muster enough courage to tell him one day."
"Hopefully soon," the Cyndaquil says with a smile. "Because, no offence, you really need some dick in you, you know?"
"Cindy," the ice-type says with a disapproving frown.
"Trust me, girl. It'll do you good." She chuckles as they reach an apartment complex. "Oh, here you are, Vixie." She waves a paw. "See you tomorrow, okay?"
The ice-type smiles and waves a paw. "Yeah. See you. And um..." She blushes and looks away. "E-enjoy?"
The Cyndaquil laughs as her friend runs inside the apartment building. "Oh, don't worry. I'll enjoy every single moment of it." She grins as she walks down the street, heading towards her apartment.
She frowns as she walks on the cobblestone street, her eyes locked on a lump of yellow lying on a grassy lawn. She stands behind it and kicks its yellow furry bum.
"Hey!" the Cyndaquil yells. "Wake up!" She gives the lump another kick.
"Unngh... S-shit," the yellow Shinx grumbles as he clutches his aching head. "Ow... Ow ow ow..."
The Cyndaquil sighs. "And there I was in my apartment waiting for you, too."
The morning sun is slowly rising from the horizon, its soft golden bands painting the city in a golden hue.
"N-not so loud, Cindy," the Shinx hisses as he slowly tries to get up on four paws.
She shakes her head, and sees a familiar shade of white from afar. She turns and waves at her. "Hey there, good-looking."
The Vulpix smiles and nods. "Hello yourself." She reaches them and frowns at the barely-standing Shinx. "Can't say the same to him though..."
"Ugh..." He looks at his two friends with a weak glare. Raising a paw to make a point, he opens his mouth but a burp comes out instead of words, and he follows it with a groan. "Oooh... W-what time is it?"
The Vulpix shakes her head. "It's really not healthy for you to keep drinking."
"I-it's you guys fault!" he weakly exclaims. He hiccups, and then quickly turns around to let out the contents her had last night.
The two females take a few steps back in disgust.
"Hey!" Poking his head out the window, an angry Ursaring glares at the vomiting Shinx doing his business on his front lawn. "You better clean that up or else I'll be shoving that back from where it came from!"
The Vulpix sighs, turns around and walks back to her apartment. "I think I have something to help him. Be right back."
Letting out a sigh of her own, the Cyndaquil walks up to the angry normal-type. "Mind if I borrow a shovel? I heard it's a great fertilizer for your flowers, at least."
"Which?"
The Cyndaquil pauses, and frowns. "...both, actually."
A calm exhale.
An Eevee manages a small smile as he slowly opens his eyes, his hazy gaze on the white ceiling above.
He feels his ears twitch as his mind registers a soft humming sound from somewhere.
He blinks, his smile fading as his sleepy brain registers the foreign yet familiar feeling of a twitching ear. He closes his eyes and lets out a groan. "It wasn't a dream after all..."
"Oh? You're finally awake," the Chimecho says as she slowly floats toward him.
The Eevee sighs. "I swear, if you add that I was trying to cross some—"
He stops himself as he realizes that he cannot move. Alarmed, he tries but fails to move any of his limbs.
"What the fuck?" he curses as he glares at the Chimecho floating beside his bed.
"Sorry, sorry." She uses her psychic abilities to unbind the Eevee. "Just a precautionary safety measure, in case you were a wild Pokémon."
He blinks, and blinks, and groans, massaging his furry head as he feels a migraine growing. "I really am still here," he mumbles under his breath.
The Chimecho smiles at him before turning and floating back. "Please wait right here."
"God fucking damnit," the Eevee whispers to himself as he places a paw over his eyes.