Chapter 9 - Bestiary

When they make it into the cafeteria a few moments later, the quilava's admittedly a bit surprised how many pokémon are there.

Granted, the guild isn't big so there wouldn't have been that many in the first place, but there's still four to five different teams sitting at various tables, each with four to six members. He hadn't really looked to see where most of the teams went, so he figures that's probably a reasonable enough amount.

The azumarill guides him to the food container… shelf? A large wooden structure with multiple baskets, each of which containing a different variant of more than a few berries. It is far more organized than the other guild, though the quilava guesses that shouldn't really be much of a surprise considering what he's already seen and heard.

Zoo picks out a few berries for the two of them to share along with a small wooden bowl filled with water before walking herself over to a table, Kai following closely behind.

The quilava does note a few looks he and Zoo are getting, though it isn't enough to steal his attention away from the azumarill in front of him waving berries around.

"I've only really seen you officially eat apples and plain seeds so far, so why not give other berries a chance? Since we're going into the dungeon featuring these, why dontcha try an oran or two?"

He looks at her weirdly before conceding, taking a small bite.

It tastes… sweet. Almost overwhelmingly so, and not in a way he can really say he likes.

He manages to choke it down, very quickly taking in some of the water. The tangy taste doesn't quite leave his mouth though, so he takes another apple, downing it twice as fast, and swallowing another mouthful of water.

"…So that's a no-go, huh. Surprising, but everyone has their tastes."

She slides another berry over to him. He looks between it and the azumarill reluctantly. A brief staring contest ensues before she takes it back.

"Eh, you can try more later, I guess."

He hides his sigh of relief with another apple, letting the conversation fade.

The calm doesn't last for nearly as long as he'd like, as one of the guild members happens to pass by their table, stopping to lean up against it. Kai recognizes it as one of Baz's teammates. He thinks…?

"Heyyyy~! What's happenin'?"

He briefly looks around for the mushroom creature, but finds himself unable to locate the pokémon.

'Why do I even keep thinking about that guy, anyways? He just seems like… a normal guy.'

He's brought back to the conversation as Zoo says something he doesn't hear, shaking his head to clear his lingering thoughts. Instead, the beaked creature with actual arm-like appendages, unlike the previous beaked creatures he's seen before, lets out a disappointed "Hmph. Maybe later." Then, smiling with its eyes, "See you guys around!"

It waves before moving away to get itself some food. Kai wastes a bit more time looking for the mushroom creature mindlessly despite himself, briefly thinking about Mudkip as he does so.

Nothing else comes up for the quilava (to his tired delight), and the rest breakfast passes quickly from there.

"Okay! Just gonna show you the library and a few of our storage areas, then you'll pretty much- oh! Wait, forgot about something, lemme get it real quick-"

Kai and Zoo'd arrived in the girafarig's office with at least reasonably full stomachs. The girafarig in question digs through a bit of trash in the corner of her office, perking up once she finds what she was looking for and turning back to the duo.

Holding an item up in her teeth – a small piece of wood shaped into a circle with a bunch of seemingly randomly-scattered engravings across its front – she garbles out, "Y'er te' orary guil' a'ge!"

She plops it down on her desk.

"It's a little bit battered since it and one or two others like it have gotten a bit of use over the last couple years, but it'll be a temporary thing anyways for 'identification' while you still aren't an official guild member - just keep it on you and you should be fine. It's got a little psychic-based beacon in it so Maddox and I can sense it if it gets lost, so if you accidentally drop it or something we can get it for ya anyways. I forgot which dungeon exactly let us do that, but it was quite a while ago. Might not even be around anymore, actually. Ehhhh…"

She tilts her head to the side, looking past them with scrunched eyes.

Kai looks behind himself as well, seeing two other guild members he very vaguely recognizes from the meeting earlier.

The one in the front, some pink and tan bipedal creature, smiles and gives a nervous wave. "U-uhm… If we a-aren't interrupting anything…?"

Atari steps forward to Kai's side. "Oh no- no no, you're fine, Audi. You need something?"

"Y-yeah. Maddox is busy with th-the expedition stuff tomorrow, and I was wondering if you'd be able to help with something…?"

"O-oh! Oh, what did you guys need? I'm a bit-"

Zoo steps to Atari's side, the Girafarig's tail now glaring at Kai, much to his displeasure. "-I can give Kai the outside tour for now. Like you said earlier, you can give a bigger one once we find Mudkip if you'd like, and once not as much is happening. I'd like to think I know this place well enough though, despite how long it's been."

The girafarig looks between the pink creature twiddling its fingers, the very neutral quilava, her own glaring tail, and the empathetic azumarill for what feels like minutes before sighing out, "…You sure you don't need help finding Mudkip?"

Zoo simply shrugs, "I'm honestly not too worried about it yet. Might be if he doesn't turn up later, but he's the type of 'mon to find a quiet place for himself, away from everyone else. He did it at my guild, and he'll probably do it here too regardless of how short his stay here might be. He's not stupid. …He doesn't have any reason to be stupid, at least. Probably."

That gets a worried frown from the girafarig, but Zoo just waves it off. "Either way, he'll be fine – I'll find him sometime today, I don't doubt that."

"…If you're sure… I'll… see you two later then, hopefully with Mudkip in tow?"

Atari shoots a glance back at her tail in apparent confusion, flicking it over to Kai for another brief point before turning back to the now winking Azumarill.

"You betcha."

With that, Kai and Zoo leave, leaving a frowning girafarig to watch Kai's now retreating body.

She wrenches her attention back to the other team in the room when Kai accidentally catches her in the act.

He stares back thoughtlessly for a moment, before turning back and promptly forgetting why he'd looked back in the first place.

The rest of the tour isn't really much to write home about. There were only really two other places to see – from the outside, at least; Zoo said it'd probably just be better to explore the library on his own – those being the library, and the storage area, the latter being home to a pokémon called a 'kangaskhan'. Some tan bipedal thing with a stomach pouch. Storage and library are on a path to the right of the guild, storage on the right side of that path with the library on the left side.

The tour ends fast though, with Zoo's attention focused on more important things.

Namely, Mudkip still being nowhere to be seen.

At the guild's entrance once more, she leans against a wall, ear twitching. "Alright! With the tour over, what do ya wanna do – look for Mudkip, or just whatever else ya might do? Wouldn't blame you if ya wanted to go back to sleep, but up to you."

Kai… feels a drop of rain on his fur. He looks around in brief confusion before looking up in realization. The sky is… much darker than he remembered it being.

He looks back to Zoo. "I… don't really know if Mudkip wants to talk to me right now, considering… yesterday, I guess."

She nods, pensive for a moment before looking up herself. "Yeah, that's… logical. Lookin' like rain's coming too, and that's probably not good for a fire-type like you."

"Mmm."

"…So, whatcha wanna do? Hang out back at the guild? Go to the library?"

"…Latter sounds alright."

"Cool. Let's head over before it starts raining too hard."

Kai nods.

They make it to cover just as the sky begins to really open up, thunder sounding in unison with the library's entrance gate closing. He moves to shake off what little rain now dots his fur, but stops before he can start, looking at the ground.

'…Instincts.'

His neutral look shifts into a glare for the briefest of moments before he tilts his head back up again, looking around the smallish entrance area he's in.

…Not much to note here outside of the additional Pokémon in the room – some six-tailed red quadruped settled in the corner of the room. They wave their two leftmost tails in what can assumed to be a greeting.

She(?) gives the quilava a look of sympathy, "Hopefully the rain didn't get you too bad?"

He briefly looks back at the door they'd entered from at the sound of more thunder before looking past the red creature and into the library beyond.

"Mhm."

He looks back at the creature a second later when she begins speaking again. "Aaalrighty. So, you two here to get out of the rain, or are you here to check out the library?"

Zoo waits another second before answering for the quilava. "I'm not gonna be here long, but Kai here said he was interested in looking around."

The six-tailed creature perks up, a small ember jumping up from her rightmost tail. It flickers and dies before it can hit the dirt ground below them. "Cool! It's been a while since… Oop, forgot. You have a guild ID? If not I can make it work but-"

Zoo's ear shoots up. "Ooh, gimme a sec. I put it in my bag somewhere for 'em…"

She digs around for a bit before finding it, tossing it over to the quilava. "There ya go! Try not to lose it, yeah?"

Kai nods, staring at her for a little before turning back to the red creature, showing her the badge. The creature makes to say something, but Zoo continues first. "I'm gonna go look for Mudkip. I'll see ya later, Kai!"

He quickly turns back to see her waving arm and retreating body. When she fully leaves though, he can't help feeling just the slightest bit nervous, turning back to the red creature slowly. She smiles back at him. "…Nice!"

He tries and fails to figure out where to put the badge while the creature rambles on, "Your name's already more or less been stated and I already know what species you are, so I guess it only makes sense that I introduce myself too! My name's Casey, and I am a vulpix! Now, do you have anything in particular you're looking for? Fiction? World history? …General research?"

She gets a little closer, continuing with a whisper, "Also, since you were prooobably at the guild earlier today, do you know what the meeting thing was about? My partner said she'd come by, but I think she got caught up with something."

Kai inches back a little. He answers as she does so as well, "Um… he talked about a 'Combination Event'? I-… I just wanna see what stuff's here."

She takes another step back. "Ah- that sounds cool! …Not something I'm personally interested in seeing, but eh. Also apologies if I'm a bit more… forward than you might've expected – nobody really comes here outside of, like, for looking up what certain things do. Do you want any recommendations? I usually walk around this place every week or so to read – or reread – whatever catches my eye. Not that the selection changes much, but hey- sometimes some things just stick out on certain days!"

He shrugs, "Sure."

The vulpix brightens even more. "Yay! Alright, just follow me!"

They walk into the main area of the library, which is split into 3 sections – the three mentioned by the vulpix earlier. The left section, also the smallest by far, contains world history books. The right is fiction, and the middle, by far the biggest, is research.

…Someone happens to be in that section already, though the vulpix doesn't notice them.

"One of my favorite stories was written by my partner, actually – the story's called 'Moonlight Divine' and it's about a Clefairy and-"

She pauses, noticing Kai's blank stare.

"…Oh! Do you see a book you-…"

Her gaze follows his to the yellow striped creature sitting in a chair, scribbling something in one of the books with a satchel resting at the chair's side. The gaze sharpens.

"Hey!" she calls, beginning to walk over, "You didn't check in. You know you're supposed to do that, right?"

The yellow creature doesn't look up. The vulpix just yells louder. "HEY!"

"Ah!"

Said creature startles, accidentally spilling some of the ink it'd been using to write on the page. Its gaze briefly flickers to Kai before tracking back to the vulpix. "You jus-…"

It glares down at the now-stained page it'd been writing on before tearing it out of the book with a grumble, and tossing it to the floor.

Casey growls. "What are you-"

It closes his eyes, turns its head up, and sighs loudly, ignoring the vulpix. "It's fineee, I can just redo that page later. Didn't take me too long, just gotta hope I remember everything correctly. Or I can look over things again when I get back, but mehhh."

Then, the yellow creature turns to the vulpix. "What did you need from me again?"

Casey grits her teeth. "Multiple things. One, you didn't check in. Two-"

"Ah- Sorry about that! I just thought I'd be allowed to come and go as I please.*

She continues with gritted teeth, "…We can talk about that later. Now, two. Why are-"

"Oh," he closes the item in his flippers, lifting it up with one, "and this is my book. I just wanted to make a few changes 'cuz I've got a bunch of stuff to add. It's been a bit since last time, figure I could come back again."

Kai tunes out what the vulpix responds with, instead focusing his attention on the book in the yellow creature's flipper. The title, 'Pokédex – A Pokémon Field Guide'.

That… is probably something that'd be useful to him.

As the striped creature's tail orb sparks with electricity and the vulpix's tails start glowing red, he can't help but ask, "What's it about?"

Two heads whip around, one with a near-feral snarl, and the other with a surprised yet happy smile. He flinches back from the former as she growls, "Not. Helping."

"I don't see why he can't be interested," the yellow pokémon lazily states, half-smirking. The vulpix growls, turning back to the creature, then briefly letting herself look at the book.

A flurry of emotions pass over her face, sputtering as she takes a step back, before she manages to once again settle on a glare – one at first directed towards Kai, before focusing back on the creature.

"You know that book's not even supposed to be in here, right?"

The yellow pokémon throws up his flippers in mock shock. "Whaaaaaat? Whyyyyyyy? There's nothing wrong with ittttttt?"

Kai looks between the two in confusion. "…What?"

Casey looks back at Kai, pupils dilated, before closing her eyes with a sigh, turning away from the two.

"…You know what. I'll deal with this later. Read his thing if you want, see how much blood's on his flippers, form your own opinions. I'll just talk to him when he's done with whatever shpiel he gives."

Kai briefly looks at the book again.

The striped creature looks at his left flipper curiously, turning it back and forth. He looks back when the vulpix is five or so steps away. "I don't see any blood?"

She turns around. "You know what I…"

The vulpix doesn't finish, taking another deep breath, bringing her head down, and facing away. Without saying anything else, she walks back to where she'd come from, another ember flicking off her tail, coming inches away from one of the wooden bookshelves. The yellow creature watches on mostly neutrally, mouth quirked up the slightest bit.

When she fully leaves the area (and settles down in a place where she can still technically see them through a carved-out hole in a wall, Kai notes), the yellow pokémon turns to Kai with a smile, drumming on the table a few times in what Kai can assume to be anticipation, before piping up with a clap.

"So! You wanted to see what the book's about, yeah?"

Kai nods, watching the vulpix leave the room from the corner of his eye.

"Niiiice."

He plops the book down on the table, opens his mouth to say something but hesitates, looking at something slightly behind Kai. Or just looking at his back.

"By the way – We can talk about the book in a sec – what's up with your head vent things? Back ones too."

Kai furrows a brow. "...What?"

"Why are they gray? I don't think I've seen any other 'mon in your line have that. Was it, like, an accident that happened, or is that just something that's always been there?"

"Um..."

He lifts a front paw to feel at his forehead, rounding on his other. They're hardish to make out for him, nearly blending into his dark blue fur, but the texture more than gives them away. The so-called 'vents' on his head give him a bit more to go off, feeling somewhat coarse. He turns back, sniffing the paw briefly.

Smells acrid.

Shaking the paw, he narrows his eyes at the creature. "Where even are the other quilavas? ...And-"

"There's a tribe of 'em that walk around the continent. I've seen 'em a few times, guilds likely have too. I would've thought you came from 'em though! Apparently not?"

'I mean, I probably didn't.'

Kai looks away, frowning.

'...'

He leers back down at the now-blackish front paw.

'...Where did I even...-'

His thoughts are interrupted and his gaze snaps back to the creature, "Either way... ah! Forgot to mention, but I'm an ampharos, and that's just what I go by, considering... I haven't seen any others of my species! Wouldn't be surprised if you're just some new variant or whatever, too. Though, actually..."

He puts the book down, reaching for his bag, "I'm assuming you haven't been with the guilds that long?" He gestures at the badge now currently on the ground below Kai's non-blackened front paw, "I think I've seen that specific badge a few times already, I believe."

The quilava nods, only half paying attention to that second part.

'Was someone in this body before me, did it form on its own, or... does it even matter. ...Probably doesn't.'

Kai shakes his back legs, loosening up a bit. A crack of lightning sounds from outside, startling him.

The ampharos looks to the uncovered window behind him disinterestedly before continuing on. "How do you feel about mystery dungeons?"

The quilava frowns, looking that way himself. He notes a patch of wet dirt just under the window, and makes it a point to stay a fair distance away.

"Am I... supposed to feel one way or another?"

The ampharos hangs his satchel over his shoulder, picking up the book again. "Have ya been in many of 'em?"

Kai shakes his head, brows furrowed. "I mean... I've been told they're dangerous, but useful. I haven't seen where exactly they're useful though."

The ampharos smiles, reaching into the satchel. "Honestly? Faaaaair. They're pretty neat, but I... have a few problems with 'em. Not really important though."

He stops for a second, laying his eyes on the quilava, "I don't really live around here, but one of my books does give a little map with directions to my place. You interested in coming by?"

Kai almost nods, but stops himself.

"You... haven't told me what the book is even about."

"Ohhhh geeeeeez, I thought-... yeahhh I'm kinda stupid, my bad my bad."

He pulls out another book – one near identical to the other one – and holds it out for Kai to grab, taking the other one and putting it in his satchel. The quilava takes it, opening it up to the first page. On it is a relatively well-done drawing of a creature that looks very vaguely similar to the ampharos, though it is blue and covered in white wool.

"I'll letcha look through it, but it's more or more or less a catalog of all the pokémon I've come across and marked down. Vulpix girl probably didn't like it too much 'cuz I dive a bit too deep into a few of the 'mons listed for her liking I'm guessing. I would be willing to look at your back vents or whatever else is going on with ya if ya wanna stop by, though."

Kai manages to read over about half of the first page titled 'Mareep' before the ampharos catches his attention again.

"Well, I'ma head out now, 'cuz I've still got a lot of things I wanna do today. Feel free to stop by whenever, and I'll see ya 'round!"

The ampharos waves, before walking away. ...Towards the window.

'...What about-'

He is interrupted by a roar of fury from a voice he only barely recognizes as the vulpix's. Ampharos uses that as incentive to speed up a bit.

Just before the vulpix can try doing anything to him, he manages to dive out the window, giving the quilava a little salute on the way out.

Casey lets out a strangled yell of frustration, before whipping around to face Kai with a fire in her eyes.

She glares at him for about ten seconds, before taking a deep breath, and sighing.

"I'm gonna strangle that guy next time I see him."

Kai winces, and she puts on a fake smile with gritted teeth for the quilava. "So, is there anything I can do for you?"

And Kai, frankly, feels too terrified of her at the moment to say literally anything in response. She seems to note this, her smile falling to a scowl.

"...If you need anything, just... try figuring it out yourself. ...Then call me, I guess."

With that, she turns around, and starts walking away.

The quilava can't help but feel at least a little bad. After a bit of hesitation, however, he calls for the vulpix.

"H-hey?"

She slowly turns around.

"...Do you... have any other recommendations?"

She furrows a brow. "Don't you already have that book?"

Kai looks down at it with a frown, one paw still holding the page he's on open.

"I mean... sure, but like... it'll probably be boring reading this by itself. I doubt this is gonna be the only thing I'll read today anyways, because I kinda don't have much to do right now."

This time, her smile isn't forced.

With the book tucked under one arm and his guild badge held in that arm's paw, he makes his way back to the guild, the leaves coating the ground wet and sticky from the earlier rain.

Thinking back, a few of the books were good, a few weren't. All of them were short, and he probably managed to get through ten or so of them in the time he spent there.

As for the 'Pokédex' though...

There were definitely some... unsavory details about some pokémon he probably did not need to know. There were multiple entries where it went into detail about what happens to a pokémon's body after it dies and... he doesn't really know why those details were included. Other than that, it was really informative though.

Now that it's around evening too, he figures he can return back, if only to eat something, and to check in with the azumarill.

Showing his guild badge to the current pokémon stationed in front (he manages to identify it as a dartrix, with a bit of thinking back on what he'd found in Ampharos's book), he enters the guild, and is almost immediately met with the girafarig from earlier.

She doesn't give any form of greeting to the quilava, instead immediately leveling him with a searching glare.

"Are you actually a quilava?"

Kai stares back blankly at the question.

"Um... I think so...?"

Her glare doesn't lose any weight.

"I- if it helps, I'm not-"

She sighs, shaking her head. The tension in her gaze leaves, and she bows her head.

"Nevermind. I'm kinda just... a little on edge right now. I don't know why, but... yeah. Not your fault. Sorry about that."

He nods nervously, and she looks at the book under his arm.

"Take something from the library?"

He nods again, "Something I can probably look over when I'm bored."

"Nice. Also! Zoo did find Mudkip, last I checked they're currently in your room. I'd say go there first before anything else – Maddox'll probably want to hear whether or not the two of you wanna go see the combination event tomorrow."

"Okay."

They give one another parting waves, (Atari's tail still glaring at the quilava, which he shivers at upon confirming he's out of the girafarig's line of sight,) and Kai heads off in that direction, slowing down just outside his room.

Since he doesn't hear much happening, he turns and looks in.

He does indeed see Mudkip this time, and the pokémon flinches as soon as Kai makes eye-contact with him. Zoo spots the quilava about a second later, jumping to her feet with a smile.

"Welcome back! You were there for a while, so I'm guessing you enjoyed yourself?"

Realizing that nobody's gonna stop him, he walks over to his bed, plopping the book down beside it.

"Yup. Found a few interesting books."

He turns around as she looks to Mudkip, "Okay. Now that we're all here though, do you guys want to go see the thing the Maddox talked about- or in Mudkip's case, that I told you about? It's probably gonna be a full day thing. Not at all dangerous though – just a bit of sight-seeing."

Kai shrugs. "If Mudkip's up for it, sure."

Mudkip mumbles something the duo can't hear, but gives his own confirmation before the azumarill can ask about it.

"Gotcha! I'll let the guildmaster know then. I might be gone for a while though – feel free to do whatever you want. I'll be waking you guys up a bit early tomorrow though, so don't fall asleep too late, yeah?"

Kai nods, and he assumes the mudkip does as well.

"Great! If ya don't see me then, I'll see ya tomorrow!"

With that and a wave, she leaves.

Kai looks over to Mudkip again, only to find that he'd faced himself away from Kai, curled up in a ball. Whether it's an attempt to sleep or an attempt to ignore him, he doesn't know.

...The quilava decides to get something to eat from the cafeteria instead of thinking about it.

He does manage to point out a few of the cafeteria patrons in his head for himself, but outside of that not much happens.

He returns back to the room, mudkip is in the same position he was in before, and Kai finds his own bed.

He studies the Pokédex a little more before falling asleep for the night.

Hello, why is chapter 9 for any story I've ever written my kryptonite for some reason?

Anyways, not too big of a chapter, but next one's the arc 1 finale. Also, the revamp I mentioned in this story's description is getting pushed back to after I get chapter 10 out, which I'm hoping is Halloween day.

My editing might be worse than normal 'cuz it doesn't wanna copy/paste my formatting from word to ffn, plus I don't have my computer rn. Sorry 'bout that, and I'll see y'all soon! ...Or tomorrow, if I come back to edit this again.

Either way, yeah. Cya!