Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Chaotic Times Together

Chapter 4 - Acceptance

"So, where're we going?"

Vylet glanced over at her companion, walking alongside her at a steady pace. The bright-eyed Eevee had made vast improvements in his mobility over the last couple of days. He could now walk and even jog at a standard pace without any trouble, no longer had issues getting on and off of the couch, and could even properly balance himself by raising up on his hind paws to reach something like the counter. He wasn't fully healed, especially since he still complained that things were spinning, but he could pretty much move like a normal Pokémon again. Vylet could only imagine his relief.

"Just thought I'd take you somewhere fun," she commented, flashing him a quick smile before turning her gaze back to the front, "You must be getting stir-crazy after being off your paws for so long."

"Eh, you'd be surprised," he said in response, "but it does feel good to be walking smoothly again."

"Mhm…" Vylet murmured in a distracted tone. She was only half paying attention to her surroundings, just enough to get to her destination without straying. It was hard to focus completely with so much on her mind weighing her down.

"I think pretty soon I'll be able to walk to the library and back on my own," Anrey commented.

"You really like reading, huh? Yesterday I think you spent like five hours there…"

"It passes the time while I'm on my travels," he replied, "It's too bad I can't check out books, but I'm happy to hang out there and read."

Vylet nodded. Anrey was referring to his lost wallet, which meant that he had no valid identification on him. There was no hurry to get a new one, as missing one wouldn't impede much, but it did mean he couldn't create an account at the library.

She realized Anrey had asked a question and she hadn't been paying attention. "Huh? Sorry, what?"

"I asked how late the market is open," the Eevee answered, "I still haven't been there and I'd like to check it out."

"Oh…It closes at sunset. City ordinance; no stalls open after the sun is gone." She then cleared her throat and stopped walking. "Anyway, we're here," she said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

"Hm?" Anrey walked up next to her and glanced up at their destination. "Oh! The guild."

The two were standing in front of the small, but brightly-decorated building that marked the entrance to the underground guild. Its doors, like always, were open wide and inviting.

"Why're we here?" Anrey asked, interest evident in his tone.

"You haven't been here since you were confined to a hospital bed," she said with a sly smirk, "So I thought you might like to see the inner workings in action. Thought it might be fun." She bit her tongue before saying the rest of her statement.

"Neat! I get to see where you work?" Anrey replied eagerly.

"…Yeah…"

Anrey had already taken a few steps towards the entrance, but then stopped in his tracks as a worried look appeared on his face. "Oh…But that means…" He peered in through the doorway before finishing his sentence. "…the ladder."

"Yeah, the ladder. Great invention, I know," Vylet said sarcastically as she strode past him, "You should be fine, though. A lot of quadrupeds I've talked to say it's easier for them to navigate than they would've thought. I'll be below you to keep you steady so you won't fall."

"Thanks. I might be a bit slow going."

"That's totally fine."

Five slightly embarrassing minutes later, Anrey was safely down the ladder and into the guild. As expected, he hadn't had much trouble getting accustomed to climbing the ladder, it's just that he went really slowly. After the fact, Anrey at least seemed optimistic that he would get the hang of it.

Vylet cleared her throat. "Anyway, welcome to the Clover Town Guild, Anrey."

"Oooh, fancy…" Anrey commented once he had turned around and gotten a good look at the main hall. "Besides the lack of windows, you'd never guess all of this was underground, huh?"

"Yeah," Vylet said with a shrug. She wandered over to the secretary's desk, where the Nidorina in question still looked as bored as ever, to check Anrey in as a guest. When she returned, the Eevee was still taking in all of his surroundings with a bright-eyed look.

"This is really neat," he remarked, "I can't believe in all my travels that I've never been in one of these before."

"How come?" Vylet asked.

"A combination of I didn't think I was allowed, and there always being tons of other things to see and do." Anrey then glanced over towards the corkboards. "Are those where the jobs are posted?"

"Yup. One board for each rank. D-rank missions on the left side, A-rank missions on the right. There's also Star-rank, but those are directly assigned by the guildmaster. And speaking of…" Vylet directed Anrey's attention to the opposite side of the room. "That's the office of Guildmaster Zarah. Per guild regulations, her door is always unlocked and anybody is free to come in and speak with her about any issues or discussions they may want to have." She then lowered her voice before continuing. "But Zarah is also very busy all the time, and it makes her kinda…grumpy. So, y'know…Knock first."

"I see…" Anrey said neutrally.

"If we see her out and about, I'll introduce you. But otherwise, I don't wanna bother her." Vylet suppressed a sigh. 'And I'd rather not see her today, anyway…' she thought to herself.

Anrey was glancing around again. At this time of day, there were only a few scattered Pokémon wandering the main hall or sitting on the various benches. It was almost dinnertime, though, so most guildmembers who were out on missions would be back soon. Anrey gave pleasant smiles to every passing Pokémon, and even waved to a few of them.

Vylet couldn't bring herself to meet anyone's eyes.

"So…how many Pokémon work here? Do they all live outside the guild like you do? I always thought guildmembers live in the guild."

"Oh, some do," Vylet answered, "Down that hallway is the dorms. It's an option, but I wanted a place of my own."

Anrey didn't say anything for a moment. When Vylet glanced over at him, she saw him giving her an unsure look with a touch of concern. Had he picked up on her tone of voice? She placated him with a quick smile. "Wanna go check out the jobs board and see what the postings look like?"

The two made their way over towards the boards. "That's how you found me, right?" Anrey asked, "You were doing one of these?"

"Yeah…Collecting Silver Spikes in Rockfall Cave. I failed the mission by focusing on bringing you back instead, but in cases like that it's not technically regarded as a failure and the posting just goes back up on the board."

"You're very knowledgeable about how this all works," Anrey complimented.

"Well, yeah, I'm fresh off the entry exams. After all, I spent so much time and effort into studying everything for weeks, and aced the exams with flying colours." She winced, unable to keep the venom out of her tone of voice.

"Whoa… Very interesting…" Anrey said as he read the various postings on the board. "A lot of them are item-retrieval missions."

"Yeah," Vylet replied, "There's a lot of things that you can only find inside of Mystery Dungeons for whatever reason…"

"And over here…" Anrey murmured as he headed over to the 'B' and 'A' boards, "Ah yes, of course. Here's the criminals. Mystery Dungeons make for a pretty good place to hide out, don't they?"

"They sure do…" Vylet said distractedly.

Anrey spent a bit more time looking at the various job postings and asking a few questions, which Vylet dutifully answered. As they were talking, a Flaaffy with a scarf walked up to the A-rank board, looked at it for a moment, and then pulled one of the job postings off of it. She looked more closely at it for a moment, then nodded to herself. Anrey, who had noticed her doing this, turned to her and said, "Good luck!"

The Flaaffy turned to him in surprise, gave the pair of them a confused look for a moment, before finally saying, "Oh. Uh…Thank you. I appreciate it."

Anrey smiled at her as she walked off back towards the inner rooms of the guild. Vylet, who hadn't said a word, stared at Anrey quietly for a moment.

Vylet then led Anrey on a quick tour of the building, showing him things such as the training rooms and the item storage. Anrey spent the whole time bright-eyed and fully engaged in everything he was seeing and everything she said to him. There was a little pang in her heart when she saw how eager he seemed to be to learn all of these things. It reminded her of herself, and how she had acted just a few short months ago when she had first set paw inside this building.

Soon enough, there was a short chime that rang through the building to indicate the time. "Dinner's being served now," Vylet explained, "Which basically means the cafeteria is open."

"Oh, there's a cafeteria here?"

"Yeah, you get to pick three items from the menu each day for dinner, and one of them has to be a drink. It's free, but that's all you get. It's mostly for those who live here, or the really high-ranking hard-working guildmembers who are so busy working that they don't have time to eat out." Vylet trailed off and found herself staring off into space for a moment, but then a thought occurred to her. "Actually, the cafeteria also kind of doubles as a sort of hang-out place. There's usually plenty of Pokémon there chatting and talking about what sorts of 'adventures' they've been on and what they've been up to, especially during mealtime." She glanced down at Anrey, giving him her best smile. "Wanna go see?"

Anrey brightened up immediately. "That sounds great! I'd love to chat with more guildmembers! Is that okay, though? Am I allowed?"

Vylet chuckled softly as she started leading him down one of the hallways. "You're fine to be there. You just can't eat anything."

Anrey chuckled as well. "Worth it."

By the time the pair reached the cafeteria, it was already more than half-full. Tons of scarf-wearing Pokémon were either seated at the tables, or lined up to get food from the counter, running the full gambit of sizes, colours and species. Vylet decided to grab an order of pizza and split it with Anrey, so as not to be rude. Soon enough, they were both seated in the middle of one of the cafeteria tables. There was a pair of Meowstic seated at the far end, but they were both engaged in conversation with one another.

Anrey marveled at the scene around them while he munched on his slice of pizza. "Wow," he remarked as more Pokémon started filing into the room, "So all of these Pokémon work at the guild?"

"Mhm…" Vylet replied, "Everyone with a scarf, anyway. Members of the guild get a scarf with a badge on it. The colour of the scarf denotes their rank."

"Very colourful! I like it!"

Vylet took another bite of pizza and gave a half-hearted response. She glanced off to the side, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her head in her claw. She let out a heavy sigh and found herself staring off into space as the cacophonous sounds of the cafeteria faded to a muted hum. She had been trying her best all day to hide her dour mood from her companion, but that resolve was starting to run out.

It all revolved around the second, secret reason for her showing Anrey around the guild. That reason being that this would be her last chance to do it. By tomorrow, she would no longer be allowed inside the inner areas of the guild, and by extension neither would Anrey.

She was filled with a mix of terrible emotions. Anger, disappointment in herself, frustration, and just an overwhelming bittersweet feeling. She couldn't remember ever feeling this horrible before, but it was to be expected on what would probably be the worst day of her life so far.

The day her dream would die.

Vylet shut her eyes and sighed again. Her time was up. Vylet still had not found a guild partner. She had tried a few more potential candidates, but nothing had worked out well enough that she felt confident forming an official partnership with any of them. As it stood, she was still without a partner after all the time her guildmaster had graciously given her to find one. 'I will give you two more weeks,' was what Zarah had said exactly 14 days ago.

Tomorrow, she would be dismissed from the guild. Her dreams, her aspirations, and all she had worked so hard to achieve, would all burn to the ground. This was her very last day wearing her scarf and badge.

She could have scrambled to try and find a partner last minute on this final day, but the truth was that her string of failures had worn her down and sapped her motivation. She started to wonder if she was just too antisocial for this line of work. She thought that she might not make for a very good guildmember if she had so much trouble meeting new Pokémon. That was sort of part of the job, right? Even though she technically had a few hours left, she had all but given up at this point. It wasn't an easy pill to swallow and it made her feel horrible right in the pit of her stomach, but the poor Sneasel was resigned to her fate. Goodbye, Eclipse Guild.

The least she could do was use her last hours as an official member to give Anrey this neat tour. She wasn't sure where things would go after today, though. She would have to look for a new job in a completely different field. Would she be able to keep Anrey around as a roommate? Would she have to kick him out, her only friend in this city? Why did things have to turn out this way? Why did-

"It's a pleasure to meet you! My name's Anrey."

Vylet was snapped out of her funk suddenly, and she turned to regard her Eevee companion. As she did, she noticed for the first time that some new Pokémon had joined them at the table. Sitting across from them was a trio of Pokémon who looked like they were part of a team together; a Donphan, a Hippopotas and a Makuhita. They all had plates of curry in front of them.

"How's it going, Anrey?" the Donphan replied, "We're Team Terra! That's Vizil and Osum, and my name's Ketch. There's also Kaz, but he's on vacation for a few weeks."

"Wow!" Anrey marveled, "So you're an exploration team that works here?"

"Yup!" Vizil, the Hippopotas, replied proudly, "We're a Great-Class team! You can tell that 'cus of our blue scarves." They had obviously already keyed into the fact that Anrey was a visitor due to his lack of a scarf.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. How many classes are there?"

"There's five," Osum, the Makihuta, answered, "Plus, like, special designations for Pokémon like the guildmaster, of course."

"I presume Great-Class isn't the lowest, right?"

Ketch grinned and nodded. "We wear our colours proudly."

"All right, calm down," Vizil said teasingly, "We're not mascots for the guild."

"Well sure, but it is a thing to be proud of, even if it's not the highest rank. We worked hard to get these scarves, and without them we wouldn't have gotten to go to Airy Cave today."

Anrey's ears perked up. "Airy Cave? Is that a Mystery Dungeon?"

Vizil nodded, and finished his bite of curry before saying, "Beautiful cave with bright sky-blue gems in the walls. Kinda looks like clouds, even though you're deep underground. We were there today trying to complete a mission."

"A B-Rank mission," Ketch added.

"Yeah, and we saw why," Osum cut in with a mouth half-full of food, "I was really hopin' our first B-Rank mission wouldn't have ended in failure."

"It did not end in failure," Ketch shot back immediately, "It's just incomplete. We didn't get defeated, we just didn't get enough Float Stones. We just have to go back for more tomorrow."

"Not lookin' forward to that…"

"Oh dear," Anrey spoke up, "It didn't go well?"

Ketch took another bite of curry and shrugged as he chewed. "We figured there'd be a gang or something hiding out there, since it's a B-Rank, but what we didn't expect was it to be a gang of Flying-types. In a cave. Go figure."

Anrey briefly glanced at the three of them in turn. "Ah. I see."

"The only reason we weren't completely wiped out," Vizil added, "was because he knows Rollout." He tilted his head towards his Donphan companion.

"Yeah…" Ketch concurred regretfully, "It's the only Rock-type move any of us know. It worked, obviously, knocked quite a few featherbrains out, but it still took a couple of hits to take each one down, and at the end of the day I'm only one 'mon."

While the trio continued to eat their curry, Anrey glanced off to the side for a moment. There was a thoughtful look in his eye. After only a few moments, he turned back towards Ketch and asked, "Do you know Defense Curl?"

"Hm?" Ketch replied, and then swallowed his bite before saying, "Me? Uh…Yeah, I guess I do. I hardly use it, though. I prefer offense to defense."

"Why not use it here, then? Against the Flying-types."

Ketch, as well as his teammates, gave Anrey an odd look. "How's that gonna help us defeat them?"

Anrey gave them an odd look right back. "Don't…you know that using Defense Curl before Rollout makes it stronger?"

The Eevee was met with three blank stares. "…It does?" Ketch eventually muttered.

"Yeah. It, like, doubles its strength. It's a combo move."

The other teammates shared confused looks with each other. Eventually they started discussing the matter amongst themselves.

"Is that real, Ketch?"

"I dunno, I've never tried it."

"I mean, it makes sense, though."

"Would that be enough to help us?"

"If it's true, then yeah. I'd be able to knock 'em out in just one hit and totally save my strength."

Finally, they turned back to Anrey, all wearing appreciative smiles now. "You're not pullin' our legs?" Vizil asked, "That's a real technique?"

Anrey nodded. "Absolutely."

Ketch chuckled. "Well, that's gonna give us just the edge we need in there. Thanks a ton, dude!"

"Yeah, that's really helpful," Osum added, "We really appreciate it."

Anrey simply grinned and said, "No problem. Happy to help."

Ketch then turned to the side suddenly and shouted, "Hey, Missi!" He waved his trunk to catch someone's attention, and that someone turned out to be a Simipour who made her way over to the table.

"Ketch! What's up?"

The Donphan grinned and pointed his trunk at Anrey. "Remember the trouble I was tellin' you about earlier? This kid just solved it for us."

Missi looked at Anrey in surprise. "Really? How? You and I brainstormed that for like an hour."

Ketch quickly explained the skill Anrey had taught him and his team.

"Wow, really? I didn't know that either," Missi commented. She then regarded Anrey once more. "Maybe you can help me, then? My team and I are going to a dungeon tomorrow where a gang of Weavile live. They're extremely quick and they can easily surround your whole team. We've heard the horror stories."

"I presume you know Water Pledge?" Anrey asked, without skipping a beat.

"Yes, of course," she said with a nod.

"Then, if you can, you should try to find someone who knows Grass Pledge. If you use those two moves at the same time, they mix together and make a swampy sludge that your opponents can get stuck in. Really slows them down."

Missi, as well as Ketch, Vizil and Osum, were looking at Anrey in silent wonderment. "That's…" Missi muttered, "I'd heard that the moves mix together, but I didn't know they did that."

"Really?" Anrey remarked in surprise.

"Well gee, yeah I'm sure we can find someone here who knows that and partner up with them for this. I'll go tell my team right away." She grinned appreciatively at Anrey and added, "Thank you so much!"

"Holy moly," Ketch said with a slightly stunned expression.

"Issat true?" a new voice suddenly cut in, which everyone turned to see was the Crocalor sitting at the next table, "What if you mix Fire Pledge instead?"

"With Water Pledge? You make a big rainbow that helps you inflict statuses."

"Fire makes a rainbow?" the Crocalor asked, bemused.

"I know it's weird, but that's what it does."

An Ambipom sitting next to the Crocalor elbowed him and said, "Hey, ask him about our problem with the Electrode constantly using Explosion."

Vylet could only stare silently in disbelief. Her pizza sat on her plate, cold and forgotten. What had started with a few random Pokémon striking up a conversation with her Eevee companion had somehow led to Anrey being surrounded by a clamouring gaggle of guildmembers.

"It's a last ditch effort, for sure," Anrey was in the midst of explaining, "but if you've got a Focus Sash then you should definitely find someone who knows Endeavor and Quick Attack. It might just save you at the last moment…"

"Dude!" a Nidoking bellowed, "That's friggin' brilliant."

The other Pokémon around him chattered in agreement.

"How do you come up with all this stuff?" a Ponyta asked.

Anrey shrugged. "I just pick things up as I go."

"Well, you're really smart," a Breloom said cheerfully, "Without your advice, I don't think my team would've ever gotten past the Shedinja group."

"Oh yeah," Anrey said with a laugh, "Nobody thinks about Simple Beam, but everything has a use somewhere. Hopefully your partner can learn it soon."

The clamouring started up again, with a few Pokémon giving Anrey some friendly pats on the back. Vylet watched, almost transfixed, as someone else came up to him with a query. As usual, Anrey had an answer ready to go without hesitation. How many times had he done this by now? He'd been at it for almost half an hour.

The cafeteria was beginning to empty out of all patrons except for the large group around Anrey. From the outside looking in, it almost looked like Anrey was the most popular kid in school. Soon, only their group was left. Vylet noticed some of the cafeteria workers giving them odd looks.

This would probably go on until the end of time if it continued, so finally Vylet had to speak up. She waited for a break in the conversation and then loudly cleared her throat. "Hey, uh… Sorry everybody, but it's getting late. Anrey and I need to get going."

A few of the Pokémon, including Anrey, glanced up at the clock on the wall. Thankfully, most of them seemed to realize just how long this had been going on. "Oh! Okay, Vylet. Sorry, I didn't notice," Anrey said, looking back at her.

As the Sneasel stood up, picking up her plate of pizza for reasons unknown even to her, the other Pokémon started saying their goodbyes to Anrey and thanking him for his assistance. Anrey graciously responded to each of them with a friendly smile and a polite dip of his head. It took another couple minutes entirely to finally untangle the Eevee from the throng of Pokémon.

"Haha, okay. G'bye everybody!" Anrey called to them as he walked away with Vylet, "Nice meeting you all. Good luck finding someone who knows Psychic Terrain, Liyah!"

A few of the Pokémon laughed, one of whom was probably Liyah. Vylet could only keep walking and lead the Eevee out of the cafeteria doors. Relative silence finally returned once the doors closed behind them.

"Well!" Anrey said with a sigh and a light chuckle, "That was interesting. They all seemed pretty nice, albeit some of them just a bit eccentric. They were all very welcoming, at the least."

"Mhm…" Vylet mumbled, distractedly.

"But that was fun, though! And the pizza was pretty good too. I wanted to try that curry too, but I thought it'd be rude to ask…"

Anrey continued to ramble on about what had just taken place while Vylet led him silently through the inner hallways of the guild. At this time in the evening, there weren't many Pokémon around. Eventually, they turned a corner and found themselves in a hallway without anybody else in it. Vylet deviated towards a corner off to the side, where she stopped.

She then promptly whirled around, knelt down to Anrey's eye level and gently but firmly grasped him by his shoulders. The Eevee was so startled that he fell to a sitting position. "Anrey…" she spoke in a serious tone.

"Uh… Y-yes, Vylet?" he muttered in an unsure tone.

Vylet swallowed the lump in her throat and then simply said, "Please be my guild partner."

There was a distinct silence that filled the hallway following that. At first, the only thing Anrey did was blink a few times. Then he shook his head and blurted out, "Huh?"

"Please…" she insisted, "I want you to be my partner."

Anrey was giving her a surprised and confused look. "Your…partner?" he muttered, "M-me? What're you talking about? Where's this coming from?"

Vylet finally took notice of the fact that she was probably freaking him out with her intense stare. She sighed softly and let go of his shoulders. "I haven't told you," she admitted, "but my time limit's up today. If I don't have a partner by the end of the day, I won't be working here tomorrow."

Anrey gasped, his ears perking straight up. "Wh-what? That's today?"

"If I'm going to keep my position in the guild, I need to find a guild partner right now." She then looked at him again with a pleading look. "Please, Anrey? Will you be my partner?"

"Uhh…" Anrey stammered, "I…I don't understand. Why me? I don't…even work here."

"Anrey," Vylet cut in, "I just watched you for like a half an hour talking about smart strategies and clever tricks. I had no idea you were this knowledgeable about this stuff. You're obviously smart enough to qualify for a position here and I can tell that you've got the right mind for this kind of work. Everything you just said in the cafeteria came so naturally to you, it's like you've already been a guild member for years."

"W-Well, I…" Anrey murmured.

"And also…" Vylet continued, "now that I know this about you, you're…exactly who I need. As a guild partner, I mean. You're smart and you've got a good head on your shoulders and a good heart…" She offered him a gentle smile. "…and you're my friend."

This seemed to soften Anrey's worried expression a little.

"I don't need to worry about teaming up for guild work with a complete stranger if it's you. I already know you. We're already friends." She paused. "…Right?"

"Yeah," Anrey answered, "You are my friend. After all you've done for me, of course I consider you a friend." He glanced away with a conflicted look. "And, I mean, I dunno. That sort of stuff's always just kinda come naturally to me. I like to think about…how Pokémon, uh… 'work'. I don't think I'm as smart as you're making me out to be, but…"

"You're leagues smarter than the morons who think I'm a Dark/Ice type."

Anrey chuckled. "Well, yeah, obviously… But, to be your guild partner? Me? I don't know if… Are you sure? Are you sure you want… me?"

Vylet glanced away for a moment. "I'll admit, I am desperate since my time limit is up… but that doesn't matter. If this conversation in the cafeteria had happened a week ago I would've said the same thing. Yes, Anrey. I'm sure."

"But I don't know anything about being a guildmember or exploring dungeons…"

"Don't worry, I'll teach you. Like I said, you've clearly got the right kind of smarts for this, so I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly."

"And I…uh…don't know how to fight." Anrey gave her a worried look. "I've never battled before…"

Vylet finally faltered for a moment. "Wh… Really? Not even for fun as a cub?" When Anrey shook his head, she considered this for a moment but then waved a claw dismissively. "That's not a problem," she proclaimed, "Battles and moves are just part of Pokémon instinct. It's in our blood. A few days in the dojo and you'll be at least a competent fighter."

Anrey didn't say anything for a moment. He still looked quite unsure about all of this. He didn't look worried, but simply hesitant.

"I'm really sorry to put you on the spot like this," Vylet said gently, "I just really, really don't want to lose my position here. It won't always be just us. In the long run I'm planning to form a team with other guildmembers. And once I get at least one new teammate, you can just quit if you want to." She awkwardly rubbed her shoulder, now starting to regret how desperate she was sounding.

Anrey spent a few more moments staring at the ground below him in thought. When he finally lifted his head, though, the unsure look on his face was gone. Vylet was surprised to see a much more resolute expression.

"Okay," he said to her, nodding his head.

Vylet's brain stalled for a moment. "Wh- O-okay?"

"I'll do it."

"You… You will?!" Vylet immediately covered her mouth, wincing at how loudly she had shouted.

Anrey was smiling demurely now. "It's not exactly what I'd had in mind…but I did tell you that I was going to find some way to pay you back for letting me stay at your house, remember? I told you I wasn't gonna be a freeloader. I imagined that I'd get a job and start paying you rent, but I guess this works too…"

Vylet looked at him in surprise. "A-Anrey, I…"

The Eevee chuckled awkwardly. "Hopefully I'll be able to earn my meals well enough…"

"Anrey, please don't do this just because you feel like you're obligated to."

"No, no," he said, shaking his head, "I'm also doing this to help you. I want to help you, Vylet, and I don't want you to lose your position here."

A little smile started to sneak its way onto Vylet's face. "Anrey, are you sure…?"

He nodded.

Vylet chuckled softly, trying to hold back tears, and reached out suddenly to give him a hug. "Thank you…" she whispered, "Thank you so much. This means a lot to me."

"Ah…You're welcome," Anrey replied, "I'm a little worried, but if you think I'll be fine then I think it'll be okay." After a few more moments, Vylet pulled away from the hug. Anrey cleared his throat and then said, "Although, you know, I'm still not completely healed from my bump on the noggin. I can stand, walk and climb, but things are still a little spinny and I dunno if I'd be able to do…battle moves…At least not for a bit longer until I recover."

Vylet stood up, finally with a smile on her own face and an enigmatic twinkle in her eye. "That shouldn't be a problem," she said simply, and then gestured with her claw. "Follow me!"

"Guildmaster Zarah! Pardon our intrusion!"

The Floragato looked up from what she was working on at her desk as Vylet entered her office suddenly. She looked a little put off at being interrupted, but her expression softened a bit once she saw who her visitor was. "Ah, Vylet. Good timing," she said, "I'm afraid we have some unfortunate matters to discuss. I'm sure you know wh-"

"Yes, we do," Vylet interrupted, "but before that, I have something that requires your attention."

Zarah raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

"I have brought with me somebody who would like to join the guild!"

A look of intrigue appeared on the Floragato's face. "Really? That's unexpected, especially at this time in the evening. Well, either way, I am always pleased to welcome new faces. Who is…?"

Vylet had stepped aside from the doorway, revealing a certain Eevee standing behind her. She gestured to him, and he smiled at Zarah with a touch of nervousness.

"….What?" Zarah said flatly.

"Anrey would like to enroll," Vylet explained, "He'd like to join the guild and become a recruit."

An awkward silence followed. Zarah gave a raised-eyebrow look at the Sneasel for a moment before turning a critical eye on Anrey, who had stepped into the room fully. "Is this true?" she asked him directly.

Anrey had never interacted with the guildmaster before, and he seemed a little bit intimidated in her presence. However, to his credit, he simply nodded and replied in a steady tone, "It is true, yes. I would like to join."

"Aren't you injured, though?"

"I'm mostly better by now, and Vylet tells me there's a lengthy entry process so I should be perfectly fine by the time that's all done." Anrey smiled and tried to stand up straighter.

Zarah seemed hesitant. "…I see. You do make a fair point." After a moment, she relaxed a little. "Well, if that is what you desire, then I can certainly get that process started for you. We are always looking for new recruits and we happily accept almost all entrants. If you're certain that's what you would like to do, then so be it."

Anrey nodded again. "It is, I'm sure. After spending time with one of your guildmembers here, I've learned a lot about this organization."

The Floragato nodded. "Very well," she said, and then opened one of the drawers on her desk. After a moment, she brought out a few sheets of paper that were very familiar to Vylet. They were the very same papers she herself had filled out when she had applied to join the guild. Zarah set them down across from her on the desk and gestured for Anrey to come closer. "Fill out all of the information here, and from there you will begin your orientation in a few days. This is followed by testing, which will earn you a position in the Recruit Class if you succeed."

"Is it okay if Vylet writes this out for me?" Anrey asked, "My writing skills are bad enough when I'm not recovering from a bump on the head."

Zarah glanced at the Sneasel for a moment and then nodded. Vylet then approached the desk and picked up the papers as well as a quill pen from the guildmaster's desk.

The next few minutes were fairly quiet as Vylet filled out the paperwork. She already knew plenty of things, like Anrey's name, hometown and species, but she had to ask him for some others such as his age. There were no problems, though, and soon enough the papers were filled out completely. Vylet handed them back to the Floragato.

Zarah briefly skimmed over the information on the papers before binding them with a paperclip and filing them away in her desk. "Everything appears to be in order," she said with a satisfied nod, "Welcome to the Eclipse Guild, Anrey. We are glad to have you."

The Eevee smiled and briefly bowed his head. "Thank you, guildmaster. I look forward to it."

Zarah cleared her throat and then looked over at Vylet. "Now then, we-"

"Pardon me, guildmaster," Vylet cut in suddenly, catching the Floragato off guard, "but I have something important to tell you."

For the first time since Vylet had known her, Zarah looked bewildered. "You…Huh?"

Vylet simply smiled brightly and announced, "I have selected my official guild partner and wish to record this in the guild ledger."

"…Oh!" Zarah remarked, clearly surprised by this, "Really, now? Goodness, Vylet, you certainly waited until the last possible moment. Well, good. That took far too long, but at the same time I was not looking forward to dismissing such a promising new recruit." While she spoke, Zarah searched through her desk and pulled out a large, black book. She placed it on her desk with a loud thump, but then hesitated. "Although…Why are you telling me this while you're here alone? Your partner needs to be present in order to make this official."

"He is present," Vylet replied.

Zarah arched an eyebrow. "Is he outside the door, or something? You should let him in…"

Vylet shook her head, secretly steeled her nerves, and said, "I have selected Anrey as my guild partner."

Complete and utter silence filled the room. One could have heard a pin drop, and it would have sounded deafeningly loud. Zarah had been opening up the ledger, and was now frozen halfway into opening the book up. She stood there silently for a moment, staring blankly at the half-open book, and then lifted her head to level a very unamused look at the Sneasel.

"…Pardon me?"

Vylet gave her a toothy grin. "I, uh, have chosen Anrey, a member of the guild, to be my-"

"I heard you," Zarah interjected, her tone harsh but not loud, "Vylet, I don't have time for nonsense."

"It's not nonsense. It's…who I've chosen."

"Anrey is not a guildmember," Zarah remarked, "Until two minutes prior, he was a visitor inside these halls. He has not yet passed or even attempted any of his testing."

Vylet swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to calm herself before replying. "Ma'am," she spoke in a relaxed voice, "If I recall, you just said to Anrey, 'Welcome to the Eclipse Guild'. Furthermore, according to section 2 of the Eclipse Guild rules and regulations, Pokémon are considered to be members of the guild once their registration is completed, for all intents and purposes, affording them the proper rights, responsibilities and legal protections that come with this designation, regardless of the state of their entrance examinations or any form of testing."

Both Anrey and Zarah stared at Vylet silently for a moment. Zarah then glanced at Anrey once more before saying, "Vylet, I don't appreciate you trying to game the system."

"I'm not gaming the system," Vylet replied firmly, "I'm serious about this."

"You've known him for how long, now? Less than ten days?"

"I've known him longer than the other Pokémon I've tried to partner up with, and look where that had gotten me."

A flash of indignation appeared on the guildmaster's face, but then it faded and was replaced by a pensive look. A few more tense, quiet moments passed, with Vylet holding her breath the whole time, until finally Zarah let out a sigh. "I…cannot say I fully approve of this," she said, "but you're right. There is no legitimate reason I can give to deny this."

Vylet perked up, quietly gasping.

"Are you sure you've thought this through?" Zarah asked, "Both of you?"

The other two shared a glance, and then both nodded almost in sync with each other.

"…Very well, then."

Vylet could barely contain a triumphant cheer. A huge feeling of relief washed over her and she silently thanked the stars. She glanced at Anrey again and caught his eye, whereupon she mouthed the words 'Thank you' to him.

Zarah had now dug out another sheet of paper from her desk, which Vylet figured to be the official record of their new partnership. "I gave you two weeks," the Floragato was grumbling, "Two extra weeks so that you would get a partner and become an active part of this guild's workforce. Instead, you've now partnered yourself with someone who is not only untrained but also injured, which even further pushes back your ability to work here. Do you see now what I mean by 'gaming the system'?

The Sneasel flinched slightly from Zarah's terse words. "I still plan to continue working as I have been these previous two weeks. I will continue to perform as many Rank D missions as I am permitted to do on my own."

"Obviously," Zarah commented dryly, "I would expect nothing less."

Vylet chuckled awkwardly. "Y-Yeah…"

Once Zarah was finished writing on the paper, she then lifted her gaze and faced the two smaller Pokémon. "By technicality alone, Vylet, you are now advanced to the Recruit Class. You will be provided a new scarf tomorrow. Stop by the front desk to pick it up."

"Thank you, guildmaster," Vylet said with an excited grin, "Thank you so much, I really appreciate it."

"As for you, Anrey," she continued, now addressing the Eevee, "You will be contacted in five to seven days to begin your testing process. To save time, I will have your partner explain the details of the tests, as she has just gone through them herself."

Anrey nodded. "I understand."

"Good. Dismissed."

And on that still very harsh-sounding note, the discussion was abruptly over and a displeased-looking Floragato went back to whatever she had been working on before. Vylet and Anrey shared an awkward glance, silently debating if they should say anything else, but eventually Vylet shrugged and started leading him out of the room.

"If Anrey fails his exams, I'm kicking you out of the guild immediately," Zarah called after them, causing them both to pause halfway out the door.

"…U-uh…" Vylet stammered without looking back.

"I have been truthful in saying that I do not wish to lose good talent such as yours, Vylet, and I want you to work here. But it cannot be denied that you are really trying my patience, and at some point I have to draw the line. Now, good night. Close the door."

After hearing those very terse words, Vylet got the impression that Zarah didn't want to hear another word from them at all, not even a quick goodbye. She hastily urged Anrey out of the office and dutifully closed the door behind her. She then just kept on walking away with no particular direction in mind, guided only by her own nervous energy.

Finally, she and Anrey found themselves in a quiet corner of the guild. Vylet let out a huge breath to try and calm down and shook both her head and claws vigorously.

"She seems nice," Anrey commented quietly.

"Oh my gosh," Vylet muttered, "Oh by Arceus' good graces. She is nice, she's a pleasant enough Pokémon who cares about her employees, but when she gets mad she becomes scary." Vylet shook her entire body like a Growlithe trying to dry off and let out a sigh. "I'm so glad that's over with. That was stressful. Way more stressful than any Mystery Dungeon could hope to be." After a short pause, she added, "But it worked, I guess…"

For the first time since leaving the office, Vylet turned and faced Anrey. 'Your new partner,' her subconscious reminded her, and the thought briefly threw her for a loop. The Eevee was seated on the ground, and Vylet was immediately struck by how calm he looked. He didn't seem very fazed at all by what had just happened to them. It was commendable to say the least.

Instead, Anrey was gazing off to the side with a quiet, pensive look on his face. He was neither smiling nor frowning. He looked like he had things on his mind. Vylet stood there for a moment, reflecting on what had just transpired, and tried to imagine what was going through Anrey's mind now that it was done. Now that they were officially partners, and he was officially a member of the guild. The reality of the whole situation was still sinking in, and Vylet suddenly felt its weight heavily on her shoulders.

She frowned, a sense of guilt starting to grow within her. "Anrey, I…" she started, but trailed off.

Anrey turned to look at her, still wearing that pensive look, but didn't say anything.

Vylet tried to look for any signs of regret in the Eevee's expression, but she wasn't sure if she could see any or not. "Anrey…I'm sorry," she said shamefully, "I'm…sorry I put you through this. This was just a dumb move. This was nothing more than me being desperate to stay in the guild. I didn't even consider how you might feel about-"

"Oh, no no no," Anrey cut her off, "No, don't worry about that."

"…Huh?" Vylet perked up, giving Anrey a confused look.

Anrey was now giving her a demure little smile. "I mean, okay, I'll admit that I wasn't totally on board at first. I just went through with it because I wanted to help you and pay you back for taking care of me. But the more I thought about it…I realized that, well, maybe this is something I want to do."

"Wh…Really?" Vylet blurted out in surprise.

The Eevee simply shrugged and nodded.

For a second, Vylet could only stare and blink. "…Oh," she finally muttered, "Oh, um… Okay. That's…" A little smile found its way onto her face. "That's good. That's great, actually!" As the Sneasel felt a huge wave of relief wash over her, she found herself laughing. "I was just about to beg you to not quit until I could at least find someone to take over your spot, and I felt so terrible thinking about how long that might take with my track record."

"Nah, don't sweat it," Anrey replied, "Colour me intrigued by the prospect, if you will."

"I must admit," Vylet continued, "I'm surprised to hear this from you…but at the same time, I'm also glad to hear it. I think…I think you and I might just make a good team together."

"Heh…" Anrey chuckled, "I'll do my best, but I can't promise I'll be amazing."

Vylet shook her head and then gave Anrey a determined look. "Nope, don't you worry about that. You're my partner now. It's basically official. And if you're my partner, that means I'm gonna do my best to support you whenever you need it. I'm gonna make sure you ace those entrance exams, and I'm gonna practice battle moves with you as much as I can. Whatever you need from me in order to learn the ropes, you just let me know."

Anrey gave her a wide-eyed look in response. "Wow, uh… I like the confidence. And I definitely appreciate the help, even after all the help you've already given me… Gosh, I'm really lucky that you're the one who rescued me from that cave."

"Fate works in weird ways," Vylet said with a shrug, "Sometimes Pokémon are just there for a reason, even if they don't know it."

"I'll do my best not to let you down, Vylet."

Vylet laughed and gave the Eevee a pat on the back. "Oh, I'm sure you won't."

"I hope so."

"Call me crazy, but with your brains and my skills, I think you and I might just have created the perfect team."