PMD-E Mission 4: Deception

        Cecil groaned as he rose, pushing his covers off him, and rubbing his head some. Light was gently shining through his curtain as the Murkrow took a deep breath. In, and out. All was well. His lungs weren’t clogged with mucus anymore, so that was good. He enjoyed it when oxygen freely flowed into his blood.

        He got up out of bed and stood up. That medicine had really worked, he felt good as new. His legs supported his body without giving him the undeniable urge to take a nap on the floor. Adell had told him that PK had been up and about for the past few days. Seems she recovered faster. Not that Cecil was surprised. They both were in the room right when the ice dragon awoke, but PK by then had likely color-changed, so her body would accommodate the ice more. Granted it hadn’t made her immune, but she had a little more defense than the avian, who had felt the cold pass right through his feathers and chill him to the bone.

        He walked over to his window and pushed the curtain aside, taking a look at the transformed village below. The sight of it put a bad taste in his mouth, though he wasn’t entirely sure why. A lot of reasons, he supposed.

        He felt like an idiot for acting how he had back in Icy Cave. Granted, for a while there it seemed like his fears had been confirmed, the dragon speaking in that odd language as he emerged and the rather sudden onset of a fever he felt overcome his body were not signs of good things to come.

All that buildup and shouting almost seemed like it was for nothing though. The conversation that ensued between PK and the dragon afterwards seemed very... anticlimactic. He was almost hoping that something big was going to happen. Something to prove to the Kecleon that her actions weren't the brightest.  

Lucky for him, PK had seemed too busy interviewing her new team recruit to try and patronize him for his actions. In fact his outburst seemed to just slip her mind. Just as well, he supposed. Now they were still in the guild, at least.

While he wasn't exactly proud of how he acted though, he still felt like somehow... something was wrong. Something aside from the snow coating the village surface. The sight of the village in its current state gave this an entirely different type of chill. He didn’t have the heart to just go to PK and say he still believed he was right, especially when, from what Adell had been telling him while he was bedridden, the two had gained a rather favorable image in the eyes of the villagers. There was likely no knocking her off her high horse now.

And lastly... Coliche. He had promised her at the entrance of the cave that they wouldn’t let the dragon get summoned. He hadn’t seen her since the whole event. What would she think of him now? They only met for a short while, and yet she trusted him. He would be sure to apologize the next time they met. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they would.

The door creaked open, drawing Cecil’s attention to his partner, who was now standing in the entrance to his room.

“Morning.” The avian responded, giving his partner a smirk, which the Smeargle gladly returned.

“It’s good to see you out of bed.” He responded happily, closing the door behind him, “Thought I heard you get up... feeling better then?”

“Bones are a bit stiff, but otherwise alright.” He responded, stretching himself out as if the mention of it brought the fact to his body’s attention. He gave a bit of a sigh, and moved to sit himself down on his rather plain bed. He was actually a bit eager to leave his room, having been confined to it for so long. “So, what haven’t you been telling me?”

That question came as a bit of a surprise to Adell, his look conveying that message to his partner, who now had his wings crossed with a smug grin on his face. The Smeargle let out a bit of a defeated sigh, and smirked a bit more.

“I’m that bad of a liar, huh?” He said with a bit of an uneasy chuckle, taking a seat right next to him.

“Eh, I’ve just been around you that long I suppose. You weren’t telling me everything, that's for sure.” The bird commented, though his demeanor shifted as he did so, from one that was carefree to one that was rather serious. “It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, is it?”

Adell wasn’t too quick to respond, shifting his gaze to look down at his feet for a moment, before letting out a pitiful sigh.

“Slasher and Pallette are dead.”

That was rather unexpected. Well, Slasher wasn't exactly one to mourn for, but Pallette? Sure she had been a Rogue previously, but Cecil had never seen her do anything of ill repute. While he never knew her personally... it was incredibly saddening to learn she was gone.

"...The incidents weren't related, as far as I can tell." Adell continued, knowing what his partner must have been thinking "Slasher apparently made an attempt on Shroomsworth's life. A grudge or something. Apparently it... backfired."

Cecil shuddered a bit. It was easy to forget because of his posh attitude, but Shroomsworth was an excellent fighter. Not like you become the head of a large operation like the Merchants on talk alone.

"And... Pallette?" Cecil asked, glancing at the Smeargle. He could tell that this was a bit more... complicated.

"...Remember how PK said she never gave the mission to steal from Chill's vault?" He started, carefully, "The other guilds got missions like that too... and someone claimed that they saw Devonshire, who was helping trash PK's stand."

"But that’s not possible." Cecil said, not terribly surprised, as it was something he could deduce on his own. "Devonshire was leading his team of Rogues into Monochrome tower when that should have been taking place, so..."

"It had to be an impostor." Adell finished, with a nod. "PK was kinda huffy when she returned and saw her stand ruined, so she suggested that Pallette did it... and then Devonshire popped up and insisted that he would... take care of it."

Cecil's gaze turned solemnly down towards the floor of his room, not really wanting to believe what he was being told.

"So he..." The bird began, not really wishing to finish his sentence, which was great, since his partner rather quickly continued.

"Her house was found burned down the next day." Adell confirmed, solemnly, "There’s... no evidence that Devonshire actually did it, but word is PK was rather concerned when she found out..."

Cecil let out a concerned sigh. There was no evidence, perhaps, but the implications of all this were pretty severe. Why couldn’t they all just go back to watching fireworks?

        “...Let’s move on.” He insisted. This subject didn’t seem like something he wanted to dwell on. “Any new developments?”

        The Smeargle blinked, suddenly remembering the original reason why he had come into his friends room, hopping off the bed with a new purpose and slipping out the door. Cecil remained seated and awaited his partners return, which didn’t take that long, only a minute or two. The beagle re-entered his friends room with a letter, with PK’s purple seal on it. The seal was broken. His partner must have read it already, and indeed he had. When the beagle sat back down and opened up the parchment, annotations could be seen scribbled on the sides in his telltale blue paint (which looked almost like a pen rather than a paintbrush smear. The bird would never be able to figure out just how he did that.)

        "I’ve been asking around town, seeing what the other guilds are up to, and it seems that both the Rogues and the Rescuers have some big plans." The Smeargle said, pointing to the notes he had scribbled in next to PK's briefing on their own primary mission.

        "Two completed missions required. Snowy Village and..." Cecil mumbled as he leaned in to read over his partners notes, furrowing his brow a bit "Prismatic Jungle? What in the world does Devonshire need there?"

        "I wouldn't know. I don't think the Rogues even do. But you know Devonshire... he’s not exactly direct in his actions." Adell continued, handing the paper to Cecil so he could scrutinize it more. He had written in notes about the other guilds supposed side missions too, though the information pertaining to their main goals seemed to be the most interesting right now.

        From the sound of it, this "Tivoli" must certainly be someone who you wouldn't want to cross paths with. So why in the world were the Rogues planning on going such a far distance away, at such a great risk? Adell could also see the look of determination growing in his partner’s eyes.

        "I know you want to follow them and see what they are up to, but we can't." Adell insisted, catching his partner glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. "It’s too dangerous. I’ll see what they were up to when they return. Right now, I think we need to focus on something a bit more close to home.”

        His paw pointed to a mission on the page which he had circled, Cecil’s eyes trailing down to look at it, and the notes he had scribbled in as well. The bird gave a nod and sighed, getting up off his bed and wandering towards his window again, gazing outside. Just beyond his window, a single snowflake drifted by. The first of a new fall. He crossed his wings and leaned up against the glass some, his breath fogging up the window pane.

        “Sorry, I’m just a bit... agitated... This weather isn’t helping either.”

        His partner got up as well, walking to his side to also get a view of the town as flakes floated down from the sky gently and sprinkled themselves along the ground. It was rather beautiful actually. Almost as if the whole town was encased in a snow globe.

        “You arn’t really used to the cold, are you?” He asked, recalling that Alomomola was known for being nice and toasty year-round.

        “Yah...  but hey. Best start getting used to it now.” He said, stretching his wings out as he walked towards the door, his partner following him. “Im not about to start getting homesick.

---

        “Ugh! I can’t believe I didn’t notice! Now that I take a look at it, it’s strikingly obvious!”

        Matthew groaned, leaning back his chair, his eyes fixed on the piece of paper he was

 clutching in his paws with a scrutinizing gaze. In the corner of the rather lavish study, an onlooking feline couldn't help but giggle some, swishing her tail back and forth playfully as she observed her partner’s distress. He was always so funny to watch when he got like this.

"Devonshire's handwriting has more of a slant to it! There’s this type of elegance he puts into his letters and... gah! The vocabulary is all wrong! There’s a difference between sounding sophisticated and being sophisticated that the author of this letter -clearly- does not understand!"

The Zorua huffed, and tossed the letter detailing the Rogue's previous missions behind him with an annoyed grunt, crossing his arms and bringing his head to rest on his desk with a rather grumpy look upon his face.

"Oh come now Matty~" The Purrloin, Melody, rang out some, rising from her seat and heading across the room to her partner, sitting on the arm of his lavish looking armchair and leaning on his shoulder. "The lady up and bit the dust. I can’t imagine you can still be upset with her after that. Besides, the two of us don't exactly pay much attention to missions now, do we?"

She glanced about the study the two were currently seated in. The bookcases shelved with Matt's favorite novels, the ornate light fixtures, the lush dark blue rug and accompanying blue velvet furniture were all gained without taking on a terrible workload from the Rogues. As far as the villagers knew, Matthew was the son of a rather wealthy family, using his inheritance to aid the poor under the Rogues’ umbrella.

In truth, however, no such inheritance existed. Melody just so happened to be born with the ability to forge counterfeit money, a trait normally held only by members of the Meowth family. Using his ability to take on multiple aliases, Matthew would turn this counterfeit money into real money by trading goods, giving them the currency they required to both aid the Rogues and live the high life.

Something in Mel's words seemed to cause a rather sudden change in the Zorua's mood. He glanced up at her, and his disgruntled frown grew into a cunning smile, a gleam appearing in his eye as he chuckled, rising to sit straight up, grinning proudly.

"But -did- she?" He rang out happily, causing his partner to raise an eyebrow. Honestly, this Zorua was one of the most curious people she had ever met.

"What are you getting at?" She asked, crossing her own arms and giving her tail a swish "Her home was burned to a crisp, and her along with it. They found her skeleton, its not lik-"

"Did you know that the most difficult feature to sustain in an illusion is the eyes?" he said, cutting her off and waving a finger knowingly. He had his speech all planned out, she could tell. Best to interject only when it would give him a springboard to continue.

“When you begin to lose focus, the eyes are the first things in your illusion that are compromised.” he continued on “The iris is such a minuscule little detail after all. A thin strip of color, yet so personally defining. It takes someone with real skill to maintain the eye’s color.”

“...and the imposter’s eyes were orange.” Mel continued, feeling this was the appropriate time to speak. “So what? Pallette wasn’t that skilled with her illusions?”

This response prompted Matthew’s appearance to suddenly change, his body changing into a wispy black haze, which swirled around and reformed, though not fully. He was in Devonshire’s form, but it was his more ghostly appearance, his features warped with a twisted kind of excitement.

“No, no, no! Look deeper my dear!” He insisted, his voice a perfect imitation of their leader’s “There is a key difference between my eyes, and those of another individual. It’s staring you right in the face!”

The false Devonshire’s body solidified and he seemed to calm down, becoming the stoic figure they recognized as their leader. His large sapphire eyes rested right before Mel's own allowing her to stare right into their depths, and it didn’t take long for her to crack a smile of her own, understanding what he meant.

"You -have- no iris." She stated, smugly crossing her arms.

"Precisely."

With that, the false Devonshire reverted back into the Zorua she knew too well, who was still wearing that proud smirk on his face.

"Eyes are so easy to screw up because they are so insignificant. But not Devonshire’s! We aren't talking about changing a small strip of color from blue to purple, we are talking about taking two gigantic sapphires and turning them into amethyst." He proudly explained, "It should be child’s play for any Zoroark. I’d say it’s tricky for me, but you and I both know it’s not, because I’m just so brilliant. But for another Zorua perhaps..."

"So it goes beyond being inexperienced." Mel continued “You’re saying that the culprit couldn’t have been fully evolved, and that means-”

“It couldn’t have been Palette!” Matt exclaimed, tossing his paws in the air ecstatically “We haaaaaave a winner!”

The Purrloin couldn’t help but smirk at her partners jubilant reaction. She loved it when he got like this too. Honestly... he was just an all around intriguing person.

"I take it you're feeling better then?" She asked, idly sliding one of the desk’s drawers open and rummaging about it a bit.

"Naturally~" He responded, crossing his arms proudly "I feel that I have regained my self-imposed 'Master of Deception' title. All is right with the world."

This new demeanor of his prompted another giggle from his partner, Mel retrieving a folded piece of paper from the drawer, and idly laying it down on the desk, drumming her claws on it as she continued to speak with her partner.

"So that’s it? Not going to go on some big hunt for this guy? Pretty heavy transgressions he’s got." She said teasingly, nudging his shoulder. "Never mind vandalism and having someone wrongfully executed, they hurt your precious pride~"

Matthew humphed, shoving the Purrloin over and shaking his head submissively.

"Not interested enough. Or rather, I’m more interested in their motives.” He said dismissively with a shake of his head. “If it was a prank, it was a rather risky one. It probably goes beyond that, and for now, I just want to watch things play out.”

He turned his head towards Mel, with a sly little smirk on his face.

“It’s just food for thought.” He finished, turning his gaze towards the letter which his partner had retrieved. “That would be our latest mission letter, yes?”

“Mhm~” She responded, unfolding it so it could be read. “I actually want to go on one. Lookie right here~”

She pointed down to the main mission the guild was pursuing. Apparently a perilous foray into the Prismatic Jungle. No allowing the weak or inexperienced to participate in this one, of which their team was considered. Well, by the powers that be, at least.

“All the experienced teams get the fun missions.” She whined childishly, nudging him in the shoulder “Our little counterfeit scheme is fun and all, but I would like an adventure once in a while. Besides, there’s a good portion of the Rogues who seem to believe that the two of us are just here to supply money, and can’t actually pull our weight.”

Matthew raised an eyebrow to that, a smirk growing on his face as he turned back towards the paper to peruse over the current mission offerings. His paw traced down the list to point at one of the side missions.

“In that case, why don’t we do this one?” He insisted, chuckling lightly “Manipulating people is always fun, after all.”

---

“You guys can’t honestly tell me you were happy with Slasher in charge!”

“Maybe not, but it was a way of life, and it was fine by me!”

“Was it, really?”

Cecil and Adell watched on as Rhodes, a recent Slasher convert, argued with another Sneasel, seated atop a tree branch, with a rather large group watching on. About ten or twelve of them. All ex-gang members by definition, considering that their leader was out of the picture, though they still had that air about them that Cecil recognized. Almost like they were reluctant to admit the gang was over and done with.

“Guys, Slasher is gone.” Rhodes said, with a concerned tone to his voice. “Life with him was the only life most of us knew. I can’t imagine you guys know where you are going from here.”

“Well maybe we don’t, but who says we gotta go with these guys!” The other insisted, seeming to speak for the whole group. “We’ve been at each other’s throats for who knows how long! What makes you think they’ll want us, huh?!”

“They took me in!” He insisted, “I’m sure they-”

“And then what?” The opposing Sneasel shot back, cutting Rhodes off and glaring down at the three diplomats. Cecil could see that look in his eyes though. It wasn’t anger. It was a type of inner frustration and confusion. “Then, we just hang around, doing chores for some villagers huh? Sitting behind some stand selling berries to make a living? Does that sound like the life you could see any of us in?”

Adell was simply watching, as he often did. The Smeargle never was one for talking, much. His gaze was shifting between Rhodes and Cecil, tracking their expressions. The latter of the two seemed to be watching the Sneasel analytically, his wings crossed, seeming skeptical of his words. Rhodes, on the other hand, seemed a bit hurt. The other Sneasels’ protests seemed to sting him.

“Its better than the life you had, I’m certain of it.” Cecil said, finally speaking up and taking a step forwards. All the onlooking ice types focused on him now. He was center stage. He tilted his head and looked straight upwards to deliver his message straight to the one who seemed to be representing the group. “I heard Slasher didn’t exactly treat you guys well.”

“Like you would know.” The other responded “You used to belong to that Geeno guy, right? Last I recall, they were a pampered bunch of rats with wings! Always had somewhere to stay, somewhere with money coming in. I bet ‘bad’ to you probably meant missing a meal during the day.”

The rest of the Sneasel laughed at this. Adell was watching his partner concernedly. He didn’t want the bird to lose his cool, but Cecil stayed surprisingly calm, his eyes fixed on the one who had been speaking.

“Yeah. Thats what I thought. And I was an absolute idiot for it." He said, wings crossed as he glared up at the sneasel in the trees. The way he held himself, the look in his eyes, the tone in his voice were all so commanding. The laughter started to die down as the bird before them continued. "I took out lots of money from the boss. The way he told me to pay it back, the relationship I had with him up till then, I coulda sworn that worst come to worse I'd just end up with a good beating... but thats not what happened. I got called to the bosses place to talk about my debt and when I got there... this street kid I was buddies with was lying there and... it scared the crap out of me. He was brused and bleeding in places... he was a spoink, and the pearl on his head was gone... The boss said he took it as a payment on my debt."

Everyone went quiet. Even Adell and Rhodes. Cecil was commanding the spotlight now, and Adell was suprised how direct he was being. He didn't like thinking about the night he left Geeno's gang much. The occasion seemed to call for it though.

“That’s when I ran away. I hadn't really realized just how little everyone there cared about me... or how much I cared about the safety of others. Being in a gang... it screws with your head.” He continued, “You cling to that title you got, because it means everything to you. More than the world. You end up throwing your life away for it. I can see it in your eyes. All of you. You’ve been clinging to that name for so long you don’t know what to do now that it’s gone. You think you want things to continue, but think again. Haven’t there been times when you questioned what you were doing? Where you wanted to speak out against Slasher but didn’t?” The bird’s gaze scanned over the group, all of which seemed to seem vulnerable now, reflecting on their time with Slasher.

Cecil then took a look back at Rhodes, who had just been listening up until this point, and gave a motion towards the group, his cue to take over. The Sneasel walked forward timidly and looked up, addressing his friends once again.

“Guys... I can’t recall any time with Slasher that felt better than my time with the Merchants. These guys... care about you. A-and you can live how you want! It’s not just running shops... these guys do so much more than that.” He pleaded, “Please guys... you are my friends... we might not be Slashers anymore, but we can still be together, can’t we?”

The one Sneasel who had been mostly speaking for the group stared down at the ground for a little bit, seeming to be lost in thought for a while. He looked down at Rhodes, and then around to the rest of the group, who all gave him confirming nods.

“Alright.” He said “We’ll do it.”

---

“The others should be around here somewhere...” The Sneasel from before muttered, moving his new companions along. They were looking for the rest of Slasher’s former gang now. They had a good portion with them, about fifteen or so, but the gang consisted of at least double that. With the Rogues also recruiting, it seemed rather important that they get to them before anyone else.

The group pushed out of the forest suddenly, into a clearing. A clearing with a large stone brick wall directly in front of them. Their gazes all shifted upwards to stare at the towers of Castle Draclugia. The moon was just starting to rise now. It looked a bit ominous in this light.

“...I think we went too far.” The Sneasel leading them said, “Coulda sworn they were hanging out around here though... maybe we should turn back-”

There was an odd crackling noise nearby that the group slowly began to notice, turning their heads to notice a bug Pokemon, a Larvesta, whose body was lightly on fire, looking a bit defensive. They hadn’t seen him when they arrived. His gaze was locked right onto Cecil. The Murkrow glanced around at the others in his group, who seemed sufficiently confused, and then looked back at the bug.

“Can we hel-”

“Get away from me.” He cut off, and now that he spoke it was obvious his defensive demeanor was just an act. You could hear his voice waver worriedly. “I came here t-to get a book from this library... not t-to hang out with some... bird.”

Cecil certainly was confused. He looked over at Adell for some kind of aid, but he seemed just as clueless as the rest of them.

“W... well... The Rescuers did have a mission to retrieve a book from Merlot’s library... I’m guessing that’s what hes here fo-”

Adell was cut off as well, by the rather ominous sound of large, beating wings, which caused the whole group, the Larvesta included, to turn toward the forest worriedly.

“One of Merlot’s servants?”

“Maybe its Udon coming back, she was gone earlier, wasn’t she?”

“I dunno, but I don’t want to stick around here and find out!”

Adell was the last to speak. Things suddenly seemed to be moving so fast. He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on anymore, but he grabbed hold of Cecils wing with one paw, who grabbed Rhodes’, who in turn started a chain with the rest of the ex-Slashers. With his other paw he grabbed onto their new-found bug companion.

“H-Hey! Wha-”

Rather suddenly, the world lurched for them all as space seemed to shift around them. They tossed and turned, they rose and fell, they slammed into something. There was the sound of something toppling over, hundreds of objects hitting the ground, a flutter of paper, and when the world stopped swirling and came into focus, the group was laying atop a fallen bookcase, with its contents rather messily scattered about.

“Ugh... what happened...” Rhodes grunted out, slowly rising up and rubbing his head, having a bit of a headache.

“Teleportation...” Cecil responded, grabbing the fallen bookcase with a wing and using it to pull himself up, looking around to survey his surroundings. “...you get used to it. Is everyone okay?”

There were scattered groans here and there from the group, confirming that they were all in one piece. Well, almost all of them.

“...Adell?” Cecil asked, glancing around, realizing he hadn’t heard his partner’s own voice.

“He’s fine.” A new voice said. Everyone’s sight turned to an Eevee who was kneeling down over the Smeargle in question, who seemed to be unconscious on the ground, though he was quite obviously still breathing.

“Where did you come fro-”

“Quiet please!” The Eevee shot at the Sneasel who raised his voice, the same Sneasel who had been speaking out for the group, “I honestly hate having to explain the obvious, but this is a library!”

The group was taken aback by the Eevee’s sudden brashness, though it faded as soon as it came on, the brown foxy Pokemon looking over the unconscious beagle, Cecil walking up to him.

“He teleported you guys in here, right?” The Eevee asked, “A Smeargle’s recreation of another Pokemon’s power is always imperfect, and never as powerful as the original. His mind couldn’t handle pulling all of you through space like that. He should come to, though. Cal?”

“I’d prefer you to use my full name, but yes?”

Everyone jumped at the addition of yet another voice, this one speaking with a hallow, ghostly echo. They hadn’t noticed the Chandelure hanging over them, now floating down to the mysterious new Eevee. Their group just seemed to be growing by the minute.

“Could you get this guy someplace to lay down while these people help me re-organize my Pokedex?”

“I suppose.” The Chandelure responded, floating downwards as his ‘arms’ wrapped around the beagle Pokemon’s shoulders and lifted him upwards, though he sounded a bit reluctant. “I stand by what I’ve said before though. You are far too kind to intruders.”

        The Eevee smirked some, and motioned for him to move along. Reluctantly, the Chandelure did. Lexy (the Eevee) then turned back to the rag-tag group of Pokemon that decided to fall into his library.

        “Alright, you guys get the bookcase back up, and you guys start collecting up the books. They go in numerical order, from one to six hundred and forty six.”

        “SIX HUNDRED FORTY SIX?” A Sneasel exclaimed, who was promptly hushed by Lexy.

        “Library!” He insisted, glaring at him. “And what, you expect Cal and I to do it all by ourselves? We know how to treat books, thank you very much.”

        “Let’s help out, guys.” Cecil insisted, stepping forward to address everyone. “It’s our fault for intruding. Besides, this guy here needs to-”

        The Larvesta seemed to be staring at him the same way he had been while they were outside. A defensive type of glare.

        “I need to check out a book.” He said, shuffling a bit away from Cecil. “So l-let’s make this fast... I really don’t like birds.”

        “Well then! In that case...” Lexy’s voice rang out, having moved to a nearby velvet chair during the short confrontation, now laying back and relaxing in it, flipping open a book. “If you want to check out a book, then one of you needs to tell me what can run, yet cannot walk, and has a mouth, but cannot talk. Now run along. I’m doing the terribly important job of supervising.”

        Everybody looked around at each other, which ultimately ended with everyone giving Cecil a look of disappointment, as if this were somehow his fault, before grumbling and starting to get to work.

        Cecil and the Sneasel from earlier, who had been speaking on behalf of the group, were lifting up the bookcase they had toppled over. Meanwhile the other Sneasel and the Larvesta were picking up the scattered books, the latter of which was taking care to get the ones the farthest away from the avian as possible.

        “What is with him...” The bird muttered as he heaved the large shelf upwards with the other.

        “Ain’t it obvious?” The Sneasel grunted as the case came to fully stand upright, leaning against it lightly. Cecil was half expecting some kind of snarky remark, but surprisingly, one didn’t come. “He’s a bug. Birdies like you normally eat bugs, don’t they?”

        Cecil looked over at the Sneasel, and then glanced back at the bug, who seemed to be shifting his own eyes back from his work, to keeping a nervous watch on the Murkrow.

        “It’s more then that though...” He mused to the other, “Something must have happened to him if the fear is this pathological...”

        The Sneasel didn’t respond. Cecil noticed that he was busy surveying the room though. As if he noticed something... off.

        “...Anything wrong?” Cecil had to ask raising an eyebrow.

        “I... don’t know...” He muttered as he glanced about, “Just... something seems wrong...”

        Cecil looked about the room too. Lexy was casually flipping through the pages of his book, and the Sneasel were busy sifting through all of the tomes scattered among the ground, beginning to slide them into place on the shelf in order of the numbers printed on their sides, muttering to themselves about how annoying a job this was, and how the Eevee’s riddle made absolutely no sense. Innocent enough... but now that the ice type had mentioned it, he was right. Something felt off about this...

---

        About an hour had passed since the team had started the re-organization, and the last books were finally coming into place. Six hundred of the things looked a lot smaller in volume when they were actually all stagnant on the shelves. Lexy lowered his book to take a look at the results of their work, and cracked a smile.

        “Good job, good job! You Sneasel aren’t all so bad after all, you know that?” He congratulated, shutting his book and getting up onto his feet to peruse the bookshelf more closely. “Anybody made progress with the riddle?”

        Everyone looked at each other after this question, each just as stumped as the next. Though there was one voice who spoke up, leaning against the bookshelf with one of the tomes in his claws. One with the image of a certain ice dragon on it.

        “A river.” The Sneasel said, as if it was commonplace knowledge. He had a smug grin as he did so. “The water runs, but it doesn’t walk, and it lets out into the ocean at its mouth.”

        Lexy clapped his paws together happily, and nodded.

        “Hit the nail on the head there! Well, Mr...” Lexy said, looking down at the bug Pokemon who right now was standing at his side (away from Cecil, as usual).

        “Ah... Mill, sir.” He said, a bit timidly.

        “Mill, then! Looks like you get your book.”

        “Oh, I’m afraid he won’t, actually~”

        The Sneasel who had answered the riddle waved the book he was holding in the air, now standing up straight with an arm on his side, looking rather cocky.

        “This is the book you are looking for right?” He asked with a teasing tone to his voice. “All the information one needs about large dragons of the ice variety. A great asset to that puny Rescuer guild of yours, ain’t it? Something that could help you understand the big lug PK has chilling in the fountain, right?”

        Everyone was clearly confused by this sudden turn of events, Cecil frowning and taking a step forward.

        “What are you talking-”

        “He’s not with us.” Another voice said. It was the same Sneasel again, stepping forward and glaring down the one with the book.

        “Oh? How clever of you~” The antagonizer rang out, flipping the book around in his paws some, but keeping his place, even as everyone surrounding him began to look less than friendly, especially the librarian. “When did you figure it out? I honestly was expecting the bird to be the one to notice, if anyone. But I guess he was too busy caring for the worm over there.”

        Mill took a step back bashfully, suddenly feeling like he would like to melt into the floor.

        “I noticed things were a bit crowded.” He said, keeping his eyes fixed on the other. “There were fifteen of us coming in here, plus Cecil, Rhodes, Adell, and the bug. So I counted. You make sixteen, and I’ve never seen you before.”

        “Mhm~ Very good indeed.” The one with the book said, nodding. The others were beginning to surround him now, though he was remaining perfectly calm. “Not that it matters. I’ve got what I want, I’ll be leaving now.”

        “And just how do you expect to do that?” Cecil asked. His wing was pointed straight at the Sneasel, shaped like a gun, and glowing with a red flame; the other Sneasel were baring their claws. “You aren’t leaving here with that book. Not while we can stop it.”

        “See, there’s the catch~” The Sneasel said smugly, his form seeming to radiate a dark type of mist, wafting off him like a purple-ish-black flame. Cecil’s eyes widened. This guy wasn’t really a Sneasel. “You can’t stop it. I’ve had this planned out, right from the moment I scared you guys in here together. All the pieces for my escape are in place, and I think it’s about time I played my trump card.”

        “Oh yeah?” Rhodes said, glaring and bearing his claws. “And what might that be?”

        The Sneasel’s smirk seemed to widen as that question was posed, chuckling deeply.

        “That bug over there.” He said rather plainly, pointing a claw at Mill, who blinked some and backed up, confusedly.

        “Me? But... H-how-”

        “I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at bird brains over there the whole night.” He cut off, his body starting to grow upwards as it dissolved totally into the black fog. Mill’s eyes widening as it began to take shape, Cecil’s doing the same as well. He understood what this plan was. “Buggy boy is afraid of birdies, ain’t he?”

        Mill’s body began to crackle, becoming covered in flames which all the Sneasel, Lexy, and Cecil noticed, the bird turning to call to the ice types, who were vulnerable.

        “Get down!” He demanded, and the others did, because Mill didn’t seem to be cooling off any as the smoke wisped together into the form of a large, shadowy Articuno, its form raising up along the roof to tower over the Larvesta, who was clutching his head and shivering in fear.

        “G-Get away...” He shuddered out, completely encased in flame. The Articuno-impostor was chuckling, and as much as Cecil wanted to call out to him to calm him, the laughter of the terrorizing avian seemed to be drowning everything else out, the voice distorted and warped, something straight out of anyone’s nightmares. The poor guy didn’t stand a chance. “GET AWAY!”

        Mill screamed, and as he did, fire exploded from his body, fueled by his fear, and the room’s perpetual sunny day which normally benefited its protector Caldera. The wave completely engulfed the terrible bird and everything in the surrounding area. It was impossible to tell what was happening. Books flew off the shelves, and shelves toppled like dominoes. The flames whipped the illusion out of existence, but the maniacle laughter remained. The ice types were holding themselves close to the ground to avoid being singed.

        The laughter faded, and with it, the flames. When the dust cleared, the room was in shambles one more, Mill huddled on the ground, shuddering intensely, the rest slowly getting up to inspect the damage, a few of the ice types cringing, having sustained some burns. The mysterious assailant was nowhere to be seen though.

        “I stand by what I said earlier.” A familiar voice said, the group watching the Chandelure descend upon them, followed on the ground by one groggy looking Smeargle. “You are far too kind to intruders.”

        Lexy looked up at the ghost type, narrowing his eyes skeptically.

        “Shut up, Cal.”

---

        “You certainly took a bit longer than I thought you would.” Melody rang out, her tail swishing back and forth below her as she observed her partner walking towards the tree she was seated in, carrying with him the large book which he had freshly pilfered. “I was beginning to worry~”

        “Worry? About me?” Matthew chuckled as he approached the feline, who jumped down to meet him. “The kids had some chores to do before they finished up, is all. You took the rest of those Sneasel back to Gunpowder, yes?”

        “Indeed I did.” She replied, meeting him and taking the book off his hands to examine. “He was quite pleased. The others are already Merchants though, yes?”

        “Seems that way.” Matthew confirmed, with a shrug. “Not that it terribly matters. We have enough. Besides, I found something... else, of interest in there.”

        Melody raised an eyebrow as Matthew reached behind his bowtie, revealing a folded up piece of parchment he had hidden within it, chuckling and letting it unfold so she could see what it read. The contents made her smile.

        “I see~” Her voice rang out, starting to walk back to the village as her partner followed, folding up the paper and stashing it away once more. “So, just what do you plan to do with this new-found information?”

        “Nothing~” He insisted, with his usual knowing smirk on his face “Just... food for thought~”

---

“...My name is Obsidian.”

        Cecil and the up to this point unnamed Sneasel were lifting a bookcase back up, as they had been earlier. Up until this point he had been surprisingly quiet. Adell, who had woken up, was treating any wounds the Rogue members might have sustained from the flames. Lexy was frantically fiddling with a clock that seemed to have toppled over, and Cal was floating about with a watchful eye, not ready to tolerate something like that happening again.

        “Cecil.” The bird responded after they had heaved the large structure up, now rummaging about the ground for the books. “Can’t believe I went this long without introducing myself.”

        “It’s fine.” He insisted, shaking his head some as he kneeled down to pick up the various volumes scattered on the floor. “None of us were exactly eager to be your friend anyway.”

        That prompted a chuckle from the Murkrow, who was rearranging the books he was placing, double checking that they were all in order.

        “Wasn’t really expecting you guys to.” He said, “Though I have to say, nice catch back there. I hadn’t even noticed.”

        “Heh, thanks...”

        It was then that Cecil noticed his new-found companion looked pretty melancholy. He was staring down at the cover to one of the books he was holding, though it didn’t look at all like he was examining it. Just sorta staring off into space.

        “Is... something wrong?” The Murkrow asked, which seemed to snap the ice type out of it, shaking his head.

        “I... not really.” He said, going back to shelving his books. “Just... what you mentioned earlier about your friend... got me thinking about something Shroomsworth said the night when Slasher went down...”

        Obsidian trailed off, but Cecil’s eyes were still on him, and he gave a nod to continue, the bird postponing his book-shelving duties for now.

        “My older brother evolved a few months back.” He admitted, sitting down on a nearby stool with a disheartened sigh “And... almost a couple days later, he just vanished off the face of the earth. Slasher said he left us. Just up and deserted. But... I know him... he wouldn’t do something like that...”

        Cecil didn’t quite know what to say. He sure knew what ‘Sid was implying though. He didn’t need to elaborate. The look on the Sneasel’s face said it all.

        “Um... excuse me...” Another voice said, both of the dark types looking to see Mill before them, who still seemed a bit nervous, but seemed to be mustering up enough courage to approach Cecil now, at least. “I... I’m sorry.”

        This seemed to lighten things up a bit. Both the ice and the flying type smiled some at the bug’s seemingly new-found bravery, Cecil nodding to him.

        “I don’t blame you.” He said, shaking his head some. “We’ve all got fears. I can’t hold it against you.”

        “I... usually have my partner here with me. He stops me from doing stupid stuff like that...” He said, twiddling his hands together. “...which is ironic, considering he’s such a moron.”

        The three chuckled a bit at that. Cecil got the feeling that this bug was normally a very level headed guy, when he wasn’t being terrorized by phantasms of giant evil birds. The bird held out a wing to him. Mill recoiled initially, still obviously rather jumpy from the whole experience, but the look on Cecil’s face showed nothing but friendship. The Larvesta sighed, held out his arm, and shook, shaking some, but confronting his fears at least.

        “Well, it seems everything is... mostly... in order.” A tired voice said, belonging to Lexy. The Eevee had given a look back to the very odd contraption he had created around his toppled clock which apparently was keeping it running. The rest of the library looked fine though. Thanks to the fireproof nature of the books, one could hardly tell this whole area had been the center of a rather large explosion. “I’m sorry you didn’t get your hands on that book. ...If it wasn’t for my clock breaking, I would have chased after him immediately.”

        “It’s... okay.” Mill responded, nodding a bit. “I caused you enough trouble.”

        Lexy chuckled some, and then turned to Obsidian. The Sneasel was confused, even moreso when he was handed a card from the ‘vee.

        “For you.” He said “I think you’ve earned it.”

        “But...” Sid blinked, looking down at the library card “The riddle-”

        “You proved yourself to be cunning enough. Take it. If you ever need to peruse some books feel free to come knocking. Just leave the rampant destruction at home, please.”

        Obsidian smiled, and took the card, looking over it appreciatively, and nodding to Lexy.

        “I’ll make use of it.” He said proudly, turning to Cecil, Adell walking to his normal spot by the bird’s side. “And for you guys... there’s something I need to give you as well.”

---

        “Holy...”

        “How did you...”

        Cecil and Adell were dumbfounded at the sight of the various jewels, gold, and other valuables hidden within a small cavern behind the waterfall where the confrontation between Shroomsworth and Slasher had taken place. Mill and the rest of the Sneasel, including Rhodes, had returned to the village. The three were alone.

        “I saw Slasher stashing some of his treasure away here once.” Sid explained, as Adell wandered into the small cavern to try and get an idea of how much money was here. “He threatened to kill me if I told anyone, but he can’t exactly do that anymore now, can he? I was planning on keeping it all for myself, but...”

        “...But what?” Cecil asked. Sid was getting that look on his face again. Like he was getting somewhat reminiscent.

        “I... want to join you guys. Is that alright?” He replied. Cecil and Adell were rather surprised.

        “Why?” The Smeargle couldn’t help but ask, his eyes shifting about the treasure. “It seems like you’d be well off on your own, with this.”

        “Maybe I would, but...” He explained, a bit of a smile growing on his face “That’s not what being in a guild is about, now is it? Besides, I’ve taken a liking to bird brains here.”

        The Murkrow in question couldn’t help but chuckle, giving Sid a playful punch in the side. He liked this guy too. Judging from the look on Adell’s face, so did he.

        “Welcome to the team, man.” Cecil said proudly. “Now help us move this stuff back to town. And no pilfering any of it. PK has a lot of cakes to buy with this.”

        “There’s no way she could eat this much cake.

        “PK? If it weren’t for Shroomsworth, I bet her diet would be nothing but cake.”

        The three laughed together, and got to work. The moon was high in the sky, the night having grown long during their adventures, but none of them seemed to notice. They chatted and joked the whole way back without a care in the world, and by the end of the night, it was almost like Sid had been a part of the team since its inception.