Chapter 7: Getting Acquainted

The newly formed Team Star Warriors were led to their quarters by Krystal, the espathra secretary. Even if they were being led, it was more like they were leading her to the quarters since the espathra was walking behind them, just analyzing their every move (Kirby especially). She just had to be sure if that small, pink, and round ball of cuteness had an evil side. There had to be, almost every being has one, Pokémon or not.

After passing through some doors in the guild’s quarters, they reached a door with the number 427 engraved on it. Krystal finally got in front of them. “We’re here.” She then looked at the door as her cerulean blue eyes glowed purple, opening the door with telekinesis, letting Kirby and Banny enter their room.

“Woah…!” Both said in awe while looking at the room. It was slightly bigger than Banny’s room, with two hay beds in the middle, some shelves on the side of the room along with a window beside one of the shelves. In the middle of the room, there was a small cardboard box between the beds that had some objects poking out of the box.

“What’s all of this?” Kirby asked when he got close to the box and started inspecting it.

“This box contains all the necessary items we give to recently formed teams.” Krystal said while entering the room and going to the box in the middle of the room. She then started pacing around the room. “There are your badges, a map of the entire continent, two scarves that increase your attack and defense, two explorers satchels, and some berries to replenish your health-”

Kirby suddenly announced. “I already ate them.”

“WHAT!?” The espathra blurted out as she looked back at Kirby, the puffball wiping his mouth with his nub and taking out a brown bag from it. The ostrich Pokémon looked down at the box to see that indeed the bag containing the berries was already gone. She looked back at the puffball with a “seriously?” face. “Y-you… what…?”

Banny called out. “Kirby! Those berries were supposed to be used in a pinch, not now!”

“Oh…” Kirby then looked away while rubbing the back of his body. “Sorry… I was hungry.” Anyone would be, after all, he was stuck in a prison the entirety of the morning! The puffball was honestly surprised by how he actually went an entire morning without thinking of food, probably because of the adrenaline at the time. 

Krystal sighed. “Well, whatever. You can buy more later.” She walked towards the door before looking behind her. “You can use the rest of this day getting acquainted with the guild, then tomorrow you can start on your first mission. Don’t go expecting a big one right off the bat, understood?”

Banny saluted to the espathra. “Yes ma’am!” 

Kirby saw what Banny was doing and then did a salute as well. “Yes uh… ma’am!”

Krystal sighed again. “Just call me Krystal. Have a good day, explorers.” 

The ostrich Pokémon left the room and closed the door, leaving Kirby and Banny on their own. Out of nowhere, the scorbunny squealed in excitement, startling the puffball a little. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, although I could never get the courage to do it!” She turned to Kirby with a smile on her face. “Thank you, Kirby, again! Not only for saving me, but giving me the courage to tackle my dream!”

Kirby sheepishly smiled. “It’s no biggie, really. I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help you!”

Banny nodded before she looked to the side, her smiling faltering a little. “I wonder if mom is smiling right now…”

No! She can be that depressive again at a happy moment in her life! Kirby has to do something! “Uh… she definitely is!” Kirby said abruptly, pulling Banny out of her thoughts as he grabbed her paws. “Anyways, could you tell me more about the items in the box?”

Banny blinked before rubbing her nose patch and smiling. “Sure.” Both went to the box to look at the items. Banny pulled out from the box two crystal star-shaped badges with a small pair of silver wings on the side of it, showing it off to the astrali. “These are the badges of the guild. It’s your identity as an explorer. These badges differ from guild to guild, my parents had the same badges as these since they worked in the same guild.”

“Wow! They look so pretty!” The puffball said while picking up one of the badges. “Where do I put them?”

“Um…” Banny thought about it for a second. “I guess… I guess you can put it on a satchel since um… I doubt you could wear a scarf.”

“I can wear a scarf!” Kirby said before picking up the red scarf in the box, and putting it around his body. Somehow, when he put on the scarf, it just stayed around his body normally, not falling at all. He then put the badge on the front of the scarf. “See?”

The scorbunny tilted her head in pure confusion. “How does…” She shook her head. “You know what? Never mind, it’ll just hurt my brain trying to understand how you work.” She then motioned back towards the badge. “Anyways, from what I remember from the explanation from my parents, the red button in the middle of the badge has multiple functions. If you hold the button, you can speak to your team members, and if you press the button two times, you can warp back to the guild outside of Mystery Dungeons since they jam the teleport.”

“Nice! These badges are so useful then!” Kirby happily commented.

Banny nodded with a smile. “They are indeed.” The scorbunny then put her badge back on the box. “We won’t need them today though, since we won’t go on a mission today.” Kirby nodded before putting his scarf and badge back on the box as well. Banny clasped her paws. “SO, what are we gonna do for today?”

Kirby put a nub on his chin as he thought about it. “Um… I wanna go explore the guild!”

“Knew you were gonna say that.” The bunny said while grinning. “I can show you the place, after all, I’ve been here before a lot of times already!”

“Thank you!”

Banny and Kirby left their room and started to walk around the quarters of the guild. On their way, they saw a lot of Pokémon that made Kirby’s eyes glisten in wonder. There were some canine and feline ones, some kind of creepy mimic wearing a costume, some mice and lizards, and some others as well. “Wow, there are so many types of Pokémon here!” The puffball said mesmerized before looking at Banny. “I wonder if they are all friendly.”

“Uh…” Banny looked aside for a moment. “I’ll admit that some explorers here uh… are not that friendly and kinda have a big ego as well. But that’s a minority.”

“That’s good to know! I know how to handle guys like those!” Kirby said while throwing a nub in the air.

“That’s good at least, you look like someone that could get messed around pretty easily.”

After getting out of the guild quarters, they entered the main hall again and went to the left door of the building. “This is the cafeteria.” Banny said while crossing her arms with a smug smile. “I knew you desperately wanted to come here, so I brought you here first.”

Kirby’s eyes glimmered in wonder as he looked at the big room with multiple wooden tables and delicious smells filling the place. The puffball said nothing as he went running to the counter at the corner of the room, weaving and dodging any Pokémon that almost bumped into him and dropped their plates. 

“Wait up, Kirby!” The scorbunny shouted and ran after the astrali.

Kirby grabbed one of the plates beside the counter and took it to the counter where a floating orange oven with two red-mitten hands was standing. The floating oven with its eyes looked at the puffball in curiosity before happily asking. “Hi there, are ya new here?”

The puffball put the plate on the counter and nodded while smiling at the strange Pokémon. “Yep! I’m new here and I’m hungry! Are you the chef here?”

The oven put a hand over her (judging by the voice) mouth while chuckling. “Sure am! What can I get ya?”

Kirby threw his nubs at the air as his eyes glistened once more. “I want a bit of everything you have!”

The Pokémon smile faltered a little before leaning in. “E-excuse me, come again? Did I hear that correctly?”

“You heard right! I want a bit of everything-”

“Kirby!” Both heard a voice coming from the side, revealing to be Banny, who was panting a bit. “Please stop doing that, you already surpassed my energetic energy, I don’t think I’ll ever surpass yours…” The bunny then realized that the puffball was talking to the chef and she immediately smiled sheepishly. “Oh uh… hi there Tici. Um… you must be really confused right now on who this is, but… this is Kirby, an astrali.” 

“Well, Kirby, huh?” The oven crossed her arms. “Well, this little fella just told me they wanted to eat every piece of food in here. Have ya told him that this is not an “all ya can eat buffet” and the food is limited?”

The scorbunny nervously laughed. “Sorry, uh… I forgot.” She turned to Kirby and leaned into him, whispering. “Just choose like… two things to put on your plate.”

The puffball sighed in disappointment, all of the delicious food he could eat… limited to only two. “Aw, man…” The puffball looked up and saw his (sadly) limited options of delicious food. He picked the most colorful-looking foods and Tici put them on his plate. One was a star-shaped sandwich and the other was a red drink that reminded him of a Max Tomato in color. “Thank you.” He said with an enthusiasm lower than his usual quota but still smiling.

As the puffball went to an empty table, Banny sighed and looked at the rotom. “Could you give me the berry salad, please?” Tici nodded as Banny went to grab her plate.

After getting her food and utensils, the bunny joined Kirby on the table where he was sitting, his sandwich already gone from sight. Some Pokémon were looking at him with their eyes widened. “Hey, Banny! The sandwich was really delicious!”

The scorbunny giggled, ignoring the stares towards their round table. “Don’t say that in front of Tici or she might start gloating about her cooking.”

Kirby tilted his body. “Speaking of her, what species of Pokémon is she? I didn’t know that ovens were alive in here.”

“Oh, you have ovens in your home world?” Banny asked and the astrali nodded before taking a big sip of the red juice, which tasted like cherries. “That’s neat! But anyways, Tici is not the oven though, even if it does sound funny if she was.” She chuckled at the thought of an oven opening up to speak. “Her species is called a rotom. They are little wisps of electricity that can enter any objects with electricity in them. They are in almost every house, being used as everyday objects that use Tera energy that came from the big crystal in the middle of town.”

Kirby asked in concern for the rotoms. “But wouldn’t they get tired of being in those positions for too long though?”

“Most of them prefer being in that state, but there are the minority that prefer being in their original wispy forms.” Banny explained, noticing the worried look from the puffball.

“Well, at least they are enjoying it!” Kirby then inhaled the whole glass, however, before he could spit it out, the doors of the cafeteria swung open in an instant, startling all the Pokémon in the cafeteria.

They looked to the door and saw a pink and furry puffball with emerald green eyes and a red ribbon on her ear. She angrily scanned around the room before her eyes landed on the pink puffball with no fur. “There you are!” She said before running towards Kirby with the tip of her feet. 

The puffball decided to just swallow the glass whole, they could find a replacement later. The other puffball stopped in front of Kirby, panting a little bit. Seeing her a little closer… she looked a bit familiar, he might’ve seen her somewhere while in this place. “Hi! Do you need anything?”

“YOU!” The pink Pokémon said before jumping on the table in front of the puffball, her cheeks puffed in anger. “How dare you come waltzing in this guild and immediately steal the title of cutest Pokémon in the guild!?”

“Uh… I didn’t do that…?” Kirby said a bit uncertain about the situation. Well… his friends always said he was cute, even with his weird abilities.

The ribbon-wearing Pokémon pointed a nub at the astrali. “Yes. You. DID! If I’m not the cutest member of the guild, what’s the whole point of being part of Team Cuties!”

“Uh…” Banny interjected. “Who are you again…?”

The jigglypuff scoffed and sassily posed. “You should’ve known by now that I’m Starlight Guild’s prettiest member, Purina!” She then pointed her nub at Kirby again. “Until this knock-off doppelganger stole the title from me!”

Kirby happily waved his nub. “Hi, Purina! My name is Kirby, nice to meet you!”

“Don’t wave at me with that friendly attitude towards me gumball!” She shot back. However, before she could get more insults out, someone called out to her.

“Purina!” 

They looked behind to see a figure that looked like a stitched doll resembling another kind of Pokémon with a doodle face on the head, a wooden tail on the back, and apparently two small black holes on the torso. They also seemed to wear a blue bowtie on the left ear. Purina groaned in annoyance as she began to tap her feet. “What is it now, Marionne?”

The strange Pokémon stopped in front of them and jumped on one of the stools of the table. Now seeing a bit better, the puffball noticed that the two small black dots on the torso were their actual eyes. They spoke with a boyish voice. “Please don’t pick a fight with the newcomer already, she…” He took a look at Kirby with a bit of uncertainty. “They… just got here, they can’t just steal your title that easily.”

“Then why do I keep hearing small little whispers about another pink puffball being cute rather than only me, huh!?” The furry puff said to the cloaked Pokémon, who just looked to the side a little nervous. Purina then looked at Kirby again. “Mark my words, Kirby. You’ll see the power of my cuteness over your team!” 

The puffball was about to say something before Purina jumped down from the table and walked away from them. Marionne looked at Kirby and rubbed the back of his torso with a black claw coming from under the cloth. “I’m uh… sorry about my partner’s behavior, she doesn’t like it when there’s another cute Pokémon in the same place as her…”

“It’s alright! I don’t mind having a competition once and a while!” The puffball then looked to the side a bit sheepishly. “Even though it’s not about food this time.” He looked back at Marionne. “Nice to meet you! I’m Kirby!”

“Uh… Marionne…” He said while nervously waving before hopping off the stool. “Wait for me, Purina!”

Team Star Warriors saw the clothed Pokémon leave the cafeteria, closing the doors behind him. Kirby turned to the scorbunny while giggling a little. “They were kinda silly! Do you know them?” 

Banny shook her head as she looked at the door. “Nope, never heard of them. But I think I remember seeing the jigglypuff and the mimikyu around…” She then looked back at Kirby as she realized something. “Oh yeah, you don’t know the species’ names. The pink furry puffball is called a jigglypuff and the clothed Pokémon is called a mimikyu.”

“Oh, I see! Purina looks a little like me, doesn’t she?”

“I mean, I did tell you look like a Pokémon. I guess jigglypuff is the most similar-looking species to you it seems, so you’ll blend in pretty well.” Banny smirked as Kirby grinned.

After a while, Banny finished her food and the team left the cafeteria, going to explore the rest of the guild. After passing by a door that led to what looked like a massive assembly hall, Banny led the puffball through a hallway before reaching another set of double doors. The two entered the room and found themselves in another large room. “This is the training ground. I used to watch the explorers train here while my parents took care of some guild affairs.”

“Wow! This place looks amazing!” Kirby said as he eyed the vicinity of the place. Targets lying around the walls and ceilings, sandbags were being kicked by a bipedal red avian Pokémon, while other Pokémon were practicing their attacks on Pokémon-shaped dummies. It reminded him a little bit of the training quarters of the Halberd, but… with no moving targets nor dummies. “This place is huge!”

“Perfect place to practice your weird powers all you want!” Banny said while putting her paws on her side. 

“Nice!” The puffball said ecstatically before looking at Banny. “Can we spar together? I’m kinda curious to see how you fight!”

The scorbunny looked perplexed about the proposition. It was then that she remembered what the mayor said about what Kirby did in the prison, literally defeating almost all of the guards there with no issues, and that he also has, in her father’s words, the aura of a god. Banny looked away rather nervously while scratching the back of her head. “Well… I…”

“Oh, newcomers!” 

Team Star Warriors turned to the source of the voice and saw a bipedal Pokémon with blue-colored skin and wore a karate outfit with a black belt around his waist, approaching them with a smile. Banny recognized the Pokémon and said. “Mister Lee? You work here now!?”

The karate Pokémon’s eyes widened a little bit in surprise. “Banny!? You’re here too?”

Kirby between him and Banny in confusion before tilting his body. “You know each other?”

Banny smiled as she turned to the puffball. “Yes, we do! This is Leenon, he’s a sawk that was my battle teacher back at my school when I was younger.” She then looked back at the sawk. “By the way, do you still teach in that school?”

Leenon crossed his arms. “I do. And the younglings there have a clear potential in them, I can tell. But enough about that.” He then looked at the puffball beside the scorbunny. “I never met this little one before.”

Kirby smiled and waved as usual. “Hi! I’m Kirby, nice to meet you!”

The sawk smiled. “Nice to meet you too, Kirby.” He then analyzed Kirby from top to bottom before humming to himself. “I can see that you have quite the fighter potential within you…” The fighting type grinned. “I decided, let me test your strength right now!”

Banny flinched and blurted out in shock. “WHAT!?” Looks like Mr. Lee hasn’t changed at all. But what if Kirby doesn’t want to fight? Yeah, that means her previous teacher won’t be eaten (yes, she was still skeptical about the whole “appearing close to him once eaten” thing) and he’ll be fine. So there was nothing for Banny to worry about-

“Yes, I’d love to battle!” Kirby agreed.

Yeah, that sawk is dead.

The scorbunny shook in fear as the puffball and the sawk went to a flat arena beside the training objects. Banny knew that Kirby could control his powers well, but what she was really worried about was that her teacher loved to go all out on really strong opponents. And if he discovers Kirby’s true potential… things might go a bit over the edge. She sat on the bench she always sat on where she watched the explorers fight for fun. She had to calm down, it’s not like they were about to fight to death. 

She has really been insecure and anxious lately, hasn’t she…? She didn’t remember being like this before, but it was probably because of grief. Well, no point in thinking about it now, she has to focus on the present and future. And the current present was her new friend and her old teacher fighting… oh wait, they are about to fight!

Leenon got in his usual fighting position as he watched Kirby get a pair of… boxing gloves from a stool next to the arena. Why was he picking that up? It’s not like they decided it was a boxing match. “Are you ready?” The sawk asked as some Pokémon stopped their training to look at the arena.

“Wait a moment…” Kirby said before he swallowed the boxing gloves whole, making the Pokémon’s jaw drop a little in surprise along with the other Pokémon that were watching. Kirby shone with star power, although not changing much, a red headband with a star embedded on the front appeared around his head, turning him into Fighter Kirby. The puffball smiled and turned to Leenon. “Now, I’m ready!” 

The sawk saw the puffball jump, doing a front flip before landing on the other side of the arena and getting into battle position. He knew that this Pokémon looked special, but not to the point of doing… whatever that was. He regained his composure and got into battle position again. “This is about to be interesting.” He said as he popped the bones on his neck. “Now… let the battle begin!”

Banny clutched her knees as she watched the two rush against each other, both clashing hand and nub against each other. “Here we go…” She muttered to herself.

Kirby jumped back a bit after the clash, and rushed in again, attacking the blue Pokémon with a Vulcan Jab attack. The sawk blocked the multiple fast hits with his arms before deflecting one of the hits, using his other arm to hit Kirby with a Karate Chop. However, Kirby dodged the hit with a back flip and shot a small blue projectile with his nubs, hitting Lee in the chest. 

“Ngh.” He grunted as he jerked backwards, putting a hand on his chest. It hurt a little, but not that much to make a fuss about it. “Heh, nice moves you got there, looks like you’ve fought a lot, ain’t that right?”

“Yup!” Kirby responded with glee. “I’ve fought against lots of strong people!”

Leenon grinned. “Nice, that means that I won’t need to go easy on you!” Suddenly, a red aura appeared around the sawk as he shouted. His muscles bulged from under the cloth, buffing the Pokémon a little bit as he grinned. “Come on… show me what you got!”

Kirby made a determined face before rushing in at the karate Pokémon, using Vulcan Jab again to hit multiple times. However, it seemed that the hits were doing less damage than before. Leenon chuckled a little bit before he glowed red again, but this time, the red glow focused on one of his fists. He suddenly punched Kirby through his jabs, launching the puffball upwards. 

Kirby shook out of the numbness his body felt and recovered in mid-air. The astrali then came back down with a diving kick towards the sawk. Caught a bit off guard by the kick, he tried to block the kick with his arms, however, the kick bypassed his desperate block, hitting him in the chest again and making him stagger back a little. “Ngh!”

Kirby bounced from him and landed a small distance away from him. He put his nubs together and began charging something. “Giga…” A blue glow started emanating from the puffball’s nubs, growing in size. “Force…” As the blue glow continued to glow, yellow particles were appearing around it, sparks of energy coming out of Kirby’s feet as well. And suddenly… the blue turned into an orange-red that looked like flames. “Blast!” 

The puffball let go of the energy that, once left his nubs, turned into a flaming and fast fireball. Leenon was caught by surprise by such an attack and as a result, tried to defend against it with his arms. However, the force proved even more powerful than a normal fireball of that size since it pushed the sawk out of the arena before completely breaking his defenses, hitting him square in the belly. “Urgh!”

He was launched a bit far away as the fireball dissipated into the air. Lee landed on his back with a grunt, a part of his attire with a black mark, and after a moment of grunting and moaning in pain, the sawk got up as other Pokémon approached him. He shook his head before looking back at the pink puffball, eyes narrowing. He suddenly started chuckling before busting out loud with a laugh. “Wow, what a sparring match, I’ll say!” 

Kirby smiled and rubbed his back. “Glad you enjoyed it!”

“Oh, I did!” The karate Pokémon stood up and nodded. “It seemed my gut was correct, you have the potential to become a great fighter unless you are already one yourself! And if that’s the case…” He suddenly bowed. “It was a great pleasure battling with you.”

Kirby, instead of bowing back, nodded. “It was a pleasure as well!” The puffball turned to Banny. “Hey Banny, did you like the-” He then noticed that the scorbunny was completely frozen in place, just standing still silently while staring at nowhere. “Banny?” Kirby went to the bunny and nudged her, shook her, tapped her… nothing seemed to be working. “Wonder what happened.”

“Oh, I see what’s going on.” Leenon said as he walked over to Banny. “She usually does this when she worries a bit too much. Happened sometimes at the school when one of her friends was battling a strong student.”

“Oh, well… I kinda noticed that she worries a lot.”

The sawk nodded before lifting the bunny and putting her on his shoulder. “You’re her partner, right? Could you show me the room you are residing in, if you are residing in one of course?”

“Alright then!” Kirby then started leading the sawk to their quarters, Lee excitedly asking about the abilities that Kirby used as the other Pokémon watched them leave the training ground. 

---

Shitsuji walked through the streets of Agyneastra town, waving back at the town citizens who waved at him as he passed by. It was a beautiful afternoon, he had to admit, it was the perfect temperature to go enjoy the beach day he always dreamed of… oh he wished he was going to a beach, just relaxing as the waves hit his paws, that’d be the perfect vacation.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Ever since that pink puff had shown up, the indeedee has been getting really tense. At first, he believed that puffball was an invader from another world, possibly relating to the prophecy about the being that would coat the world in darkness. But after the fight he had with Kirby… he’s been getting conflicting feelings about said prophecy. Was it actually real? Did the seer get the estimate of time wrong? Because he was pretty sure they entered the exact time frame of said being appearing. And if that’s the case, would he attack other beings that look slightly off to him?

He shouldn’t let conflicting feelings and thoughts like those interfere with his work as mayor and his duty to protect the town. That’s why he decided to talk to the town elder. Some new inhabitants in town may think that he’s the elder and the mayor of the town once they learn about his age, however, the elder is a Pokémon that lived for many, many eons before him. So he would be the best one to give advice on a situation like this, and possibly give insight on a potential threat that may or may not exist.

After a few minutes of walking, he finally reached the center of town, where the elder resides. He slowly looked up, observing the splendor and shininess of the Tera Crystal that the town guards. He took a deep breath and muttered to himself. “No need to over exaggerate, just tell him what is wrong and he will understand… hopefully.”

He adjusted his glasses and walked towards the white crystalline structure, stopping in front of it. He put a paw on a certain spot of its surface, feeling the cold and solid surface brush against his paw pads. After some seconds, a light wave was released from where his paw was touching, sending it through the front of the crystal.

Suddenly, a portion of the crystalline surface disappeared, revealing an entrance into the big crystal. The indeedee sighed before entering the crystal, the entrance disappearing behind him, leaving the emotion Pokémon in the darkness. 

It wasn’t long before a white light started to illuminate the inside of the place, reflecting from every little surface of the place. It would be kind of blinding for a Pokémon that hates the light or lives in the darkness of the night. Everything around him was made out of crystals, the floor, the walls, the ceiling… it was like walking through a light maze. 

However, that didn’t stop Shitsuji from going further into the crystal building. It was quite large, so it was quite spacious for a big Pokémon to live inside the building.

Well, someone as big as the elder, that is.

It was then that he reached a large area of the building, where instead of the normal white lights shining around the crystal, this one was shining with colored lights instead. A rainbow of colors swirled around the room, making it look like a kaleidoscope more than anything.

And at the end of the room, there he lay, in his lustrous and shiny crystal shell with those colorful symbols on his back. His white mane around his indigo head and indigo front claws flowed majestically along with his fluffy fur behind his shell. He was sleeping and snoring quite loudly on a big hay-made bed. Even though the snoring was a tad bit annoying, it made him adorable.

Shitsuji cleared his throat and spoke. “Elder Terapagos.” The giant crystal turtle continued snoring peacefully. “… Terapagos…” Still nothing.

The indeedee sighed and pulled out from his satchel a small yellow bell, ringing it a little bit. The snoring ended, making the crystal turtle wake up. “Weh? What time is it…?” He asked a bit groggily, looking around slowly before he looked at the emotion Pokémon in front of him. Terapagos smiled and waved as best as he could. “Oh, hi there Shitsuji, what brings you to my home?” 

Shitsuji bowed. “Apologies for my sudden visit, elder Terapagos. I came to urgently ask-”

“Oh come on Suji, we’ve known each other for so long, no need to speak to me like you’re speaking to a king.” Terapagos chuckled.

The indeedee stammered sheepishly. “I-I’m sorry Terapagos, it is just that I-… I’m so used to it since I normally speak to everyone like this…”

“You should drop it at some point. Pokémon may think that you’re living in the past rather than the future.” The crystal turtle giggled, making the goat-like Pokémon blush in embarrassment. “But anyways, did you come here for another hangout? When was the last one… years ago?”

“I think it was…” Shitsuji muttered to the side. He had known the turtle way before the creation of Agyneastra town, in fact, they founded the town together. The Tera Crystal in the middle of town that powers some everyday devices was made by Terapagos after all, a weird power that Shitsuji still doesn’t understand completely yet. The indeedee shook his head, a more serious look on his face appearing. “B-but no, I came here to speak to you about something.”

Terapagos tilted his head. “And that is?”

The indeedee sighed. “Well… recently, a being from another world appeared, and this one is… not like the so-called ultra beasts that came before him.”

“Oh, a new strange visitor? How wonderful!” The turtle beamed. “What is he like, have you met him?”

Shitsuji looked to the side with a grimace. “Yes, I did…” He clenched his paws slightly. “And I did something really stupid to him…”

The crystal Pokémon frowned, noticing the conflicting expression his friend held. He tapped the hay with his claw. “I think you need someone to talk to, and that’s what friends are for, right?” He smiled.

The goat-like Pokémon looked at the inviting space on Terapagos’ bed and his fluffy mane. His instincts of relaxation were at war with his rational and formal thoughts, he decided that it was best to just accept it already. He sat on the bed and stretched his legs, looking at the crystalline ceiling, countless thoughts racing in his head. “So… can I?”

“Mhm, you can tell whatever it is that is troubling you.” 

Shitsuji nodded and started to speak while adjusting his glasses. “So… do you remember that prophecy that we kept on our minds?” The turtle nodded. “Well, the being that I told you about almost looked identical to the being described by that seer, even Krystal said that she saw the aura of a god inside him.” He leaned back a little, looking at the ground. “I don’t know if it was the stress of my duties as a mayor, or something else, but something made me order to lock him up in jail. Although… when he tried escaping, I saw him as nothing more than a threat and decided to take matters into my own paws…” The indeedee looked down at his paws, a shameful expression plastered on his face. 

“What happened next…?” Terapagos asked

The goat-like Pokémon sighed and looked aside. “I tried to kill him myself.” That made the legendary Pokémon’s eyes widen a little bit in surprise. “I just don’t know what came over me. I stopped listening to reason, I didn’t even let him explain himself once I saw the things he could do. I just…” He sighed. “At least he managed to stall me out until I realized what I was doing was wrong. Even still… how can I call myself a mayor if I cannot be just with any being that is not a Pokémon?” 

The indeedee finally laid on the bed and just stared at the ceiling, while the crystal turtle Pokémon sighed and spoke. “Indeed, you went a little overboard on trying to kill a being with no concrete evidence that he was a malicious being, but at least you didn’t and realized your mistake right after, and that’s what matters. Now, did that being forgive you?”

“… yes, he did… and I still feel like I need to do a lot of things for him just to redeem myself…”

“Just his forgiveness is already something to indicate you don’t need to redeem yourself anymore for his sake. He forgave you for what you did, and that’s what matters at the end.” Terapagos said with a smile, patting the indeedee’s head with a claw nail. “You can relax now.”

Shitsuji looked to the side and muttered. “Relax, huh…?” However, it wasn’t as simple as that of course. “It would be nice to just relax, however, another pressing matter is on the way.” He sat up again, adjusting his glasses. “About the prophecy… the events prescribed to us are about to happen, right?”

The turtle frowned. “Yes, it appears that its events are about to unfold if said prophecy was even correct.”

“You see, that is the issue…” The goat-like Pokémon looked back at the crystal legendary with a concerned look on his face. “I don’t even know if the prophecy is about to happen anymore. It was also because of my blind belief in it that I hurt that puffball in the first place…”

“Hm… we don’t know for certain if the prophecy will happen or not. Although, we should keep an eye out for any suspicious activities around town as usual.”

“It is what I have been doing for some time now…”

The turtle slowly nodded. This prophecy stuff was eating Shitsuji alive, wasn’t it? If only there was someone else to help with so he could feel a bit more at ease… wait, maybe there was someone. “Hey… how about we get some external help with this matter?”

The indeedee tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean by that? I doubt the Satelion kingdom would hear us out with a prophecy with no evidence.”

“No, I wasn’t talking about any nearby kingdoms or towns. I’m talking about being you… fought. Yeah, uh… what is his name?”

Shitsuji sighed. “He called himself Kirby.”

Terapagos beamed. “Kirby! We could get this Kirby to help us in the investigation! I mean… he could himself if he managed to stall YOU, of all Pokémon, out from killing him. And I know you’re dummy-powerful.”

“Well… hm…” The indeedee put a paw over his mouth as he thought about the case. Indeed, Kirby could potentially aid them in this investigation. After all, he managed to defeat almost all of the guards in the prison by himself and then managed to stall him for a long time, even making him use his secret technique. That puffball has the potential, and a good place to start could be the cult members appearing all around the place. “Very well. I’ll talk to him once I get back to the guild.”

“Sweet! I’d also like to meet him. After all, I want to see the being that managed to stall you out.” He giggled. “Could you bring him tomorrow to me?”

“Hm… I shall think about your case, Tera.” Shitsuji smirked as he got up, Terapagos giggling as he chuckled. “Anyways, thank you for the talk. It was very enlightening for me.”

“Aw, no problem Suji, come back at any time!” The crystal turtle said while waving at the indeedee, who waved back as he left the colorful kaleidoscope-like room. Terapagos sighed before smiling a little. “Oh Shitsuji, always with his duty being his hyperfocus…” His smile then dropped, thinking back on an issue that plagued his mind lately. The crystals that he had spread throughout the town had been going missing lately, making him unable to feel certain parts of the town anymore. Maybe it was best to not tell Shitsuji to not get him more stressed than he already is. “Maybe something really is going on…”