Chapter 14 – Hostel

 

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Man sagt, dass es der Menschheit in den Zeiten vor dem glühenden Blitz gelang, durch ihre Weisheit auch ohne eigene Kraft zu gedeihen. Während ihre Relikte und Ruinen von ihrer Fähigkeit zeugen, großartige Strukturen zu konstruieren und Wunder aus den Materialien unserer Welt zu erschaffen, wären solche Leistungen nicht möglich gewesen, wenn sie sich nicht auch in der Medizin hervorgetan hätten.

Diese Fragmente der Geschichte sprechen von Apparaten, deren Beschreibungen wirklich wundersam erscheinen. Maschinen, die kleinere Wunden im Handumdrehen heilen könnten. Aus Flaschen versprühte Medikamente, die alle Arten von Krankheiten abwehren konnten, waren so verbreitet, dass bescheidene Kaufleute Waren verkauften, um die sie unsere Apotheker beneiden würden. Häuser der Heilung, die ihre Dienste allen, die sie brauchten, kostenlos anboten.

Während ein Großteil dieses Wissens im Laufe der Jahrhunderte verloren gegangen ist, haben wir Zivilen es geschafft, Fragmente davon zu bewahren, die es uns ermöglichen, unsere eigene Medizin herzustellen. Gebrochene Gliedmaßen zu richten und Wunden zu behandeln, die das Ende eines Pokémon, das als Wilde lebt, bedeuten würden. Ähnlich wie unsere Vorfahren wird gesagt, dass diejenigen, die die Königreiche unserer Welt gründeten, einschließlich Klaus der Erbauer selbst, es für angemessen hielten, dass die Heilhäuser ihrer Länder ihre Dienste in ähnlicher Weise leisten sollten, ohne von ihren Patienten Bezahlung zu verlangen.

Das soll nicht heißen, dass eine solche Pflege kostenlos ist. In unserem Land obliegt es der Krone und ihren Dienern, unsere Heiler zu bezahlen. Und für die Pokémon, die sich unter ihrem Schild verbergen, sollen der Erbauer und sein Gegenstück im Königreich der Ideale es passend gefunden haben, im Gegenzug ihre Stärken im Dienst zu verlangen.

Um ihre Reiche aufzubauen und zu verteidigen. Auch wenn es bedeutete, weit weg von zu Hause zu reisen. Auch wenn es bedeutete, sein Leben aufs Spiel zu setzen, damit andere ihren Schutz genießen konnten.

– Auszug aus »Die Wahrheiter Chroniken – Eine kurze Geschichte der frühen Jahre unseres Königreichs«

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Dalton had been used to chilly nights since childhood; it came with the territory of being born and raised in the deserts along Varhyde’s southern range. Barring occasions like the Autumn Festival where some combination of crowds and whatever festive mood could be summoned after yet another year’s troubles as a distraction, they were times best spent retreating indoors for warmth. Occasions best spent pass the time with food and drink with his family or with his snout buried in a book by the hearth.

It’d been some time since he’d been able to do that. Back in the Riparian Raiders, there would at least be a campfire to share with Artem and their more terrestrial peers over tales of their exploits, drinks, and the occasional joke about the Heliolisk being everyone’s ticket to high society with “how much of a priss” he was.

Perhaps he ought to be more downcast about how those times weren’t coming back anytime soon. But no matter how much he tried to distract himself with his surroundings or his thoughts, it was hard to keep his mind from turning back to the throbbing pain in his right arm. Especially when it’d flare up every time he shifted it by so much as a scale.

Dalton sucked in a wincing breath, glancing over to see his new companions waiting on him before he lowered his head and trudged along resting against Kate’s shoulder. He watched the surrounding street drift by and noticed that half the shops were darkened, while the others seemed to try their hardest to hide their light much as they did at home or in just about any town he’d passed through in the past. On the way, they passed by one of the windmills they’d spotted earlier, then a Consortium shop complete with a Kecleon-headed appearance, and as the slope of the hill approached, they noted a few simple docks along the river at its base.

And yet, the Heliolisk just couldn’t place where this “Errberk Village” they were in right now was. They’d exited out of Raptor Rock, so it meant they were in a Provinz that had to be relatively close to the capital, even if they were in one whose surroundings he didn’t immediately recognize.

“… What is that thing blinking off in the distance, Dalton?”

Dalton blinked after hearing Lyle’s voice when he noticed the Quilava had stopped and stared off into the distance. The Heliolisk followed after his gaze where he spotted a light twinkling in the horizon amidst the auroras in the sky. It was like the lights that had been hung up along the tips of that ‘Great Spire’ in Moonturn Square, perhaps from another Bergfried in another town…

Except warding lights wouldn’t normally be bright enough to see from that distance.

The Electric-type studied the lights when he noticed they carried a color almost like a distant campfire, one that blinked a repeated pattern: one long and one short flash. A pause before a short, a long, and two short flashes. Then finally a short followed by a long flash before things repeated.

Dalton hesitated a moment as something about the light looked familiar to him, only for his eyes to abruptly widen. He wasn’t sure how far out they were from it, but from lived experience, there was only one place in all of Varhyde with warding lights that could be seen from so far away, and only one with that pattern…

“It’s a warding beacon from Newangle City,” the Heliolisk exclaimed. “That particular signal is the one that they flash from the top of the tower where the king’s palace is.”

The others blinked and peered off at the winking light in the distance with expressions of disbelief. Not that Dalton expected them to be comforted by the idea that they were probably a day’s journey at most from the royal capital, but from the skeptical expression on their faces, it looked like none of them had ever seen it before.

“… Scales, how do you know that just from a blinking light?” Kate asked. “Why, for all we know, that’s just a light from a Wilder Volbeat flying around!”

“Because I spent a couple years of my life living there,” the Electric-type said. “It’s not exactly a detail you forget easily.”

A flash of surprise went over the other Outlaws’ faces, with Lyle and Kate trading befuddled looks with each other. He supposed he should’ve anticipated that. After all, when circumstances forced him to decamp from Newangle City the first time in his life, he never imagined he’d find himself back on its doorstep again, much less as a wanted Pokémon.

But he didn’t want to get into that topic right now. Every time he thought back for too long about those happier times in the past when his family was whole just left a bitter taste in his mouth. They’d inevitably remind him of things from that time that could never be brought back.

Not for all the treasure in the world.

“Wait, then do you know where we are right now, Dalton?”

Dalton snapped to attention and winced after shifting his arm. He bit back a flash of pain and looked over at Irune. The Axew briefly cast a glimpse at his arm, before turning back to him with a worried paw at her tusks. Perhaps she was still shaken from the encounter with the guards earlier, not that he expected a frank answer to help her mood any.

“Given that I can see that beacon at all right now, We’re somewhere around a day’s journey by land south of Newangle City. Most likely on the very same river that runs through it,” the Electric-type said, before trailing off.

He looked back down at the Axew as she turned her gaze away, visibly conflicted. It was the strangest feeling in the world, but he swore that he could see bits of himself in her. He doubted she was also the child of Edlen₁ before becoming an Outlaw, but that stubbornness and outspokenness of hers…

“Anyhow, as I mentioned, I have a rough idea of where we are,” Dalton sighed. “Even if I’m wondering a bit now about how I’ve never heard of this village before?”

“Well let’s see here,” Kate scoffed. “There’s the fact that it’s small and forgettable. There’s the fact that there’s the biggest city in the kingdom just a day’s journey away from it…”

“And there’s the fact that Outlaws tend not to last very long trying to do business around the capital,” Lyle added. “Though worry about that later, I think we’ve found the clinic that Golisopod told us about.”

Dalton turned his eyes up as the four of them continued down the lane. Further ahead, there was a half-timbered building on the left built along the slope leading down to the river and its docks. Over its entrance, there was a red sign bearing the white twin half circles which marked it was staffed by medics—just like the Nidoqueen guard at the entrance arch had told them. The four hesitated for a moment, before they spotted a Braixen walking in carrying a small bundle of healing berries.

Dalton froze at the sight of the building, trading glances with his teammates, who seemed visibly hesitant themselves.

Was it even safe to visit these medics? The Golisopod had said nothing about the guards watching the entrance into the village. But at the same time, in his own way, the merchant had seemed genuinely worried about them on the way out of Raptor Rock.

“Everyone? A-Are we sure about this?”

Dalton saw Irune’s eyes meet his as she shot wary glances between him and his teammates. He tried to stand free of Kate’s support to step forward when he felt a flash of pain run through his arm and instinctively pawed at it. A mistake he was too slow to stop as just brushing it made it hurt worse and him reflexively bat out his frill. The Heliolisk stopped mid-raise and clamped his frill back shut with a low whine, as Kate threw out a claw to try and help him keep his balance.

When he regained his bearings, he saw Lyle looking at him, with the rest of his body facing the clinic’s doorway. The Quilava bit his lip as he must’ve realized the bind that they were in. There were so many things that could go wrong by going in there. The medics could turn them into the Gendarmen. A team of Hunters getting patched up could recognize one of them from a past bounty and do much the same…

And yet, in spite of it, from the way Lyle sucked in a sharp breath and shook his head, Dalton figured the Quilava must’ve come to the same conclusion as he did about their present circumstances.

“… No, but we don’t have many other options,” Lyle insisted.

It was only one that made sense at the moment. Dalton looked up at the doorway and breathed in sharply to steel himself.

“… I don’t suppose I can argue the point,” he murmured. “Just be ready to run if we have to, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

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Everything after walking up to the clinic went by in a blur. After staggering through the entrance, Irune and the rest of Team Forager’s members were hurried by the medics on-staff into the back of the clinic to a room with straw bedding set out. Without other roommates to share it with, thank gods.

Pokémon filtered in and out of the room afterwards to tend to their different wounds, with the pained whines Dalton made as his arm was examined leaving a sick, lingering feeling in her stomach.

At least it didn’t last long. He was sedated with a Sleep Seed given by a Luxray shortly after that, who then examined his arm more closely. From there, a Delphox tugged at his stricken arm with telekinetic motions and held it out firmly before the pair applied a cast and splint to hold it in place below his shoulder. In the interim, an Audino and a Braixen made their way around the lot, dressing their wounds and applying berry poultices to them.

The only consolation was that from the lack of sounds from the neighboring rooms, any patients inside them must’ve been dozing off. The whole time, Irune let her eyes drift towards the floor as a gnawing sense of dread came over her. Various emotions swirled about in her head. Worry that at any moment, snarling guards would come barging through the door. Worry about whether or not they could make it to the Divine Roost and get that treasure that she needed from it. Worries about whether she would be able to thwart the army’s plans for her when she still didn’t fully understand what they were about.

“So how did you and your friends get into this situation anyways, Herr Igelavar₂?“

Irune looked over at Lyle as he flicked his ears and pawed at a chunk of damaged hide damp with Oran juice, much like similar wounds now flecking her own body. He murmured a few words that she couldn’t fully make out, as Kate keenly watched the medics, occasionally stealing glances for the door.

… Even if she didn’t really want to admit it, Irune supposed that was a sign she was worried about her latest teammates, too.

She had told herself that she knew what they were getting into, that she’d given them fair warning about what to expect when she herself knew what the most likely outcome of it would be even if things went to plan. But why did it feel as if she was at war with herself over it? Was it because she’d struck her bargain without them knowing the full truth? Was it because she was cynically stringing them along in the dark?

“Fräulein Milza?“

Irune turned her head up with a blink and saw the Braixen approaching her with a warm smile.

“It’s your turn for treatment,” the fox insisted. “This might sting a little, so I’m going to need you to steady yourself, okay?”

Irune nodded back as the Braixen set to work dressing her wounds. The Axew winced as she felt the sting of berry juice against damaged scales, sucking in breaths in and out as she stole glances at her stained hide between treatments and watched as her older wounds slowly began to seal more thoroughly. After a pause, she stared down at the straw bedding under her body, when she felt a prod at her shoulder. She looked up, where there was the Braixen poking at her with her stick, before stuffing it back in her tail fur with a reassuring smile.

“You’re awfully brave for such a young Pokémon to go through harsh Mystery Dungeons like that,” the Braixen said. “I’m sure that if you prepare a bit more carefully next time, your teammates will handle it great!”

The Axew stared back wordlessly for a moment, before letting her gaze drift away with a low murmur.

“I… wish that all of that were as true as you say.”

The Braixen tilted her head, when shuffling footsteps rang out. Irune looked off towards Dalton’s end of the room, where the Luxray was departing after the Audino who was already slipping out the door. The Electric-type gave a parting “don’t keep them too long, Fenne”, leaving the Delphox behind to size up Dalton and the others. The elder fox shook her head briefly and motioned at the Braixen. The smaller fox left her place and made her way to her senior counterpart, where the two traded words briefly with harsh, throaty words. Hightongue, Irune guessed.

Irune had never learned much of it before Lacan and his Fähnlein forced her on the run, but something about the conversation between the two seemed off. She could’ve sworn she saw the older of the two foxes give a worried glance down at the younger one for a moment, much like a parent would do to a child. The Delphox gave a sharp thump with her staff, and then there was a brief, awkward silence between the two. Irune thought of asking what was going on, only for the Delphox to make things moot. She shook her head and stooped down beside Dalton on his bedding, motioning with her wooden staff at his arm in the sling.

“If it’s any consolation, the break in your arm bone was less serious than we feared when we first saw you, Herr Elezard₃,” the Delphox sighed. “It’s a relatively small fracture, and with some supplemental berries to help your body heal, you should be back to normal within about a week’s time.”

“Though you might want to be careful with that frill of yours,” the Braixen chimed in. “Even if it should heal before your arm, it’s quite fragile at the moment.”

Dalton blanched and looked up worriedly at the two medics. It didn’t sound like he’d expected to hear that. The Heliolisk ran a hand over his frill and tried to gape down at it. He reflexively tried to open it to better inspect it, only to flinch and reflexively draw it shut with a sharp yelp.

Irune winced at the sight and saw Lyle and Kate doing much the same from their bedding. A flash of alarm shot over Dalton’s face, as he whirled over to the Delphox and Braixen with an alarmed stammer.

“Wh-What’s wrong with it?” he asked. “Why does it hurt to open it so much?”

“Well it’s a sensitive body part that’s now pockmarked with puncture wounds and tears. So that’s certainly not helping things right now,” the Braixen remarked.

The Delphox gave a stern frown over at her junior, prompting her to quiet down and clamp her mouth shut.

“It’s nothing that you can’t recover from, Herr Elezard, and it will probably heal enough to open and close relatively normally within a couple days with your treatment regimen,” the Delphox insisted. “But it’s important that you give it time for its injuries to heal and don’t put yourself in situations where the wounds could worsen further. As such, I couldn’t in good conscience recommend that you go off to take more missions until then.”

Irune stiffened up at the Delphox’s reply as Dalton visibly grimaced. He must have realized the same thing she did, that he needed rest at a time when they couldn’t take it for granted that it was safe to shelter in one place. She brought her fingers to her temples with a fraught sigh, when a huff from Kate’s bedding prompted her to see the Sneasel folding her arms and shaking her head.

“We’ll do what we can,” the Dark-type sighed. “Hopefully it’s something that will still work if Scales rests while traveling, since we’re not really in a position to stick around here for very long.”

“Well, you could do worse for a place of rest than our village,” the Braixen teased, turning towards Lyle with a smirk. “Now that you’ve got an opportunity to get more comfortable, maybe you’ll finally get a bit more talkative, hm? Or am I gonna need to butter you up to get you to stop giving me the silent treatment?”

The Quilava briefly flared up with a start at the Braixen’s comments, and for a second, Irune thought she saw him blushing and a little ways off, Kate was visibly narrowing her eyes over the remark. A sharp thump snapped the lot of them back to attention, as the Delphox gave a sharp nudge at the Braixen with the end of her staff along with a disapproving frown.

“Rutten, enough. These Pokémon need rest,” the elder fox sighed. “Don’t we have enough things to worry about on our own already?”

Irune blinked after hearing the name the Delphox brought up when it dawned on her. ‘Rutten’ and ‘Fenne’? Boy were those names on the nose. Almost as much as that ‘Igel’ name Lyle gave to Hermes back in Moonturn Square. Rutten didn’t seem to think much of the scolding from the way she pinned her ears back with a quiet pout. Irune assumed it was just a normal annoyance between the two, since the Delphox of the pair quickly brushed the matter off and turned her focus on her audience and continued on.

“If you need accommodations here, we can host you overnight,” she offered. “We offer free lodging to the Pokémon we treat for as long as they need bedrest.”

A tense jolt went down Irune’s spine. She knew full well from the past year that it wasn’t safe to stay overnight at a clinic like this while Lacan and his Fähnlein were chasing her. From the way that her teammates had stiffened up, that sort of experience must’ve been more common for Outlaws than she thought.

“Actually, as nice as the offer is, Delphox, we were thinking of just claiming one of those mats for travelers on the outskirts, assuming you have any,” Kate insisted. “We’re kinda running a bit behind on a journey and need to get moving as soon as we can after resting up.”

Fenne and Rutten traded askew glances back at the group, the younger fox of the pair letting her gaze linger briefly on Lyle before she folded her arms with a small frown.

“You’d hardly be doing yourself or your companions any favors, Frau Sniebel₄,” the Braixen scoffed. “Assuming there were still spaces left to claim at this hour, there you’d be resting in the autumn cold, and most likely without any bedding.”

Kate flattened her ears in annoyance, but held her tongue, and for good reason. Short of blurting out that they were Outlaws, there really wasn’t a good argument for them to make for not just staying here. Lyle bit his lip and seemed to falter, while Dalton was sitting up straight as a board. Irune pawed at the side of her head with a quiet grimace. Gah, there had to be more options than this to choose from!

Then it dawned on her. Maybe there was one. Even smaller settlements usually had some sort of inn, didn’t they? Couldn’t they just stay there instead? The local guards would be checking the clinic here before anywhere like that, and with them having just stumbled into Errberk Village, it’d surely be less suspicious than trying to find some abandoned building to squat in again… wouldn’t it?

“… Frau Fennexis₅, I know that this is probably going to seem strange, but is there an inn of some sort around here that we could stay at?” Irune asked, tilting her head at the Delphox. “Those places cater to Pokémon who need to travel quickly, don’t they?”

Fenne sized up the pair briefly and fidgeted with her staff for a moment, before thumping it against the ground and clearing her throat.

“I… suppose there are a few options in town that might strike your fancy if you are so set on resting elsewhere tonight,” Fenne said. “Errberk Village has always been a small hamlet without much means beyond what it renders in service to the crown, and the hospitality it provides to those who pass through it.”

Rutten looked up at the Delphox with a small frown before she sighed and grudgingly pawed at her shoulder.

“I suppose if you really do want to spend a bit of money, that giving the Pokémon that keep us afloat in this clinic would be in everyone’s best interests…”

Team Forager’s members blinked for a moment at the foxes’ words, before Kate pinned her ears back and broke the silence with an unimpressed snort.

“Look, we’ve got some spare change, but we don’t have that much spare change,” the Sneasel scoffed. “And trying to guilt others into spending money isn’t exactly a great advertising strategy!”

“Neither of us would dream of doing so,” the Braixen remarked. “But you do want lodging outside of here, do you not? Just what are you looking for?”

Lyle flattened his ears and seemed to grow uneasy, stealing uneasy glances with Kate and Dalton who both seemed to have misgivings. Irune faltered for a moment at her other teammates’ hesitance. Maybe it really was for the best to drop the topic and just go with Kate’s idea…

The Axew was interrupted by a dull ache her flank. She peered down towards the straw bedding she was sitting on and noticed a still-raw scrape along her scales.

No, after an awful day like today, they could afford to have someplace more comfortable to sleep in.

Irune didn’t know if there was such anywhere in town that wouldn’t suck up their ill-gotten gains with the way that prices always seemed to go up and up with each passing moon, but the least she could do was ask…

“Is there someplace close by that wouldn’t cost too much?” Irune asked. “From how high the moon is, it must be past midnight right now. Are there even inns here that are open this late?”

“There is one, actually: Das Grüne Dragoran₆. It’s a hostel at the end of the street that’d be a more comfortable place for you to rest your battered bodies than a mat under the stars, don’t you think?” Fenne asked. “You might also find the tavern at its entrance to be worth your while, since you all have clearly been through a lot.”

“Not that you’d really have many choices here in Errberk Village at this time of night, but it is a nice place,” Rutten said. “If I had the means, I’d probably spend a night there myself. After all, I might not see it again anytime soon.”

Irune blinked as an uncomfortable chill seemed to come over the Delphox’s face following Rutten’s reply. Her teammates on Team Forager similarly had their moods take a turn for the worse, especially Dalton, who was upright and at attention even in spite of his injuries.

… The Axew thought she had a few ideas as to what the Braixen could be getting at, but warily raised her voice to ask and find out for sure.

“Why’s… that?”

“I was asked to report to the local garrison for service in His Majesty’s army,” the Braixen answered. “My assignment is set to be handed down at the end of this week.”

Irune fell silent and grimaced. She supposed that it was to be expected that levies by the army for new soldiers would be going out throughout Varhyde at this time of year, but it was still startling to hear the Braixen medic say that. Why, from the way she and the Delphox had been interacting, she must’ve still been young enough to still be apprenticing!

A quick glance over at her teammates revealed the others on Team Forager had been similarly taken aback by the Braixen’s revelation, with Kate in particular looking away uncomfortably with her ears pinned back.

“Oh. I’m… sorry to hear that,” the Sneasel murmured.

“Don’t be. This is my home, and I’d gladly give anything to help defend it,” the Braixen replied, shaking her head back. “Better that I go off to fight in the stead of one of the more experienced healers who’d be able to help care for Pokémon like you back home.”

Fenne grew visibly alarmed at Rutten’s words, and gave a sharp, insistent tug at the younger medic’s shoulder, turning her around with a pleading expression.

“Rutten, you mustn’t jump into things like this. The garrison said that if you already had an assignment before reporting, that your levy would be waived!” the Delphox insisted. “There was that listing from that noble looking for a personal healer in the capital! He held rank within the army himself, so if you just accepted it, maybe it’d-“

“It’d be unbecoming for me not to go where I’m needed, since soldiers need healing too,” the Braixen snapped back. “That’s the role of a healer, and it’s an honor for me to serve wherever the Kingdom needs me most.”

Fenne and Rutten stared at each other for a moment, the Delphox’s eyes visibly pleading with the Braixen’s, which answered with a sharp, unyielding scowl. Neither of the two said anything, but those two must have been related from the way they were interacting with each other. For whatever reason, Lyle looked particularly uncomfortable at the sight. Had he gotten into arguments with older relatives like this before becoming an Outlaw?

“Honestly, if you really mean what you said, just take the assignment with the noble.”

Irune turned her head at the sound of a sharp scoff coming at Dalton’s end of the room, where he’d sat up and was in the middle of a piercing stare over at the Braixen. The younger fox was visibly taken aback by his demeanor, when the Electric-type narrowed his eyes and let out a sharp, emphatic huff.

“Look, I don’t know what your story is, Rutena₇, but if you’re serious about being willing to give anything to help defend your home here, then stay as close to it as you can,” the Heliolisk insisted. “Be there for your village for if trouble comes here. Don’t throw your life away going out to some gods-forsaken hole in Edialeigh!”

There was a long, awkward silence in the room afterwards. Irune sucked in a sharp breath and set her teeth on edge. Was… Dalton supposed to say that? She knew that Pokémon across Varhyde were getting ground down from the war, but few Pokémon in polite society had the boldness to air such… less-than-patriotic opinions of the ongoing war. She didn’t understand the full story behind it when everyone seemed miserable about it, but it had something to do with a disastrous reversal in the war from before she was born.

Fenne didn’t look mad about it, at least. Rutten was a bit harder to gauge since her expression remained guarded afterwards, like she wasn’t sure of how to respond. After a brief moment that felt like an eternity, the Braixen she narrowed her eyes and shook her head back in reply.

“I appreciate your concern, Herr Elezard, but this is really a choice that I need to make on my own. Assuming that I have one to begin with,” the Fire-type rebutted. “Though whether it’s near or far… for a time, I will be away. If you’re really that worried about how well this village will hold up without me, why not lend it some aid in my stead if you can?”

Team Forager’s members fell silent and traded uneasy looks with one another. Irune spotted Lyle looking down at the bedding under his feet and the bandages on his body, before giving a poke at his bag laying beside it which prompted Irune to glance at her own and shift it with an audible rattle.

… Right, she supposed they still had money left over from paying off Hermes… and it was more than any of them would normally have. At the same time, it wasn’t enough to buy everything they needed to make the rest of the journey to the Divine Roost without having to steal at some point. The Axew cast a glance back at the Braixen and hesitated a bit. Dalton had publicly said things that could’ve gotten him in trouble for sympathizing with the enemy, so it surely didn’t make sense to leave on this Braixen’s bad side.

But strangely, that wasn’t the main worry that had come to her mind: over the past year, Irune had brought one misfortune after another onto untold Pokémon. So… if there was something she could do to help someone for a change… wouldn’t it be worth doing it?

“Lyle? Kate? Dalton? What do you all think?” Irune asked. “It doesn’t sound that far away, and it shouldn’t cost that much of our money…”

The other Outlaws hesitated for a moment, before Lyle glanced out the window at the moon and auroras in night sky briefly and shook his head with a tired sigh.

“After all the headaches we went through to get it, I suppose we might as well enjoy it after a wreck of a day like this,” he said. “Besides, having a real bed for once wouldn’t be the end of the world…”

---

Lyle and his teammates left the clinic not long after medics’ tipoff about the inn down the street, and per their instructions, followed it westward before making their way down a lane lined with simple structures. Half-timbered buildings on either side, with mostly-darkened shopfronts. A few remained stubbornly illuminated by dimmed lanterns fashioned from glass or occasionally ancient resin to ply their wares to nocturnal customers, not that there seemed to be many of them out right then.

The four passed a windmill, before reaching a square built around a fountain with a centerpiece anchored by metal latticing—shaped vaguely like a bell of some sort. Lyle couldn’t tell if Errberk Village just didn’t have much in the way of a nocturnal population, or if the village was just always this sleepy. He at first assumed it was the former, but with the way the town went without proper walls for its defenses outside the ones that ringed the keep overlooking the town, the Quilava suspected the place wouldn’t feel that much more lively during the day.

When they got to the end of the square, sure enough, there was a two-story building with plastered walls and wooden timbers sporting a signboard over its entrance with a green Dragonite on it. The walls seemed to have metal girders that reminded Lyle of bars on a cage, some of them having sections of wall slotted between, while others had been filled in with windows with wooden shutters. There was a rounded awning over the entrance, along with a rooftop with wood shingles that curled in slightly. Right above them, another story of the building sprouted upwards, sporting the same likeness to a filled-in cage.

Lyle doubted the roofing was original. The way the walls were set up reminded him of a couple structures he’d seen in the past near Moonturn Square that were built around human ruins. The distinctive appearance with the girders supposedly was characteristic of ruins that originally were wrapped in glass windows prior to the Great Flash. Lyle wasn’t sure if he could imagine such a structure, much less why anyone would want to build one. Such large windows must have been insanely expensive to replace every time one got broken by a fight or something like that.

Lyle looked up at the inn’s signboard with its green Dragonite as they neared. Just below the painting of the Dragon-type, there were a set of faded runes that rendered the name just as the medics said, with ‘Dragonite’ written in a more archaic style with its last glyph being the same as the one used to write out ‘riot’ or ‘rampage’. He supposed that was why they’d been so insistent on calling it ‘Das Grüne Dragoran‘.

The Quilava hesitated for a moment as his thoughts turned back to Hermes from Moonturn Square. Was the Carrier alright at the moment? They hadn’t gotten a chance to check up on him after they crashed just outside Primordial Woods. Sure the Dragonite was a bit of an ass, but for all they knew, he was hurt right now, or worse.

… He tried not to think further about the matter. Leaving others behind to see another day was just reality for an Outlaw sometimes, and it wouldn’t do any good worrying about things he was powerless to change. All he wanted right at that moment was something to eat, a nice, stiff drink, and to pass out sober enough to not wake up the next day with a hangover.

Lyle pushed the door open along with his teammates, walking through a bare wooden hall with a few damaged cushions set out towards a counter at the back of the room, they spotted a bored-looking Flapple resting on it by a tatty book lying open on its spine. Along the way over, Lyle felt a tug at his forearm, and glanced down to see Irune shooting uneasy glimpses at him and his teammates.

“… How are we going to do this anyways?” she whispered.

“Lyle will pay first and we’ll pay him back our shares in the room?” Kate chimed in from the side. “I dunno, use your imagination a bit, Irune.”

“No, I meant how do we introduce ourselves?” the Axew insisted. “Is it really safe to just give the innkeeper our real names?”

“Obviously not,” Lyle said. “I’ll just give him some aliased, and-“

“Good evening, Igelavar,” a yipping voice growled. “Are you going to keep me waiting, or are you going to tell me what you’re here for?”

Lyle abruptly flared up with a start and saw that the Flapple and the counter were now much closer than he remembered, with the Dragon-type sizing him up skeptically. The Quilava curled his face up into a flustered grimace, and hastily waved a forepaw in reply.

“T- Tut mir leid₈, Herr Drapfel₉!” he stammered. “Sorry about that, we’ll be taking a room for four!”

The Flapple craned his neck and let his gaze linger over Team Forager for a moment. Lyle held his breath and bit the inside of his cheek, when the Dragon-type shook his head and narrowed his eyes with an unimpressed sigh.

“Do I want to know why the four of you look like you just stepped out from a minefield?” the innkeeper asked. “I could’ve sworn I saw fellows of yours passing through town earlier tonight, and they didn’t look anywhere as shabby as you.”

… Wait, he had? And even if they were visibly patched up a bit, the four of them didn’t look that bad right now, did they? Lyle pawed at the back of his head and forced a sheepish smile over his face before speaking up with a nervous titter.

“Probably not, no,” the stoat said. “But it’s ‘Igel’, and these are my teammates on Team Forager. We just needed a room for four for the night.”

“Uh huh,” the Flapple said, lazily fetching a small flipnote and a stylus tipped with ink that he gripped between his diminutive paws. “And the others?”

Irune blinked at the receptionist’s question and turned her head up with a wary frown.

“Wait, why do you need to know our names?” the Axew asked.

“Inn policy,” the Flapple replied. “We’ve had enough guests split a room in the past that it’s handy to know who exactly to bill if we find a hole left in the wall from a drunken fight overnight.”

… Boy did this place sound like a dive, though Lyle supposed it was a sign that the proprietors wouldn’t worry too much about their clients’ backgrounds. But aliases for the entire rest of the team? Here on the spot?

“Well?“

Lyle jolted up to attention and saw the Flapple impatiently scowling at him. He blinked a moment, before hurriedly piping up and opting to just say the first things that came to mind.

“R-Right, their names!” the Fire-type stammered. “The Axew is ‘Mills’ and the Heliolisk is ‘Elezar’.”

The Flapple briefly quirked a brow as Irune blinked and Dalton stiffened up with a mortified grimace. From the side, Kate sputtered, trying and largely failing to fight back open laughter.

“Wait, ‘Elezar’?” the Sneasel snickered. “Reshiram’s Fur, that’s-“

“And the Sneasel is ‘Niebel’. Hard names to forget, right?”

Kate trailed off mid-laugh as her ears fell and her expression increasingly looked as if she’d just been soaked in the face with a Water Gun. Lyle supposed that he wasn’t going to hear the end of that one, but right now, the most important audience they had to impress was the Flapple on the counter.

The Quilava held his breath as the Flapple looked them over again, before jotting some runes down in his flipbook and motioning at the counter.

“400 Carolins or the equivalent in Poké if you’ve got it,” the Flapple said. “Our tavern’s in the room off to the right. Eiche should still be serving drinks at this hour.”

Thank gods, Lyle was starting to get worried there. He slid a pawful of Poké over the counter before tiredly shuffling off for the tavern, his teammates’ footsteps creaking against the floorboards after him. Halfway to the open doorway, he felt a poke at his shoulder when Kate’s voice piped up.

“Lyle?”

Lyle turned his head, where he saw all three of his teammates giving unamused stares at him, Kate standing at the fore with her arms folded and her muzzle curled down into a sour frown.

“Next time, I’m coming up with aliases for us “

… He hadn’t done that bad of a job with their aliases, had he? Sure, the names were a bit simple and punny, but it wasn’t that rare for Pokémon to have names that sounded a bit like the names of their kinds in either Commontongue or Hightongue, was it?

Lyle snapped back to attention after an ache shot through his body. Right, they had better things to worry about right now. Like getting in a few pints to help forget about their gods-awful day.

“… We’ll figure it out then,” he sighed. “For now, let’s just get a damn drink.”

The four passed the doorway and discovered that the inn’s tavern had been built in a chamber with concrete walls and stones piled up to fill gaps that had formed in them. If the walls were a bit less straight, it’d have almost reminded Lyle of a dragon’s den—maybe that had something to do with the name. Even with its sturdier appearance, it seemed about as meager as the tavern they met Hermes in back in Moonturn Square, complete with spartan wooden furniture and musky odor. Why,  just past a table taken up by a Feraligatr guzzling from a pint, there was even a band with a Toxtricity singer just like the one that that dive in Moonturn Square had.

♫ I’m looking at my life I want to change
Myself to hear you more so I can stay
How to make our life better
Think~ Can you try? ♫

Wait a minute, that was the same Toxtricity and band from back in Moonturn Square! Lyle stared with his mouth hanging open for a moment, wondering what stroke of fate would’ve brought them back across each others’ paths as the rest of the band played their instruments and Poison-type continued on singing a sappy ditty about encouraging a lover to go on a journey together… which he was pretty sure mixed up or missed a word or two from some of its lyrics.

The stoat sighed and shook his head before continuing forward with his teammates. Along the way, they noticed the tables by them were largely vacant, one of the few exceptions being one off to their left. Much to his surprise, there was a glassy-eyed Kecleon and Togedemaru seated at opposite ends of it, each grasping tight to wooden mugs and giving each other ornery looks as their words came out in slurring growls.

“It’ll be a blizzard day in Heumond before I stand for this sort of insult!” the Kecleon fumed. “At least the Consortium keeps to itself and doesn’t have to ply dodgy clubs in the capital with Lansat Syrup to make its coin!”

“Is that hint of jealousy? Tch, what wrong with Kecleon? Not enough injured ‘mon to gouge in Mystery Dungeons?” the Togedemaru piped. “Regional division of Roly-Poly Caravan doing just fine moving cargo for army of furry dragon Kingdom!”

Team Forager continued on and dutifully avoided making eye contact as the two merchants continued on with their drunken bickering, just in case either of them had been tipped off about the things they’d had gotten up to around Moonturn Square and its surroundings. Even without that, Lyle couldn’t say he really had any interest in hearing the pair air the sordid details of how their businesses worked. Especially not when half the conversation would come from a squeaker of a little rat with what had to be the most ridiculous speech pattern in all of Wander.

As the merchants’ bickering faded into the background, the four made their way up to the bar counter where some stools had been set out. There seemed to be three styles of them present: two heights of wooden three-legged stools for shorter and taller patrons, and flat stumps tucked to the side for Pokémon who were bulky and heavy enough to damage the legged stools from their weight. Kate and Dalton took their places on a pair of taller stools set out at the counter, and Lyle was about to follow suit when a voice pricked his ears from the side.

“Uh… Lyle? I think I’m a bit short for these.”

Lyle looked over to see Irune staring at the stools. The taller ones were high enough for it to be uncomfortable for the Axew to try and clamber up, while the shorter ones were small enough to not let her see over the counter. The Quilava cocked his head for a moment, before he noticed a few empty wooden boxes in the corner: old, cut-up exposure chests used in Mystery Dungeons from the looks of it. Lyle sighed, before taking one of the boxes and sliding it over in front of the counter and setting one of the shorter stools on top with a small frown.

“Just try to keep your eyes open, alright?” he grumbled. “You could’ve found a solution pretty easily if you’d looked around a little more.”

Irune gave a sour grunt in reply, before clambering onto the box, and then the now-elevated stool. Across the counter, they could see a Decidueye wiping down some mugs, with a Bagon tending to the end of the counter using wooden boxes much like Irune to reach its surface. The Decidueye gave a wary gaze, before shaking his head with a low sigh.

“You four are up awfully late,” he remarked. “Or I suppose awfully early if you’re of a nocturnal persuasion like me. Not that I’d expect it from most of your kinds.”

Lyle turned his head back towards the bickering Kecleon and Togedemaru in the background, where the pair seemed to be getting a bit heated. He flattened his ears, before shooting an askew glance back at the Decidueye barkeep.

“Not worried at all about things getting out of hand?” he asked.

“Tch, I have experience dealing with tough customers,” the Grass-type scoffed. “You kinda have to be as a barkeep, especially in a village that prides itself on a history of raising and lodging strong warriors.”

… That bit about the ‘strong warriors’ was probably just bluster. One of the things that Lyle learned quickly after seeing villages and towns outside of his own was that most Civils were the types to think that their village was number one. But with how tough those two guards at the gate seemed…

It probably wasn’t worth worrying about. They’d surely come to this place ahead of any word from Lacan, and they weren’t planning on hanging around for long. At the far end of the bar, Kate gave a playful scoff, and leaned her head against the back of her right paw.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that one before. Though there’s never a wrong time for a good drink,” Kate said. “We’ll take a bowl of Gummis and four Doppelböcke₁₀.”

The Decidueye’s eyes darted over to Irune, who stiffened up with a flustered grimace. The Grass-type hesitated for a moment at the younger Outlaw of the party, before turning back to Kate with a low grunt

“Eh, suit yourself,” he remarked. “Darts! Get these ‘mons their drinks!”

The Bagon at the end of the counter put away his rag and hurried over, nudging one of the boxes along with his armored head to help him reach a set of bottles and tall wooden mugs. Lyle quirked a brow at the little Dragon-type as he poured out some water at the base of each mug—to water it down for safe consumption, and then shook its contents to mix them. For a little Bagon, the ‘mon seemed to have some skill at mixing drinks. A lot more than Lyle would have expected a Pokémon still in his initial evolution to have.

“First refill’s free,” the Bagon explained. “Consider it a night owl special.”

Lyle flicked his ears and looked up, seeing the Bagon pushing a mug in front of him. A glance off to the left revealed Kate and Dalton had already been served and were helping themselves to their drinks, both already most of the way through them. The Quilava grasped his mug and gulped down a mouthful of its contents, smacking his lips as the taste lingered in his mouth. It was a bit more bitter than he expected, but it was definitely a beer. He returned back to his drink as Darts served Irune, when he noticed his body felt strangely warm and fuzzy. It was to be expected from liquor and Doppelbock was a particularly strong brew, but even so, he didn’t remember beer giving him this much of a buzz in the past.

… Maybe that was a sign he was getting through his drink too quickly. The stoat set his cup back on the counter, when he suddenly heard Irune cough and gag to his right. Lyle looked over at the Axew and saw she’d choked and spilled a good quantity of her beer, and spat up still more onto the counter. The Decidueye and Bagon stared at her, as Kate and Dalton gave repulsed grimaces at the Axew’s mess before returning to their drinks. Lyle flattened his ears, and shot an unimpressed frown Dragon-type.

“What, you can’t hold your liquor now of all times?” he asked. “Just how young are you anyways?”

Irune flushed a deep, flustered red for a moment, setting her mug back onto the counter as Darts rolled his eyes and cleaned it up. The Axew fumbled with her words in embarrassment before she met Lyle’s gaze and pawed at the counter sheepishly.

“It… tastes different from the drinks I’m used to, that’s all,” she insisted. “I don’t think I’ll be taking that refill.”

Just what sort of drinks were those? Glasses of Moomoo Milk? Lyle rolled his eyes and had half a mind to chide the obvious rookie for still trying to hide her lack of experience, but thought the better of it. They’d all been through a really crap day, and getting on the nerves of the ‘mon they were escorting across the region to guide them to a legendary treasure sounded like it was just begging for trouble.

“Suit yourself,” Lyle muttered. “Just give it to Kate, I’m sure she’ll make short work of it.”

The Quilava motioned over to Kate at the end of the bar, who put her mug back against the counter with a sharp tak. The Sneasel opened her mouth and let out an audible burp, before giving a wave of her claw at the Decidueye.

“Hey, barkeep! Another one of those Doppelböcke, would ya?”

Lyle watched as the Decidueye reflexively stepped in, only to catch himself and back off and allow Darts to tend to the Sneasel’s order. Lyle felt a bit stupid for the thought only just now occurring to him, but he supposed that that meant the Bagon was an apprentice of some sort to the Decidueye. The Quilava pushed Irune’s drink over along with it, drawing a passing cheer from the Sneasel of having “thirds” that made the Axew frown, but otherwise raise no complaint. He got the feeling Irune didn’t particularly approve of Kate being so quick to drink, but whatever, if she didn’t care enough to complain about it, it was probably for the best.

The Quilava reached for his mug and gave a tired sigh as he looked down at his drink.

“… What do we do now?”

---

Time drifted by quicker than Lyle expected at the counter, and before he knew it, about half an hour had passed… with much of his share of the order of Gummis barely been touched and his beer just barely been finished since then. Lyle didn’t know whether it was the strangely bitter taste or if it was the events from Primordial Woods getting to him, but he hadn’t had much of an appetite that night.

Though he supposed that the way he kept getting lost in his thoughts at the counter didn’t help it either. Looking over at Eiche and Darts stirred up memories of his and his own brother’s experiences apprenticing as glassblowers under their father. Of moments where the Typhlosion held their paws, guiding them through tending and stoking the family shop’s furnace that turned sand into glass. They’d spent untold evenings putting the heated glass from that furnace onto blow pipes and practicing breathing out air and fire in a sustained stream to turn the molten glob at the end into something that could fill a mold.

Most of their results came out as unsellable garbage, but even then, Lyle was proud of his handiwork, and his parents and brother were proud of his. His mother and father would go on about how they could rest easy knowing that their shop would be in good paws even when they were too old to work, and would give good-natured ribbings over how if the two ever renamed the shop, that “Igelavars and Tornuptos'” had a ring to it.

Even in the midst of the world spinning apart around them, it was a simpler, happier time.

Was, anyways.

Tak!

Lyle snapped back to attention after Darts set down a wooden mug in front of him that visibly frothed at the top. The Quilava tilted his head, as the Bagon pushed the mug forward in front of him.

“Don’t doze off too much on the counter, Quilava,” the Dragon-type insisted. “That’s what your room upstairs is for.”

Lyle hesitated for a moment and reached for the mug. Something in his head felt cloudy and faint. Were those his injuries acting up? He knew that a Pokémon’s wounds didn’t heal instantly, but the medics didn’t make him think that he had ones that would linger like Dalton’s broken arm or his wounded frill. The Quilava gave a swirl of his mug and raised it to drink when he felt an impatient tug at his flank. His vents flickered to life briefly, and heard a yelp. There, behind him, Irune recoiled briefly, before she shook her head and gave an impatient stare up.

“Lyle, shouldn’t we be planning on what to do tomorrow?” she asked. “You’ve just been sitting and moping there.”

“Give me a break, kid. We’re in public right now,” he grumbled back. “And in case you hadn’t noticed, we spent most of the past few hours having to play things by ear since our plans went up in smoke. We’re better off resting tonight and trying to plan things out after we’re all feeling a bit less crap.”

Kate and Dalton talked briefly in the background for a moment. Lyle wasn’t sure whether it was the hour or the buzz from the drink getting to him, but he could’ve sworn something about their words just slurred together. Whatever, it probably wasn’t all that important. The Quilava raised his mug in front of his face, giving a dubious frown down at his Axew counterpart.

“Look, we’ll see what our options are for getting around first thing in the morning,” the Fire-type insisted. “If you’ve got some sort of problem with waiting until then that I don’t know about, don’t get cute about keeping it to yourself. You saw how that turned out today.”

Irune briefly flinched at Lyle’s reply and looked away. It was probably a sign whatever she had to say wasn’t important. The Quilava tilted his mug back and started to drink, when the Axew hesitated briefly, before she narrowed her eyes and piping up with an adamant voice.

“I… think we should stop by Newangle City on our way up to the shrine.”

Lyle’s paw jolted his mug back at Irune’s statement. The Quilava felt a few drops of his drink go down his throat wrong and he coughed, gagging up the rest of the beer still in his mouth onto the counter and floor. Kate and Dalton shot annoyed frowns at him from their end of the bar, and Eiche and Darts didn’t seem much more enthused either. The Quilava flattened his ears and sheepishly set aside his mug, muttering a “sorry, give me a moment” in reply as he tugged Irune along from the counter, and for a quieter corner off on the other end of the tavern, before whirling on her with a sharp scowl.

“Irune, what are you going on about? Why on earth would we go to the Capital?” he insisted. “Even without Lacan on our tails, it’s not exactly friendly territory out there, and there’s ways of getting to the Divine Roost without having to set foot in it. So why bother taking a risk like that?”

Irune faltered and visibly shivered after the question. Clearly she wasn’t feeling good about the prospect of running into that Salamence and his accursed Fähnlein again. But even so, something about the Dragon-type just refused to yield, as she pawed at her shoulder and spoke up quietly.

“I… just think… it’d be a good idea to go there,” the Axew said. “There’d be more marks to rob and you all have experience melting into crowds and- uh… it’d be safer for us. Yeah.”

Lyle frowned and narrowed his eyes. Could this kid have been any more obviously lying right now? The stoat folded his forearms against each other and flared up briefly, before shooting a sharp glare back.

“Yeah, I’m not interested. And I doubt the others are, especially Dalton,” the Quilava said. “So if you’re going to try and convince me, why don’t you spell out what it is you really want from going to the Capital?”

Irune visibly stiffened up after the demand and bit her lip. Lyle sighed and turned around to head back for the bar when he suddenly felt her tugging at his paw.

“Lyle, wait!”

The Quilava hesitated briefly and turned back, seeing Irune steel herself as she sucked in a breath and spoke up in careful, guarded words.

“Lacan… thinks that I’ve got some sort of power that could be useful to him. And enough moments have been happening to me over the past year that I don’t know if I can say for sure if he’s wrong about it.”

“And why does that require us to go to Newangle City?”

“Because this entire time, I haven’t been able to find anything out about what’s going on with me from the books and the like that I came across in smaller towns,” Irune explained.

The Axew averted her gaze and pawed at her shoulder with an uneasy glance towards the floor.

” I… just need to know for sure why Lacan thinks I’m so important. What exactly that power is if it’s real and if it can be controlled at all,” she said. “From the way things went in Primordial Woods today, I’m not sure if we’ll make it to the Divine Roost if I don’t understand what that power is and how much of our moves Lacan already expects from us.”

Hrmph, even when they were little ankle-biters, dragons really were stubborn types. From the flash of guilt over the Axew’s eyes, she at least didn’t seem to be lying about anything she said this time. Even if Lyle got the feeling that she was still hiding something from him.

The Quilava opened his mouth to press Irune further when he suddenly felt a bout of lightheadedness come over him. Maybe his injuries hadn’t been treated as thoroughly as the Delphox and Braixen from the clinic thought. If that was the case, it was for the best to wind down his conversation with Irune, finish his drink, and get some much-needed shuteye.

“You’re just full of surprises today, aren’t you?” he grumbled. “But that’s not a decision for me alone to make in the first place. Going into Newangle City’s already a risky proposition for Pokémon like us, and you’re asking a lot from us to go there over what’s basically a hunch from you.”

Irune fell quiet and looked almost like he’d just punched her in the mouth. For a second, Lyle felt a bit uneasy over his words and wondered if he’d been too harsh with the kid, only to mentally correct himself.

No. Some truths just had to be dealt with plainly even if they were harsh. After everything that had happened today, asking Irune to make her peace with it was more than justified when misplaced idealism or a slip-up in judgment could easily be the end of them all.

“We’ll probably need to get out of this town before the day’s over tomorrow,” the Fire-type said. “You’ve got until then to convince us all to take that sort of risk. Though I’ll tell you up front that you’re almost certainly going to need to do better than that to convince-“

“You take that back!“

Irune turned her head back towards the bar after a sharp hiss rang out and abruptly went wide-eyed. Lyle blinked and followed her gaze, when he saw Dalton and Kate had gotten up and were staring each other down—visibly tottering. Dalton shambled forward at the Sneasel, with his free arm held out accusingly and his face contorted into a hateful glare. The whole time, Kate gave a dismissive, almost smirking expression back through glassy eyes and slurring words.

“Relax. I’m not judging you for having a Grünhäuter for a brother,” Kate insisted. “I think you turned out great compared to him!”

Lyle blinked at the sight. He hadn’t thought that any of them had drunk that much beer, and he remembered Kate being able to hold her liquor better than this, but it was clear as day that the two were heavily drunk.

Irune turned her head up at Lyle, giving a worried paw at her tusks.

“Uh… are- are those two alright, Lyle?” she asked.

“No,” he sighed back. “Come on, let’s go and make sure they don’t do something stupid.”

Lyle dropped to all fours with a muttering grumble and began to make his way forward for his teammates with Irune. Kate and Dalton were plastered enough that they didn’t notice Eiche and Darts warily eying them from behind the bar, or sense their approach as the Heliolisk snarled back at the still-unfazed Sneasel.

“He was never supposed to be one!” the Electric-type shot back. “And he’s dead because of it!”

“Well, yeah. Staying alive’s the definition of turning out better, isn’t it?”

Lyle stiffened up briefly after the exchange. Dalton… had a brother in the army? He’d never said anything about that before. The Heliolisk began to visibly spark at Kate’s reply, as Darts hastily ducked away behind the counter and Eiche hopped the counter to intervene.

This had gone on long enough, and Dalton and Kate needed to be pulled away before they got the guards called on them. Lyle lunged ahead with a dash that made the surrounding bar blur in his vision, when a sudden flash of yellow and a hot, searing sensation enveloped his body.

Lyle yelped and fell to the ground, hearing other cries ring out around him along with the sound of splintering wood. The stoat hastily righted himself as static danced on his fur and saw Kate rolling over from the broken remains of a mug. And then there was Dalton, stumbling up and awkwardly trying to steady himself with his good arm as he let out seething breaths.

“I’ll fry you, you impudent-!“

Lyle jumped forward and tugged at Dalton’s tail to restrain him and saw Irune heading towards Kate, when the Axew abruptly froze and dove out of the way. A series of sharp thwips rang out, Lyle reflexively diving for cover as Kate and Dalton yelped and crumpled to the floor.

Lyle got up and glanced at Kate as she pawed at her side in a daze. There, stuck in it about half her arm’s length from her shoulder was a brown feather that visibly wasn’t hers, with some sort of quill stuck in it. He went over and helped her pull it out when he saw he was holding a feather that looked much like a dart with its tip visibly ruddy.

“All of you, Knock it off already!”

Lyle looked up with his Sneasel and Heliolisk teammates, who both suddenly seemed to become a lot more clear-headed. There, above them was the Decidueye barkeep glaring down, his eyes locked with theirs with a look that could kill.

“You’re paying for that mug you broke!” the Decidueye snapped. “Keep this up, and I’ll lay you out so that way you can pass the rest of the night in a cell with the local Gendarmen!“

Lyle flattened his ears and gulped. That was about the last thing that they needed, and a sign that it was time for the lot of them to retire to the room they’d bought for the night. Now. Before the owl really did get the guards involved. The Quilava gave an apologetic bow, before hurriedly going over to Kate.

“S-Sorry,” he stammered. “Guess that’s a sign that we’ve had enough to drink tonight. We’ll just be going now.”

Lyle tugged at Kate and hurriedly helped the Sneasel weakly prop herself up. She pawed at her head, while a quick look over at Irune revealed her approaching Dalton as he lay on the ground groaning. At least the two were still conscious, if drunk enough to visibly take even the Decidueye aback as he scowled at his Bagon apprentice.

“What sort of ‘mons did you make this stuff for, Darts?” the Decidueye demanded. “Those two jokers have barely had a few pints in them and they’re already drunk off their tails!”

“Eiche, I made it with one share of water!” Darts insisted “Just like the mix called for!”

“That’s a mix for Pullers!” the Decidueye snapped. “Do those two look bulky enough to have ever pulled a wagon before in their lives?!”

The Bagon flinched and grimaced as the Decidueye dressed him down behind the counter. Lyle glanced at Kate as she staggered and leaned against his shoulder, and then over to Irune as she helped Dalton sit up woozily. Irune left the Heliolisk’s side with a quiet shake of her head, before looking back to Lyle with a low murmur.

“… I told you there was something strange about the drinks, Lyle.”

… Right, she’d said that earlier. Lyle supposed it wasn’t smart after all to just write off her complaints earlier. Rookie or not, Irune was the only one of them who noticed something was amiss with the beers they’d ordered, and just what he’d finished of his was already making him feel buzzed. From the Heliolisk’s place on the floor, Lyle suddenly heard Dalton’s voice hitch and whine as sniffles rose from the back of his throat.

“Dieter… Don’t leave me…”

Lyle blinked and shook his head. He didn’t know what Dalton’s life story was, just that he was making a fool of himself right about now and they’d do well to make themselves scarce while Eiche and Darts were busy in their argument. He hurried over, and pulled Dalton, still sniffling up from his place and onto his feet, looking into the Heliolisk’s glassy eyes.

“Let’s just get to our room and crash before we get kicked out,” the Quilava sighed. “We can start fresh tomorrow once everyone’s sober.”

Lyle motioned to Irune as they helped their companions along, dutifully ignoring the few other patrons as they lurched out of the tavern, through the hostel’s lobby, and up the steps for their room. and what they hoped would be a sound enough night of rest to get by the next morning.

Since gods, they were going to need it.