CRASH!

“GOOD MORNING!”

A synchronized _{“Uuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhh…”} escapes from the two as their door is kicked open once again. Truly a wonder that it hasn’t swung off its hinges by this point.

“IT’S MORNING! WAKE UP! TIME TO GET UP, BUCKAROOS!”

Stomp, stomp, louder stomp, slightly quieter stomp in the distance.

_{“Good morning, Lexxi.”}

_{“Morning, Rickety.”}

---

“Ahem!~” Chatot clears his throat as the crowd gathers up for their morning routine, a big smile curled up on his beak. “Everyone, I have another important announcement to make today! It’s been brought to our attention recently that we could use perhaps just a bit more expertise on our upcoming expedition, so we’ll be allying up with another team!~”

Now that definitely caught the crowd’s attention. A few of the guild members begin to talk amongst themselves about the matter.

“Allies? What kind of team do you suppose they’ll be?”

“Maybe they’ll be a local group, yup yup! Or maybe another team from a different region!”

Chatot ruffles up his feathers and puffs his chest out just a little bit. “Settle down, I know you’re all excited to meet our partners, but let’s go ahead and let them introduce themselves.” His head glances towards the ladder. “Alright, come on in!”

Right down from the entrance to the first floor, a plume of gas comes fwooshing inside. The stench is unfathomably bad, and it sends the whole guild into a coughing, gagging frenzy, though Chatot is very visibly scrunching his beak up, clearly trying to fight through it. The guildmaster is as still as a statue, but that’s fairly normal for him, of course.

Lexxi and Rickety both cover up their muzzles, scrunching their eyes shut from the sheer, overwhelming power of the stench. There’s something they quickly realize about this stench, though.

They recognize it.

As they manage to peek their eyes open, they stare, dumbfounded, as they watch a Skuntank, Koffing and a Zubat all make their way down the ladder, taking their place as they stand next to Wigglytuff and Chatot.

“These will be our partners for the expedition!~” Chatot chirps, though he’s trying to fight back the urge to cough. That stench is repugnant, even he’s having a hard time standing it. “Please, introduce yourselves!~”

The Zubat is the first to speak up, his wings flapping as he presents himself to the crowd, who’s still trying to recover from the stench. “The name’s Zubat! Pleasure to meetcha!”

“Koffing here, wonderful seeing all of you too, ho-ho!” His laughter bellows, gas exuding from his pores, but it’s nothing in comparison to the stink cloud.

“And I’m Team Skull’s leader, Skuntank, though you can all call me Chief. Remember that.” His eyes turn to Rickety and Lexxi, his gaze narrowing as a smirk curls up on his muzzle. “The two of yous, especially. Chaw-haw.~”

Rickety and Lexxi don’t say a word, but firmly and fiercely glare at the group. Of all the things- Of all the teams Wigglytuff could’ve picked, he went with them?!

Chatot blinks, his gaze flitting between Team Void and Team Skull. “Ah, the two of you are already acquainted with each other?” He asks, suppressing a gag reflex from being so close to the Skuntank.

“Oh, intimately.” Chief replies, gaze narrowing towards the two of them. “Very intimately.” Rickety and Lexxi just hold their tongues, for now.

Chatot glances back and forth at them confusedly, not quite sure exactly what it entails, but he probably shouldn’t question it. “Well, that, er, simplifies things, I suppose. But, anyways!” He gestures a wing out in Team Skull’s direction. “These three will be joining us on our expedition to lend their assistance! The guildmaster has decided that having them with us will us stronger during the trip! It’d complicate things if we started working together right away, so they’ll be staying with us during the days leading up to the expedition!~”

“Are you serious?!” Rickety finally breaks his silence, almost stepping forward, but manages to at least restrain himself as Lexxi looks up at him worryingly.

“Huh?” Chatot’s eyes flick back to Team Void, arching an eyebrow. “Something the matter?”

“Chatot, sir,” Chief leans a bit closer to the bird. “Don’t worry ’bout him. That one’s always overreacting to every little thing.”

This only adds to Chatot’s confusion, his expression becoming even more complexed. He couldn’t help but feel a strange, uncomfortable tension growing in the pit of his stomach, baffled by the seemingly underlying hostility they seem to have for each other. Still… This is something he’d rather not dip his feathers in. Much too messy. “If you say so…” He mutters.

Chatot ruffles his wings before speaking back up. “Though they’ll only be with us for a short while, I’d like to ask that we treat our guests with hospitality while they’re here. Now then,” He claps his wings together. “With all that out of the way, let’s all get back to work as usual, shall we?~”

The members of the guild all let out a very low energy, unenthusiastic “Hooray.”

Chatot’s eyes sweep across the room, tilting his head. “What’s wrong? How come you’re all so sour this morning? Where’s your usual spirit?”

Loudred, of course, is the first to speak up. Loudly. “You’re KIDDING me! Don’t you think something stinks about this?! And not in the obvious way?!”

“With all due respect, guildmaster and Mr. Chatot, sir,” Xero follows up, leaning forward a bit. “Are you sure these three are best choice? They all seem rather… Brutish, if you ask me.”

Zubat scoffs, chuckling. “Sometimes it’s about brawns over brains, little missy! A bit of power can do ya-“

The whole guild suddenly starts shaking and quaking.

Wigglytuff, while still remaining as still as a statue, seems to be the source of all this, as he speaks up for the first time during this whole meeting. Well, sort of. “Yooooooooooooooooooom…”

“Ahh!” Chatot’s eyes widen as he begins flapping his wings in a panic, quickly skittering back and forth. “Th-The guildmaster’s rage is building! W-We can’t let something so cataclysmic happen!” He quickly turns to face the guild, still frantically flapping and squawking. “Q-Quick! Everyone! Be cheerful! Even if it hurts, before it’s too late!”

“YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM…”

Everyone, with no other option, to prevent this devastating, apocalyptic event, all let out a forced, cheerful sounding “HOORAY!”

The tremors and quakes come to an abrupt halt and the guildmaster’s smile grows just a bit wider before he walks back into his chambers. Chatot lets out a sigh of relief, wiping off a bit of sweat from his brow as the members of the guild depart to their usual duties, some of them still covering their noses as they walk past Team Skull.

Rickety and Lexxi still stare down Team Skull for a bit.

Calling this apparent staring contest off, Chief chuckles lowly to himself. “Glad to be workin’ with yous.” As he and his crew all saunter back off to the ladder, climbing back up.

Rickety’s body finally eases up a bit as he sighs, shaking his head. _{“Sheesh, I really had to restrain myself back there. I just- I can’t freaking believe this. Why them?! Couldn’t they’ve just-“}

“We’ll get through this, okay, Rickety?” Lexxi glances up at him. “We won’t let them get in the way of our chances of going on the expedition. Let’s keep doing what we do and roll with the punches.”

Rickety lets out another sigh, rubbing at his head. “Right, right, right… Hooooo, okay. C’mon, let’s just get to work. Sooner we head out and get jobs done, the better.” He gags a bit as he hoists Lexxi up onto his back, climbing up the ladder. “Mostly ’cause I can’t stand this smell. Ugh, place is gonna stink for weeks.”

As the two make it to the top of the steps, they see Team Skull all standing right by the bulletin board, their eyes following them as Rickety and Lexxi walk up. Lexxi and Rickety silently glare at them as they walk up to the board, trying not to pay them any mind.

“You’s been giving us the stinkeye this whole time.” The Zubat speaks up, a grin curled up on his lips. “Why you gotta be starin’ at us like that, huh? That ain’t no way to treat your guests.” He says this with a touch of malice, but there’s twisted pleasure laced in his voice.

Rickety furrows his eyebrows and does his best to ignore them, eyes sweeping across the board as he begins searching for missions to take on.

Lexxi, though, does at least turn to face them. Her tail is raised up in the air and it’s slightly puffed out, though she keeps her distance as she stares them down. “This isn’t about ‘just helping the guild out during the expedition,’ is it?”

“What is?” The Koffing chuckles. “We’re only offering our assistance because this guild so clearly needs it, obviously. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

“Just saying.” Lexxi’s eyes narrow at them. “It’s a rather strange coincidence you three offer to ‘help’ the guild just a few days after we last met you.”

Chief scoffs, smirking at Lexxi as his big skunk tail flicks. “Well, it’s just that, ain’t it? A big coincidence. Just like Chatot said, we’re allies. Which means we’s gonna be workin’ together.” His smirk grows as he takes a closer step towards Lexxi, her tail instinctively puffing up more. “And we’s gonna be the bestest of friends. Ain’t we?”

The quick sound of paper being ripped can be heard from the bulletin board as Rickety stashes a few posters into the backpack. “Found some jobs for us to do.” He says fervently. “Let’s go. Don’t wanna waste time.”

“Right.” Lexxi steps away from Chief and hops onto Rickety’s back, the no longer acknowledging Team Skull as they leave.

---

The rest of the day seemingly goes by without a hitch, although there’s definitely a tension in the air, especially during dinner. Apart from the dining room being a bit smellier than usual, of course.

The sun has set, the moon has risen into the sky, and everyone else in the guild seems to be asleep now.

Everyone except for a few troublemakers, of course.

“Sheesh, they call that a dinner?” The Zubat says as he flaps around with his fellow crew, making sure to keep quiet as they sneak their way into the dining room. “I’m still starvin’! That was practically nothin’!”

“They probably think they’re eating like royals with that kind of food. Still not enough, nowhere near enough.”

“Should be right through here…” Chief wiggles his way through the door, trying to keep it from creaking too loud. “Went pokin’ around while nobody was lookin’, they gotsa huge stash of food in here.”

“Ooohooooooh, we treating ourselves tonight?”

“But of course, I’m sure the fellas won’t mind us indulgin’ a bit. They are supplyin’ us for the trip, after all. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with takin’ a little extra.” Chief muffles out a grunt as he worms his way into the closet. Some ruffling can be heard as a a plethora of food comes tumbling out. Berries, apples, all other things alike. All for the taking.

“Jackpot, boys!”