Chapter Two

I slowly and reluctantly opened my eyes as the bright golden sunlight spilled in through the window. With a squeaky groan, I squeezed my eyes shut and stretched my paws out in front of me, extending my limbs and toes out as far as I could. My body ached badly.

I kept resting my eyes as the events from the prior evening flooded back to me. The nectar, the combees, Lune and Parsley, all of it…

…

At last, the three of us (well, four after Casey joined us) got back to the guild, and it was well past dinnertime. Lune was still carrying me in their ribbons, but at this point, I was too exhausted to feel embarrassed by it. Parsley took my things from me and went off with Casey to find something for us to eat. Meanwhile, Lune took me to the infirmary and slowly and carefully undid the leaf bandages covering the major slashes and cuts all over me. They worked quickly and handily, cleaning up the scrapes and smearing some herbal remedy over them. I winced, but otherwise stayed still.

“Sorry if that stings a bit, Chlo.”

I flashed them a smirk to show I was fine. The worst of the injuries—the damage that fall did to my forepaw—was the last one Lune addressed. They inspected it a bit before they happily announced it wasn’t broken; instead, it was just sprained as I’d probably fallen on it the wrong way when I tumbled down that stupid hill. I just hummed. They grabbed a jar of some different medicine, something I hadn’t heard of before, opened the top, and liberally applied some of it around my wrist before wrapping it tight with a bandage. 

They finished the process off with a heal pulse. I felt the warm, rejuvenating energy flow through my entire body.

“Alright, sweetie, you’re all set. Just take it easy, ok?” They said as they poked playfully at my forehead.

“Mmh. Thanks, Lune,” I responded. I did my best to express my gratitude even through my fatigue.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Lune asked me as we walked through the halls of the guild. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you being all quiet.”

“Yeah. Just hungry.”

They hummed, but decided not to push the issue.

The two of us made our way back to the dining hall, completely empty except for the leafeon and vulpix who were already chowing down.

Lune scoffed. “Couldn’t even wait for us, huh?” They smirked at Parsley, who giggled and shrugged.

“We were hungryyy!” The leafeon whined with his mouth full.

“And Chloe and I aren’t?” Lune countered cheekily. “Gimme some of that!” The sylveon stuck their paw in Parsley’s plate, snatching themself a half of a tomato tart and munching it down.

“Hehe, hey!! I got you your own plate, you dork! You leave mine alone!” Parsley replied through his giggles, playfully swatting Lune’s paw away.

The cafeteria was weird, all dark and empty like this. Might’ve even creeped me out if I was here alone. Though, Lune and Parsley’s banter lightened it up well enough, and Casey’s mere presence put me at ease. I grinned weakly hearing those two’s teasing conversation as I dug into my own plate my friend had gotten for me. The snowpix and I sat on the same side of the table, opposite of Lune and Parsley. I felt the white fox’s gaze on me for a couple minutes before I turned my head and met his concerned eyes. Oh, right, I thought, I told him we’d talk later. Truthfully, I didn’t want to, and I had no intention of following that up. For now, I just gave him a smile, and we scarfed down the rest of our room temperature leftovers together.

Lune and Parsley’s conversation had faded into the background. Normally, I wouldn’t mind joining in, maybe even teaming up against Lune to knock them down a peg—that was always entertaining. But my battery was pretty much dead now, and I just wanted to sleep for days. The noise was starting to give me a headache, so I stood up and mumbled a goodnight to everyone before slinking off to my room. Well, me and Casey’s room, that is.

“Oh, goodnight!” “Night, Chlo~” I heard the two mates say. Somehow, I could feel Casey’s gaze linger on me still, even with my back to him.

I heard the door open behind me as I prepared my bed for the night. I knew who it was without even looking.

“I know something’s on your mind.” I heard my friend say. “Do you wanna talk?” He approached me and sat on his haunches to demonstrate his willingness to sit and listen.

“Uhm… Nah, I’m just tired.” Not a complete lie, but he knew me well enough to know that wasn’t the whole truth. I grabbed one of the soft, neatly folded blankets and tossed it down on my bed, preparing to make a cozy little nest for myself.

I looked to my side to assess my friend’s expression, and was met with disappointed eyes. He wasn’t convinced.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” I heard a small whimper come from his direction. My ears folded down at that, but he spoke up again before I could say anything else.

“You’ve just been so closed off. It feels like you used to be more open about…stuff like this.” I looked at him with curious eyes. “Is it because of Yu—”

“No.” I cut him off. A bit rudely, I realized. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to sound so mean. Sorry. I’m just…really tired, I promise. That’s all.” I could practically feel the snowpix’s nervous energy filling up the room. He kept his careful eyes on me for a little bit longer before he realized it was probably futile to try to make me talk. He sighed.

“Ok. I trust you,” he spoke up finally.

“I’m sorry I’ve been distant lately. Really, I don’t…mean to be,” I added upon feeling his sense of defeat. I nudged him gently. “Hey, wanna do something fun tomorrow? Just you and me?”

He smiled softly and nodded as he lifted his tails in excitement.

“It’s a plan then.”

…

“Hnngh…” What if I just stayed like this forever? I pondered as I nuzzled further into my hay bed. I really felt like I could’ve, but my body apparently had other plans. My stomach growled. 

More? C’mon, I fed you plenty last night! I scolded my belly for being so greedy, and I tried rearranging myself to go back to sleep. Maybe a different position will do it for me? I flopped on my side and folded my ears over my eyes to block out the sun. Didn’t particularly help. I flipped onto my other side and covered my face with my paws. Somehow even less comfy. I curled into a ball, resting my muzzle in my tail. Nope. I squirmed a little more as I realized that, alas, the smell of breakfast was too much for me and my dumb stomach to resist. Plus, I was way too awake at this point to fall back asleep.

“Grrr, fine!” I pushed myself up carefully and stretched out my back in a downward pose. Finally, I opened my eyes, heavy as they were, and took a look around. I was alone in my guild quarters; the other small hay bed had been left vacant and messy. On Casey’s side of the room, books and pages filled with scratchy handwriting were strewn around haplessly. I walked over to the shared mirror and dresser in the room, and grabbed my brush to begin taming my unruly bedfur and picking out the remaining twigs and mud from the previous day’s adventure. A sizable crack ran along the mirror’s diagonal, but thankfully it wasn’t enough to obstruct one’s reflection. I kind of wished it did though, because I definitely looked worse than I thought.

Certain bits took a little more coaxing to remove all the tangles and knots. Once I got to my bushy tail, I gave up entirely on the brush and instead broke out the claws, since it was especially thick and messy. I might’ve lost a couple clumps of fur in the process, but after a few minutes, I was satisfied enough with my appearance. Not like I’m trying to impress anyone today, I figured. Finally, I carefully removed the several bandages on my body, smiling as I saw they had all healed for the most part. Thank Arceus for those two guild medics.

Before stepping out of my little cave, I adorned my pink scarf and, of course, my bronze guild badge. My pride and joy; I’d never go anywhere without it. Well, at least until I get promoted to silver rank, that is. On a normal day, I’d also grab my explorer’s bag before I considered myself ready to take on the day. But, as I recalled from the previous night, my bag wasn’t exactly in pristine condition.

“Huh..?” As I prepared to leave, I saw something on the door that caught my attention.

Hanging on the doorknob, I saw my explorer’s bag…in one piece. I identified it as mine, as it was marked in black ink by my paw print. I ran my paw along it, inspecting it to ensure I wasn’t imagining it. But no! Barely, I could make out lines in the fabric where it had torn and been meticulously sewn back together. It also had a new black strap to replace the old one which had snapped. Clearly someone had repaired it (and took great care in doing so), and I had an inkling as to who it was.

There was also a note pinned to the door, hastily written with claw and ink.

“Fixed up your bag. Waffle day in the food hall, couldn’t wait up.

–C”

I carefully ripped the parchment off the door and grinned, a warmth building up in my chest. So I was right. Leave it to Cassiopeia the Snowpix to do something like that for someone. He must’ve gotten up quite early too. Or maybe he stayed up late? I never knew with him. His stargazing hobby meant he had some pretty odd sleeping habits.

I made a mental note to do something special for him in return. Maybe I’d stop by the bakery downtown and get him some of those aspear berry tarts he loves so much? I slipped the bag around my body and tightened the strap, until it was snug against me. 

This is just the wake up I needed, I thought as I giggled and stepped out into the hallway of the guild quarters. Fixed bag, healed wounds; it was as if yesterday didn’t even happen! Nice try, world! You had me for a second there, but Chloe’s back on top!

I closed the door carefully behind me, ensuring I didn’t wake any guild members who might still be snoozing. I started in the direction of the cafeteria, but was stopped in my tracks by a soft voice from behind me.

“G’morning, Chloe.” I let out a squeak, slightly startled. “Ah, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. Before you head out, do you mind if we talk a little?” I turned, with slight dread, to see a shiny ninetales looking down at me, her head tilted slightly as she awaited my response.

“Uhm… Sure, Guildmaster Hazel..!”

---

The minccino’s eyes snapped open as she heard the morning songs of various bird Pokémon. Her heart hammered away in her chest as she readjusted to her surroundings: a dark, damp cave in a mystery dungeon. Right.

She held her paws up to shield her eyes from the warm sunlight pouring in from the cave entrance. The glow was especially inviting to the minccino whose fur was drenched. How she slept in that state, she had no idea, but it was best to get moving while she had sunlight to work with. The only thing worse than being alone in a mystery dungeon during the day is being alone in a mystery dungeon at night. 

Well, unless you’re a dark type, I guess, the mouse Pokémon thought as she gathered her bag and rung out her cape. Absently, she considered which evolution her eevee friend would evolve into. Personally, the minccino always thought umbreon would suit her; it looks so cool, after all! The eevee never seemed to put much thought towards her evolution, though. As the minccino remembered, she usually took an impassive attitude towards the whole subject. ‘I dunno, they’re all pretty cool. I’d be happy with any of ‘em, as long as it makes me stronger.’ 

Yeah, typical Chloe, the mouse thought. She always believed the eevee should put more consideration into it. Explore it more, maybe. But, it wasn’t her life, and probably none of her business. Evolution was always a very personal thing for eevees, after all.

“Eep–!” The minccino nearly tripped over a rock jutting out across the cave entrance, but regained her balance after a couple hops. “Dumb rock,” she chided as she stomped along.

Wait. A troubling thought entered her mind. What if she’s already evolved?! The minccino hadn’t even considered the possibility, but it made sense. It had been…many moons since the last time she’d seen her friends. She had to have missed a lot, right? She swished her tail anxiously as she walked through the dungeon, now lost in thought.

The minccino’s mind had wandered far away from this dungeon. She maintained a good walking pace, though, making good use of the daylight. The mouse wondered about lots of things. Things she’d worried about a lot over the past couple years, that kept her up at night with feelings of uncertainty and ambiguity. What were her friends up to? Were they happy? Were they…mad at her? She always managed to push these thoughts to the back of her mind, out of necessity if nothing else; she didn’t have answers to these questions, and she wouldn’t for a long time. But now she was on her way back to Cloverstead, to the place she actually considered home and the people she considered family, and she wasn’t even completely sure they’d…take her…back. The minccino’s ears flattened.

Her attention was immediately pulled back to reality as a wild combee suddenly appeared next to her, looking at her briefly before continuing with its work pollinating. The minccino stopped in her tracks, watching as a couple more combees followed. They regarded her for a moment, as if they were studying her, sensing her intentions, and determining if she was a threat. Then, they ignored her just as the first one had, and went back to work on a small bed of blue flowers.

The minccino sat down and watched them, suddenly mesmerized.

The dungeon was… beautiful. Warm and cozy, and…safe? She sat down, staring at the bed of wild flowers she couldn’t identify, at the combees hard at work, at the piercing blue sky above her. She felt closer to the dungeon, in a way. Connected to it. She felt like she could just stay here forever. A little break couldn’t hurt…right?

…

“AGH, NO!” She exclaimed suddenly, as she shook her ears and smacked herself in the forehead to snap back to reality. This outburst alerted the combees, and they fled. “Ah, s-sorry!” She called after them.

The minccino had been in this dungeon for far too long. Longer than she’d ever been in one before. Pokémon could develop a sort of tolerance to dungeon dissociation through a lot of exposure, but the mouse certainly didn’t have that. This was maybe the fifth time she’d ever even set foot in one. She needed to get out as soon as she could, or she’d be stuck here for…ever?

The mouse was now moving with even more purpose than before, far quicker than last night when the sun was setting and the storm was rolling in. Panic was setting in, but she did her best to focus on the task ahead of her: escape the mystery dungeon. No more daydreaming and reflecting, and no more examining her surroundings. She just had to find that stupid exit. She kept tunnel vision on the tree root laden dirt path ahead of her. Perhaps too much tunnel vision, as suddenly her toe snagged on a root that arched out of the dirt, and she face-planted.

“OW! Ow ow ouch!” She swore as she rubbed her nose with her paw, which returned bloody. Great. Wasn’t enough that I was confused before. Now I’m concussed. 

She held her paws to her nose and remained laying belly-down on the dirt floor of the dungeon. Adrenaline from the fall coursed through her veins, but she just felt frozen. Scared. Helpless.

What do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do…

That thought ran through her mind repeatedly, monotonously, and without answer. Her brain felt like it was swimming. All she could do was just lay down. 

…

The dungeon floor didn’t feel that bad, anyway.

---

“Do you wanna tell me what happened to you yesterday?” The ninetales asked in a tone I couldn’t quite place. She gazed down on me from behind her desk. She’d led me back to the Guildmaster’s office, which was one clue that this was some official guild business and not just a casual talk. I didn’t like this view. It usually meant I was in trouble. 

My ears flattened and I felt hot in my face. I guess someone ratted me out.

“…Seems like you already know,” I responded cautiously. I couldn’t keep eye contact with her, so I opted to look at the ground and play with my claws. “So, which one told you?” Parsley. I know it was Parsley. Such a Guildmaster’s pet, I thought with a huff.

“Chloe, Lune and Parsley are medics; they have to file a report for every guild-related injury they treat. It’s mandatory. Far more people could have gotten in deep trouble if they didn’t.” 

A defiant trill escaped my mouth. I could tell where this was going. I didn’t like it. I wanted to go back to bed, back to sleep where I wouldn’t have to deal with all this. I wanted to stay in my room, maybe forever. I felt like my mind went into autopilot as I forced some words out. The sooner I talk, the sooner this will be over, I thought.

“I…I ran off. Lost Lune and Parsley. I thought I could handle the dungeon by myself… I couldn’t,” I replied coldly. I felt a phantom pain in my forepaw again from where I fell.

“And why’d you run off?”

She already knew. She just wanted me to admit it. I gave a small tsh, but she was unmoved. I looked up, and we made eye contact for the first time since I’d set foot in this office this morning. My facial expression must have darkened involuntarily, because Hazel was doing that thing she does whenever I start stonewalling: she gives me these concerned, warm eyes that somehow say that she cares about me, but also that she knows me and expects better from me. And Arceus, is it effective, because I can never keep my walls up for long when she does that. Even now, as I’m staring at the floor of the guild’s front office, I can feel that look, as if it radiates some kind of disarming energy.

I held out, staying silent for as long as I could and almost boring a hole into the ground with my eyes. I didn’t want to tell her anything. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t even want to talk to Casey about it, why would I want to talk to her?

…

“I…just didn’t want anyone to know…” I said in almost a whisper. Hazel kept watching me with sympathetic eyes and cocked her head slightly.

“Know what?” She prodded.

“That I mucked up another mission.” My voice cracked on that last word, but I tried to cover it up with a laugh. I don’t think Hazel bought it. “That I got hurt. Had to get saved again. This is why everyone thinks I’m a liability.” My voice faltered. I felt my eyes watering up, and a lump had formed in my throat. 

Oh no.

I smiled and attempted a laugh, trying anything to cover up the fact that I was crying. How embarrassing.

“What’s wrong with me..?” I asked, before letting out a hiccup. 

I am officially the most pathetic thing ever.

“Chloe…” She held out a paw, but I ignored it. I felt like bolting from the room at any moment.

“No. Tell me.” The tears were coming too quickly for me to wipe them away. “Tell me why I can’t do anything useful or help anyone. What is wrong with me?!”

“Chloe, listen to me.” I shut up. She wrapped me in one of her tails as a comforting gesture, which elicited a sigh from me. It felt like a warm weighted blanket. “There’s nothing wrong with you. Nothing. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s the truth. So deal with it.” She brought her paw near my face and wiped a stray tear from my cheek. We sat in silence for a couple moments before she continued. “Chloe, you worry so much about being ‘useful.’ You value the mission over yourself, and it…it worries me. It worries all of us, honestly.” I felt a pit in my stomach. Guilt, I supposed.

“Oh…” I just nodded along.

A beat of silence passed over us before she continued.

“The world is a beautiful place. It’s also very big, and so much more complex than any one Pokémon could hope to understand. I want you to see it all, and I want you to fall in love with it… But more importantly, I want you to discover yourself. You’re still so young. You’ve barely scratched the surface of it all. Chloe, you don’t exist to be of use to others; you exist to live your own life and find happiness and experience things…” I swallowed and kept looking into her eyes. “We love you, Chloe. You don’t have to be some great fighter or expert healer to be deserving of that. We just want you to be happy. Remember that, ok?”

“Ok,” I replied curtly. I sat awkwardly for a few seconds. “I never felt this way when she was around, y’know.” Hazel looked at me knowingly. Even without saying the name, she knew who I was referring to. “She always just…made stuff better, I guess,” I said darkly. Hazel sat patiently, waiting for me to continue. But I didn’t. I’d said too much already.

…

Hazel sighed. “That wound will be healed one day. I promise you that.”

I had some trouble believing that, but that was a whole can of worms I wasn’t about to open. This was already a deep conversation, and I didn’t want to turn this into a therapy session. So instead, I just lowered my tail and nodded. I wiped my eyes and cheeks clean, trying to erase any evidence of this conversation.

“So, what now?” I asked. “Am I in trouble?”

“Hah. No, Chloe, you’re not in trouble.” I looked up in surprise.

“R-really..?” I asked, slightly skeptical.

“Really. If I had to punish someone every time a job went south, there’d be no one left to make this place run.” She nudged me teasingly, evoking a giggle. “Just…please don’t do that again. We’re all teammates around here. When you’re in a dangerous spot, stay with your team. Heard?”

“Heard, Guildmaster,” I affirmed with a nod. At that, she pulled me into a warm hug, and I felt the last of the tension leave my body. I’d never admit it, but this made me feel better. Even if it just allowed me to vent. My stomach grumbled, as if my body just remembered it was hungry. I looked away with a bashful expression as Guildmaster Hazel snickered.

“Now go get some breakfast, Chloe! Sounds like you need it,” she said with a smirk.

“On it!” I didn’t waste a second getting out of there and heading to my initial destination: the food hall.

“Oh, one more thing!” I heard the Guildmaster say. I skidded on my haunches to turn and look back at her. She tossed me a small woven bag, which I barely caught with my paws. It jingled as my claws fumbled with it. “Your share of the reward for yesterday. You definitely earned it.” She winked at me.

I gave a toothy grin and saluted. “Aye aye!” I ran out of the office, leaving the door open behind me. “Thanks so much, Hazel!” I threw in as I raced to the cafeteria. I thought I heard an amused laugh behind me, but I didn’t stop to process it.

I rounded the corner and burst into the food hall, the scent of fresh waffles putting a spring in my step. I looked around, identifying an array of familiar faces: Pokémon I’d worked and lived with for years now. I barely even caught a glance from any of them, but the ones who did notice my entry gave me a smile. I guess after living with me for long enough, they just got used to my hyperactivity. 

Usually the cafeteria would be fuller and much more lively than this, but my late start combined with my talk with the Guildmaster meant I was pretty late to the party. Most of the explorers and rescue teams must’ve already departed, and the other guild workers had begun their daily duties, I guessed.

My pupils dilated as my gaze landed on Casey, sitting in his usual corner next to the window with his nose buried in his journal. His fur was a bit disheveled, and he had his explorer goggles slung around his neck as he enjoyed his strawberry-syrup-coated waffles. He hasn’t noticed me. I snickered mischievously, and tried to make myself as unnoticeable as possible as I helped myself to a plate containing a stack of the delicious breakfast cakes. I balanced it on my head, and my long ears helped to stabilize it as I snaked around the tables, chairs, and benches which furnished the space.

I arrived at Casey’s table and set down my plate carefully and quietly. Not that I even needed to be quiet, as I knew he was essentially disconnected from the world whenever he entered that ‘journal mode’ of his. I cleared my throat with an ahem, and Casey was snapped out of his little inner world.

“YOU!” I shouted.

“M-Me?! Wah—!” 

Casey went wide-eyed and his ears flattened back as I pounced, nearly knocking the snow vulpix backwards onto the ground. Thankfully, I held him tight enough for him to keep balance.

“So, you thought you could just fix my bag for me and get away with it?” I threw my paws around him and hugged him. “Thank you thank you thank you!!”

“Ack! I-It was no big deal, really! It just needed some love! Plus, you know I enjoy a little project every now and then.” He laughed and returned the hug, patting me on the back.

“It is a big deal, and I’m taking you out for a treat,” I stated matter-of-factfully as I helped him up and brushed the dust off his fur. “Whatever you want! I can pay~” I grinned smugly as I took the bag of coins out of my scarf and flashed it at him, provoking an amazed expression.

“Wh–? How’d you get all that?” The pix exclaimed, a hint of accusation present in his voice.

I winked and flicked my tail at him, as if to say ‘I have my ways,’ before plopping down in my usual spot next to my friend and finally devouring my food. Casey slowly returned to his seat after shaking some dust and specs of dirt out of his tails. He closed his journal, capped the ink bottle, and wiped his ink-stained claw on a napkin. A few minutes went by as the two of us sat in silence. It was a comfortable sort of silence that had taken years to develop, and I felt a sense of pride in it.

I finally gulped down the last of my breakfast and took a satisfying sip of Casey’s cup of pinap juice before turning to him. “So! Wanna head into town? I was thinking we could hit up Kecleon’s and see if they’ve gotten anything new. It’s been a couple weeks, after all. Ooh, and we gotta go to the bakery! You’re gonna pick out something delicious for yourself and I’m gonna pay, got it?” I poked him gently on the cheek to emphasize that last part.

“Hehe, ok, ok! I hear you! Just let me go get my bag and we can head out,” the fox replied softly, gathering his journal and jar of ink.

I nodded and smiled brightly, my tail swishing back and forth excitedly. It had been a while since Casey and I had a nice, fun outing together, just the two of us.

And such a pretty day, too, I thought cheerfully as I looked out the window. I could hear bird Pokémon singing outside, and from what I could see, there were only a couple fluffy, stray clouds peppering the sky.

This is gonna be a good day.

---

The ground quaked. It started weakly at first, but it intensified significantly in a matter of seconds.

“Mnngh… wha..?” 

The dungeon was shifting, causing the minccino to pick up her head. Her eyes narrowed in bewilderment. It was a surreal sight, seeing the trees moving and warping via some invisible force, as if the space around her was being picked up and moved through a higher dimension. All the roots, rocks, and dirt morphed and changed right before her eyes. It was dizzying, and she barely felt like it was real. Heck, it may not have been. She squeezed her eyes shut and sunk her claws into the dirt to keep steady until she felt the shaking stop.

Slowly, shakily, she pulled herself up to her knees and pulled her hood off of her head to better examine how the labyrinth had twisted itself on her. It looked essentially the same. Thick trees, an ill-defined dirt path, rocks, roots, pretty much all the stuff she’d come to expect from this dungeon, just arranged differently. But something in her periphery caught her eye. A faint glow. She whipped her head around with dread, expecting a wild Pokémon ready to pounce. What she saw instead was perhaps the first break she’d caught since stepping foot in this place.

It was an emergency guild communicator.

“Yes yes YES!” The mouse bounded over on all fours towards the machine. It was built like a tower, drilled into the ground by some very strong Pokémon, evidently. A gurdurr or machoke, no doubt. Weeds, vines, and moss grew all along it, blending it in somewhat with the environment. She might’ve even missed it entirely if not for the flashing light at the top.

The minccino had seen these before. At least, enough to know what it was upon first glance. It was one of the first things the guild taught its aspiring explorers and rescuers about before they ever even entered a dungeon. Guilds all over the land would set these up around mystery dungeons in case someone got lost and needed a way to call for help.

She inspected it closer, finding a single faded red button as well as a sign, most likely with instructions to use the machine. Only one problem…she couldn’t seem to read the sign. Not very well, at least. All her brain could comprehend was squiggles, lines and the occasional dot. Her inability to make them out or decipher their meaning unsettled her.

What the…  She ran a paw across the surface of the sign as if that would help. Could it be some foreign language? …How far out am I? Her mind raced as she attempted to convert the squiggles and runes into a single coherent thought. No, not a foreign language. She knew these symbols. Of course she recognized them, she used them every day of her life. Why did they look so strange? Why couldn’t she make sense of them? 

Well…look, how hard can it be? There’s a button and what looks like some kind of speaker or receiver? Simple enough.

The minccino hopped up and tapped the button. A sound emitted from the speaker, a piercing dinging sound akin to a bell.

“Um… Hello?” She almost startled herself with her own voice. It felt detached from her, like it wasn’t her own. Had it really been that long since she’d heard another voice? Nevertheless, she pressed on. “Hello?? Please, I need help!” She waited for a response for a few seconds. Or was it a minute? Nothing felt right anymore. She tapped the button again, and called out after hearing the ding. “Please, someone! Help me, I’m stuck here!”

Oh c’mon! Don’t tell me this stupid thing is broken or someth—

Her thought was cut off by the harsh sound of loud static coming from the speaker, followed by a voice. “—hear you, stay cal—…sending a team n—…” The static overtook the voice, and the speaker cut off again.

“H-Hello?? I–um–didn’t quite get that! Can you hear me?” The minccino felt a spark of hope in her chest.

“—and clear. Just stay wher—ou are, ok?” Static, then silence. The mouse Pokémon would be cursing this stupid broken machine if not for the elation she felt right now.

“O-Ok! I understand!” She pushed the button again. This time, though, no ding followed. Nothing did. “Hello? W-whoever you are? Could you–um–stay with me? Just until they get here?” No one answered. The minccino pressed the button one more time, to make sure. Only silence followed.

“…Drat.”