Chapter 7 – Piggyback

Kai blinks his eyes open with a gasp, laid on his side. He…

He can hear himself think. That’s a good sign.

His ears also choose that moment to start ringing like mad, which is arguably-

‘No, my ears ringing is not worse. Definitely not.’

The ringing fades away before whatever headache that might’ve been fighting to form could ever get the chance, much to his relief.

He pushes himself up into a sitting position, laying the bag to his side. The terrain he’s on now is… far grassier than the previous floor he was in. ‘Am I still in the dungeon…?’

A small bush to his right shudders. His ear perks up and he rears himself back a little, unconsciously putting the bag between himself and whatever or whoever it is.

The shaking slowly increases in volume until, finally, Mudkip’s head emerges from the foliage, followed by the rest of his body. Clearly not expecting Kai to be there, he jumps a little, falling back against the bush, before turning his attention to the bag.

‘Can’t really say I know what a dungeon actually is, so it’s hard to say.’

A simple, soft-spoken question forces itself out of the mudkip’s mouth. “Why’d you… take so long to leave the dungeon?”

“W-we aren’t in the dungeon anymore?” The quilava brightens.

“It- it was only one floor.”

“O-oh. That’s… probably for the best.”

Mudkip nods slowly, before turning around and walking back the way he came, before jumping in surprise at… nothing Kai sees. Might not have been out of surprise.

“Y-yeah.”

He looks down, letting the uncomfortable silence settle for a moment before his voice sounds out once again, “We found a-… the dungeon kicked us out near one of the rest stops. Just…”

He mumbles his final words far quieter than what Kai was capable of picking up before walking back through where he’d come from. The Quilava picks up both himself and the bag, quickly following after.

He has a much rougher time navigating through the bush than the mudkip, but he manages nonetheless. It doesn’t take him longer than a minute or two to make it to the rest stop the mudkip mentioned.

In general it’s a tad different – stuff isn’t where it was at the last place, and there’re less marks in the dirt below their paws, but that’s understandable. From his understanding, they’re even further out in the middle of nowhere than before, and it’s not like there was a lot of work put into these stops.

He thinks.

‘…Considering how supposedly common these are, I doubt they took more than like half an hour to build. Dunno how they were made exactly, but whatever.’

Mudkip walks to the furthest log setup, and Kai sits across from him, setting the bag down, taking a deep breath, and closing his eyes.

“I… don’t know why I didn’t jump immediately.”

Mudkip assumedly looks at him. “What?”

“I don’t-… the question you asked earlier. …Sorry, uhm…”

“Oh.”

Kai opens his eyes again, waiting for Mudkip to say something more.

When he doesn’t, Kai voices a question of his own.

“Why did you jump down without hesitating?”

Mudkip stares at him neutrally. “I just assumed it was the way to the next dungeon floor. Or… the exit.”

“…”

“…”

“…Have you… been in any other dungeons before? Outside of the… last two days, I mean.”

The mudkip leans himself back a little, hesitant to respond and avoiding eye contact.

“…Y-… No…? May… be. …Before I lost my memories, I might’ve…?”

Kai turns away, attention dragging over to some miscellaneous noise coming from the trees before turning halfway back.

“What stuff… do you remember, anyways? Figure I can ask.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Mudkip stares at the bag, biting his lip.

“Bits and pieces. …Memories come and go. …I dunno.”

Kai let’s out a breath, and the mudkip flinches.

The Quilava debates with himself on whether or not to continue the conversation.

“That’s… interesting. I only remember… a few things. My name, species, and… words, I guess. I don’t think anybody here knows what a human even is, including myself, but that’s what I-“

The quilava cuts himself off as two things happen. He hears the rustling of someone approaching them from the bushes to the side – probably Zoo, but he isn’t quite sure yet. The second thing steals his attention pretty effectively though. Nearly immediately after what he’d said, the mudkip seemed to have… pretty much locked up completely, frozen in place.

Frozen as in, like, having a panic attack. He thinks…? Eyes scrunched closed, shivering, paws dug in the ground, and hyperventilating. And Kai… doesn’t know what to do.

He turns to see that the noises from the bushes were indeed coming from the Azumarill, and he can’t help but be relieved. She comes into view slowly at first, but speeds up when she notices Kai’s and Mudkip’s expressions, stampeding her way through the remaining shrubs.

“Did- did something happen?? Is he-…”

She looks between Kai and Mudkip for a moment, before focusing on the Quilava first.

“Did you- what were you talking about with Mudkip?”

Kai backs up a little, but narrows an eye. “Has this… happened before?” He looks at Mudkip.

Zoo nods, looking at the mudkip herself. He doesn’t move an inch. “…Yeah. Happened a few times after we first found him. Sometimes he’d get memory ‘flashes’ that more or less freeze him in place for a while. I’ve asked him what they’re about, but he hasn’t really wanted to tell.”

“…Oh. Um. We were talking about… what we remembered…? Kinda? I mentioned that I was a human…? I think that’s what he reacted to… A-and he just kinda locked up from there.”

“…Ah, that’s… a bit weird. …Well.”

She lets herself look around the clearing for a bit, now far less concerned than she was before, before turning her attention fully back to Kai.

“Sorry for temporarily leaving the two of you, but I figured you guys would be alright while I looked to see where we are. And, I don’t really know if this is a good or bad thing, but the dungeon dropped us at a place far closer to the R&D guild than where we were. I think… well…”

She flicks her glance to Mudkip once again for a moment with a frown, “Mudkip’s ‘episodes’ have lasted… quiiite a while in the past, and I’m not entirely sure how long it’ll last now. I think with his last one it only lasted an hour or two, but it’s lasted up to twenty-four hours before, sooo. We’ve got… three choices here…? Two and a half.”

She reaches for the bag Kai’s holding. He gives it to her with a tad bit of hesitation, and she gives a quiet thanks.

“First option, we can simply wait ‘til Mudkip wakes up. As I said, that might take a while. We shouldn’t run out of food, though there really wouldn’t be much for us to do in the meantime.”

She takes an apple out of the bag for herself.

“Second option is that we head out regardless of Mudkip’s state. In that case, though, one of us would be carrying the bag, and one of us would carry Mudkip. Neither task would really be that hard for either of us, though considering the dungeon we went through, it’s understandable if ya don’t like that option. If we went that route, it’d probably be better if you were the one to take Mudkip while I take the bag. You’d probably be able to carry him more comfortably than I ever could, considering you can walk comfortably on all fours.”

She smiles, tossing the apple up, catching it with her other paw, and taking a bite. “Also, you two don’t really seem that close, and maybe it could be something of a little bonding exercise? Even if Mudkip’s unconscious throughout the whole ordeal, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s subconsciously aware of what’s happening. And, hey – even if you’re still not really that interested in joining the guilds, it’s probably still a nice idea to bond with someone else who’s in an at least somewhat similar situation to you.”

She takes another bite.

“Anyway. Yeah. That’s option two. There’s a point five ‘cuz technically, if we manage to travel for the entire day, we can make it to the guild by nightfall, if I’m getting my traveling distances correct. So we could either make that full hike, we could take a few stops and get there lateish, or we could stop early. Or, like, halfway through.”

She picks at the core in her paws before throwing it in the bushes. “I’m fine with whatever we do, though, honestly? If you aren’t too tired, I’d go with the second option. How far we go with that is entirely up to you, though. If you choose it.”

The quilava stares at where she’d thrown her apple core, thinking. “What is… what’s the plan once we actually get to the… the guild? Are Mudkip and I going to just join immediately, or-“

Her eyes widen the slightest bit in surprise, “-Oh, no! No no, not if you don’t want to. It’s a similar case to what you’re at with my guild – you can pretty much just chill for as long as you want. Well, kinda…? Most that’d result from that is a few of the guildies there possibly getting a bit antsy. If you want you can wait all the way up until Myzi and Sumac get here as well, though it’d probably be better if you do join sooner than later to appease those antsy ones. By all means though, don’t feel rushed into it.”

“…”

Kai stomps his back legs, testing them while looking back at Mudkip blankly.

“What… is there to do at the guild? I never really saw what you guys do to not be bored there. …”

Zoo just shrugs. “Not something I’d really be able to answer, honestly. You’d have to ask Myzi or Mudkip, unless you are planning on joining right away. Most I’d be able to tell you is that it’s got a bigger library than my guild ‘cuz they’re actually focused on researching that type of stuff. Maybe ask a few of the guild members there too if ya want, but I dunno.”

“…Oh.”

His legs don’t ache badly, but he can still feel that slight burn of adrenaline running through them.

“How big is the library?”

“Don’t know. I do know that it has far more books than ours, but that’s about it.”

“…”

He tests his front limbs as well. They have a similar adrenaline burn. Doesn’t feel bad at all, to his satisfaction.

“I guess… the second option’s fine, then…? I don’t… really care too much if we take stops or not, I guess. Deciding as we go sounds fine.”

“Nice! Alright, you still good with carrying Mudkip?”

He cringes, but nods.

“Cool. Want me to lift ‘em up onto your back, or do you think you can do it yourself?”

“I can–… probably…” he strains, hesitating.

He looks between his arms and Mudkip long enough for Zoo to make that choice for him.

“Aaalright, I’ll put him on your back. You want anything to eat beforehand?”

“…No thanks.”

“Got it.”

From there, with a bit of instruction, Kai lays himself next to Mudkip, Zoo positions herself on the other side, and she carefully lifts the Mudkip onto Kai’s back, before adjusting him into a position that seems at least reasonably comfortable.

She steps back, nodding at her work, and turns halfway around. “You ready to go?”

Kai rolls his shoulders. The mudkip on his back tightens its grip ever-so-slightly. Kai winces, but nods. “Mhm.”

“Let’s head out then.”

---

The duo walks mostly in silence, aside from a few passing remarks about the environment from the azumarill. When the Mudkip on Kai’s back randomly tightens his grip again, the quilava lets out a soft grunt. Zoo hears, taking that as an opportunity to start a conversation a few moments later.

“You doing alright so far?”

Kai nods neutrally, nothing in particular on his mind at the moment. “Yeah.”

“Cool, cool. Also, never got to ask this, but how do you feel about your little practice fight with Myzi this morning? Or, I’ll assume it was practice, but-“

“It went-… It was… it got my adrenaline pumping like the dungeon, but… that’s all I can really think of.”

“Did you like fighting like that?”

Kai turns to stare critically at the azumarill. ‘Am I… Am I supposed to like it?’

“…I don’t know.” ‘…Maybe???’

“…Ah. Well, I guess that’s fair. Some like fighting like that, some really don’t. Admittedly you’re likely going to end up in at least a few more of those types of fights – especially considering one of the guilds is specifically focused on strengthening your fighting abilities – but if you don’t want to be in too many of those types of situations you could ask your mentor or Guildmaster about it.”

Kai stops in place. After a few moments, Zoo does the same, turning around in confusion.

“…What’s-“

“When am I going to that guild? And-… how do the guilds even work? Someone might’ve explained it earlier, but like… I’ve got no idea what’s happening with this.”

A flurry of emotions pass over the Azumarill’s face before she turns around. “I’ll… explain it as we walk.”

She takes a step, Kai takes one right after, and they continue.

The azumarill gives a little skip to start.

“So! First guild you’ll be at is the R&D Guild – or the Western Guild, if you want to refer to it by where it is on the continent – where you’ll pretty much be introduced to guild life and stuff like that. The guild will assign your team – you and Mudkip, I’ll assume – a mentor that will lead you through the rest of your apprenticeship. But yeah, basic guild stuff gets covered, then you’ll move over to the Strength Guild – or the Southern Guild – where you’ll be assigned a mentor specifically catered to your abilities, as observed by the Guildmaster. Half the time there’s training, other half’s going through mission with your team mentor.

“Once you’re deemed well enough off, you’ll move up to the Exploration Guild – the Eastern Guild – which is, in basic terms, the guild responsible for mapping out the world, so we know where things are. Like the dungeon we just so happened to come across, earlier.”

Kai frowns.

“You’ll probably just have some basic missions there, aka stuff revolving around exploring dungeons. It’s not my area of expertise.”

She skips once again in excitement, “Then! You guys will come back to the Medicinal Guild – the Northern Guild, aka where you were just at – and you’ll learn about what we do. Most of the stuff you’ll be learning from there is pretty surface level – learning what is good and what’s bad to eat or take, how to keep yourself healthy or how to help an injured friend, helpful stuff like that. I dunno how much that really interests you, but yeah – our guild’s focus is healing, with a side focus in agriculture.”

She pauses for a moment as they pass by a small lake, watching two creatures fighting on its shore, before shaking her head and continuing.

“And, for the final step before graduating, you’ll return back to the R&D Guild. The first week you were there beforehand was less to learn about that guild in particular, and more to just learn about guilds as a whole. This second go-around is to specifically learn about that guild. Test out items, take whatever missions are given to ya, that type of stuff.”

The two creatures turn their attentions to the quilava and azumarill once they’ve mostly made it past, staring at their group as if prey to be hunted down. Kai shivers, turning away.

“And all together, after taking a final general test, you can ‘graduate’ from apprenticeship at the guilds, and from your experiences, you can choose one to work at together with your team.”

Now out of view of the creatures, she turns around to face him, walking backwards.

“Any questions?”

The Quilava moves to shake his head, letting it sway to the side slightly instead as something new comes to mind.

“How do… unrelated… ish, but how do the dungeon things even work? Is it…”

He racks his mind for any possible theories. ‘They could be, like… well, maybe I’m still dreaming. Or in a… whatever, Meaning they work on dream logic. Or they’re made from some offhand method. I doubt anybody created them… on purpose-‘

“Honestly? I don’t think anybody knows, sadly.”

“W-what?”

She nods with a frown, though a smile tickles at her lip.

“Yeah. The guilds have looked into it, but I don’t think anybody’s truly found out how they came into existence, or even the mechanics behind ‘em. Couple o’ theories have been tossed around, but nothing’s been proven as concrete, I think. Unless something changed within the last month in the R&D Guild’s research, and I don’t think that’s really an area they focus too much on anyways. They’re more interested in the insides of those dungeons.”

She jumps over a small mud puddle, and Kai walks around it, pondering.

“Do the guilds… view the dungeons as a good thing…?”

The azumarill waves her hand in a so-so manner. “Mehh. Depends, kinda? They’re dangerous, and you absolutely shouldn’t try going in one without explicit permission from a guildmaster or someone like me, but they contain a lot of useful resources. Food, magical seeds, magical orbs, magical sticks, all sortsa stuff. The more difficult the dungeon is, the better the rewards typically are. Many of the easier dungeons do provide items that help with getting through those harder dungeons, though. Actually-“

She reaches into the bag, grabbing the orb they’d found in the waterfall dungeon they’d been in earlier. “I dunno exactly what this does, but hey- the place we’re going to will probably figure out what it does. They like this kinda stuff.”

She rotates it around in her paw for a moment, rubbing at it with her other.

“Don’t think I’ve seen an orb like this before. Probably does something related to the dungeon, but that’s not for me to figure out. Anyways-“

She drops the orb back in the bag with a clunk, smiling and letting herself trail back to be walking side to side with the quilava.

“I haven’t really gotten a chance to really talk with ya without it being… y’know… a bit awkward, thanks to the somewhat weird circumstances. So! What’s your favorite color? If ya have one, at least.”

Kai’s kinda still reeling from the lack of knowledge about the dungeons, though.

“I- I don’t know, but… is… are the dungeons actually-… I know they’re not safe, but are you sure they won’t just… like… do some weird stuff that, like… kills everyone inside?”

She waves his concerns off. “For the most part, dungeons are pretty stable. There’ve only been a few cases of a dungeon actually collapsing, and those cases were years ago. Usually the dungeons kick you out before then anyways. They’re dangerous, but… kind of predictably so.”

“Ah…” ‘That still doesn’t really instill confidence.’

“So… favorite color?” she offers.

“…Blue,” the quilava sighs out.

---

They walk for hours, small-talk coming and going sporadically. Mudkip doesn’t wake up throughout the walk, nor does he manage to rise before the sun falls.

The quilava’s honestly surprised he had it in him to manage walking for as long as he has. He does have an ebbing feeling that both his arms and his legs will be sore in the morning, though.

Their trek reaches its final stages as, about an hour after dusk, Kai’s halfway into rubbing his eyes dry from tiredness when they catch the first signs of an actively living civilization – one coming in the form of light-generating orbs lining the sides of the path they’re on.

He feels like he’s seen something like that before, dismissing them without much of a second thought. Zoo’s pace hastens, however, and he’s more or less forced to keep up, even if the path there is clear now.

After a few more minutes of walking, the duo make it to the entrance of the place they’d been heading for. At least, he can assume so.

Standing – well, sitting – just outside of the guild is a bipedal mushroom-like creature that… looks almost more tired than both him and Zoo. The searching glare it holds has quite literally no weight whatsoever behind it, despite what the creature’s probably trying for with it.

Zoo greets the creature with a wave and a smile, if a sympathetic one.

“Hey Baz! Why are… you the guild gatekeeper tonight?”

‘Baz’ rubs his own eye before dragging one of his feet below him, replying almost robotically. “…Guild badge?”

“Ah!” Zoo exclaims, reaching in the bag and grabbing what was requested of her.

“Aaand purpose…?” Baz drones.

“These two-“ she gestures to Kai and the still-unconscious Mudkip on his back, “-are interested in joining the guilds, so I figured I could bring ‘em over.”

The mushroom creature nods, mumbling something neither Kai nor Zoo could hear. They lay their hand on a button-like device, but Zoo stops him before he manages to press it.

“Surprised the guildmaster gave you this position anyways. Did something happen, or…?”

He nods, eyes closed. “Mhm. Didn’t go on the mission with my team, now I’ve got gatekeeper duty.”

“Oh? Why didn’t you go?”

“They went to a dungeon with ‘lotta birds.”

The azumarill lets out a silent ‘ah’ before tilting her head.

“Did they really punish you for that?”

“Not guildmaster’s fault, more a self-punishment or team punishment than anything.”

Kai rubs his eyes again as the azumarill continues, “I can talk with your team if you-“

“S’ fine. That quilava guy looks kinda dead on his feet anyways. Talk to me later, just lemme have my peace for now. You’re probably the only guys I’ll see on my shift, and I don’t have the full night. Just… two more hours…”

He opens the gate with a sigh as Zoo shakes her head, seemingly disappointed with the creature. She talks aloud to herself, but the words blur together in Kai’s mind as they approach the room they’ll be staying in for that night, if not longer.

With Zoo’s help, he dumps the Mudkip from his back before collapsing in a bed not even seconds later, and falling unconscious within that next minute.