A Good Look

Chloe was standing alone in the courtyard to the rear of the Delver’s Guild. She was smiling. She’d done it. She’d apologised to Piper. She’d been an idiot for such a long time, and it felt good to finally do the right thing.

Now all she needed was some food.

By the sun’s position directly overhead, she estimated it to be about mid day. It felt to her like Kite had finished with them early, and she wasn’t sure if her friends would be done with whatever their mentors had them doing yet. Only one way to find out.

She entered the guild, heading straight for the bar – restaurant? Cafeteria? What was this place really? Looking at it now, it felt much more like a restaurant. A few other pokémon not affiliated with the guild were sitting at various tables, eating meals that looked much more appetising than all the pecha she’d been stuck with so far. There was a sceptile eating a very colourful salad, a breloom picking at what looked like a jelly dessert, and an abomasnow whose huge body was blocking their meal from her view.

Heading to the bar itself, she felt a smile cover her face. A familiar frillish and milcery were already there, ordering.

“Deeps! Celes!” she called, flying over to greet them.

They turned to meet her, smiling back. “Hey, Spots,” Deeps said with a lazy wave. “You on a lunch break too or something?”

Chloe stopped her flight right in front of her friends. “I’m actually done for the day!”

“Already, already?” Celes said, her face a picture of shock. “But the day is just, just beginning!”

Chloe shrugged. “We tried practising some moves out back, but we didn’t do it for very long. Kite just left after that.”

“Huh.” Deeps shrugged too. “How’d that go?”

“Not great,” Chloe grumbled. “Apparently I’m a weakling no matter what. Kite says I should focus on learning supporting moves.”

“Oh, like me, like me!” Celes smiled, missing the disdain in Chloe’s voice.

Chloe tilted her head. “You’re a supporter or a weakling?”

Celes looked thoughtful. “I think, I think both. But mostly a, a supporter. I think I can, can get a lot stronger, but…”

“But what?”

Celes scrunched up her face, pouting. “Why, oh why, is the only move I can, can do right now, draining kiss? I do not want to kiss my enemies! I do not even, even know them!”

“Ohhh,” Chloe suppressed a giggle.

“And, and!” Celes continued, “how am I supposed to practice it? I, I could not kiss my training partner, either! How, how embarrassing!”

“Yeah, that is pretty awkward actually,” Chloe snickered. Luckily Celes didn’t seem to mind that Chloe found it so funny, turning back to the bar to collect her food.

“So what did you learn?” Deeps asked, interested.

“Well,” Chloe said, “I learned how to use swift, which is pretty cool. But when I tried to learn light screen and reflect, I couldn’t figure it out.”

“Psychic moves,” Deeps nodded. “They’re apparently some of the hardest to learn, especially for non psychic types. I’m sure you’ll get it eventually, though.”

“I didn’t know that,” Chloe admitted. “That makes me feel a bit better, I guess. But anyway, guess what else happened?”

“What?” Celes said through a mouthful of – was that porridge again?? She’s just eating at the bar?Whatever, think about that later.

“I made up with Piper!” Chloe said proudly.

Celes’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape, and Deeps gasped. “Oh, how about that!” he said happily. “Tell me about it!”

“It was right at the end of training,” Chloe began explaining. She found herself choosing her words carefully. “It was- Okay, it was actually pretty emotional so I won’t get into all the details but we kind of just apologised at the same time. We realised if we both stopped being so stupid we’d probably be really good friends, you know?”

Celes span in a circle happily. “Yayyy! I thought Piper was, was mean but she’s Chloe’s friend so, so she much be nice after all!”

Chloe felt a pang of guilt. After all, it was her who had coloured everyone else’s perceptions of Piper this way… She had some making up to do.

“The exact same time?” Deeps questioned. Ugh. Why was this guy so perceptive?

Chloe hesitated. “Well- She apologised to me right before I apologised to her, but it was basically the same-”

“What’d she say at the end, Spots?” he interrupted her.

Chloe held back her irritation. “She said ‘I just need to think. See you later.’”

Deeps nodded. “Okay, yeah. That’s good! I think you two will be good, she just needs a little space I guess.”

Chloe moved to the bar. “I was actually thinking of bringing her up some food! She must be as hungry as me, it’s the least I could do.”

Deeps looked worried. “She said she needed space, Spots. I’d be careful not to ruin this, y’know?”

“She said see you later,” Chloe argued. She had said that, right? “So it’ll be fine!”

“I, I think it’ll be fun!” Celes sang. “Like a sleepover!”

Deeps laughed. “It’s the middle of the day, Pudding!”

“Wakeover!” Celes burst out laughing.

“Can you guildies move along already!” an angry mawile shouted at them, brandishing a wooden spoon.

“Oops, better dash. Later, Spots!” Deeps wrapped Celes in a tentacle and made a break for the stairs, leaving Chloe to face down the spoon alone.

“S- Sorry!” she stammered. “We were just catching up. Can I have two meals, one’s for my friend?”

“Two meals,” the mawile said, quickly slamming two lukewarm porridges down before her. Chloe hesitated, but decided to be brave.

“Do you have anything else?” she asked.

“Do you have money?” the mawile asked back.

“Uh…”

“Then you get the freebie. Come with money if you want to change it up!”

---

Chloe carried the two trays up the stairs. It was easy with wings and an extra set of arms, and she felt proud of how in control of her new body she was. She was really coming into her own as a ledyba! She flew happily to Piper’s door, and knocked three times with a free arm.

“What?” a grumpy voice asked.

“It’s Chloe, I brought food!” she called through.

There was a long pause. “Come in, I guess,” Piper finally invited her.

Chloe pushed open the door, and smiled when she saw Piper. Her front paws were now free of mud, and her fur was a little bit tidier, but there were still patches of dirt and messiness.

“Can I help?” Piper said, not smiling. “I’m in the middle of grooming.”

Chloe felt her face heating up. “Uh, y- you are? I can come back later if-”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Is this a human thing or something? You’re fine.”

Chloe just laughed nervously, setting both trays down.

“Thanks for the food,” Piper nodded. “You can go now.”

Chloe’s voice caught in her throat. “I- D- did you want to, um, eat together? Now that we’re friends?”

Piper looked at her oddly. “I said I needed time, didn’t I?”

Chloe swallowed. “B- but you accepted my apology! You- you thanked me with my name and everything!”

“Yv- Arceus above…” Piper muttered, placing one paw between her closed eyes. “Time means time, Chloe, okay? I- I’m still mad at you.”

“B- but why?” Chloe sniffed.

“I-” Piper looked at her suddenly. “Chloe are you crying?”

Chloe turned away furiously, landing on the ground and wiping her eyes. “No! I’m just- I’m confused! I did the right thing, didn’t I?”

Chloe heard Piper groan, and more tears came to her eyes.

Why are you crying?

This is embarrassing, have some self respect!

“Chloe, look,” Piper said, clearly trying to hide her own frustration. “I just- I wonder if you’d have ever apologised if I hadn’t done it first, okay? Would you have?”

Chloe inhaled sharply. Is that what Deeps had been getting at earlier, too? Was she supposed to have apologised first?

“Just be honest,” Piper said, surprisingly gently.

Chloe complied. “I- I don’t know,” she said truthfully, letting a few tears trickle down her face. “Wh- when you apologised… It- It showed me-” she took a deep breath. Keep going. “I realised how horrible I was being. I was- I was already starting to realise how bad the things I’d done to you were, but I was- I was being-” she sniffed noisily. “A stubborn bitch.”

“Hah!” Piper barked her laugh, and Chloe’s heart jumped. “Yeah, you were. Stop crying, okay? It’s not a good look on you.”

Chloe hiccoughed, and nodded. She wiped her face with her boxing glove hands, making more of a mess of things. She heard Piper click her tongue.

“Here.” Suddenly, Piper was in her face, wiping her eyes with some kind of cloth. Chloe’s whole body tensed up, and she stood there stupidly while Piper cleared her tears away. Once she was done, she stepped back, checking her work.

Chloe’s body slowly came back to life. She turned away from Piper. Now she was really embarrassed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she whimpered. “I think I’m really messed up.”

Piper barked another laugh. “We’re all a little messed up.”

“Do pokémon treat dark types like that just because of how their moves work?” Chloe asked without thinking.

“I-” Piper scowled. “It’s a big part of it, yeah. I don’t really want to talk about this with you yet.”

Chloe looked up. “Yet?”

Piper sighed. “I just need time, okay? But less time now. Probably.”

Chloe looked hopeful. “So we can eat together soon?”

Piper looked uncomfortable. “Maybe.”

Chloe nodded eagerly. “And maybe you could even come down to the cafeteria and eat with my other friends, too?”

Piper opened her mouth to answer, but then paused, as if a different train of thought was taking over. “You call it a cafeteria?” she asked.

Chloe thought for a second. “Sometimes. I’m not actually sure if it’s like, a cafeteria, or bar, or restaurant? It looked a lot like a restaurant today.”

“It’s a pretty terrible restaurant,” Piper said, “if all they serve is porridge. Again? Seriously?”

“Right?” Chloe agreed, grabbing her bowl of now cold slop. “We’re Delvers! They expect us to live off this crap and go save the world and stuff?”

“Too right,” Piper growled at her own bowl in disgust. “What does a girl have to do around here to get some real food, seriously!”

Chloe laughed, and Piper laughed too. When the laughter died out, they smiled at each other. Piper cleared her throat. “A-hem, uh… Like I said, I just need some time, okay Chloe?”

Chloe looked at the ground quickly. “Sure. Sorry, Piper.”

“It’s okay. I’ll meet you outside the guild tomorrow for our mission, okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Bye Chloe.”

“Bye Piper.”

Chloe left Piper’s room, shutting the door gently behind her.

…

…

…

What the hell was that!

Chloe flew to her room at top speed, crashing through the door and diving face first into her hay pile of a bed, flailing all her limbs around in mental anguish.

That was humiliating!

You went in there and cried?

What is wrong with you?

“Ohhhhhhhhhhh…” she moaned, knowing she could never recover from this. She should have asked Piper to keep it a secret. She had to tomorrow. She couldn’t bear for anyone else to know what had just happened between them.

So embarrassing.

Deep breaths.

She dragged herself out of bed, and looked out the window. It was still pretty light out. Her friends were still busy with their day’s work, so what could she do in the meantime?

She had wanted to talk to Feathers about Kite. Maybe she could look for him? That noctowl seemed more studious, so maybe he had his group in the library?

She decided to go check, as she couldn’t think of anything better to do. She just had to find the library first.

---

It didn’t take her long – it was the room with all the books in it. Obviously.

She didn’t find Feathers in the library. Instead, she found Shucu and Meteor, crammed around a table too big for the helioptile, too small for the tyrantrum. Meteor was reading studiously, while Shucu was staring blankly at the pages. Shucu spotted Chloe the second she flew into the room, her face breaking out into a huge smile.

“Chlooooeeeee!” she called, waving exaggeratedly.

“Shh!”

“Shh!”

“Oops!” Shucu shrank back into her seat, still smiling widely at Chloe from across the room.

The two shushes belonged to Meteor and Cinnamon, their glaceon mentor, who had been standing behind a bookcase, just out of view. Cinnamon approached Chloe before she could get any further into the room.

“Can I help?” Cinnamon asked politely. “These two are still studying, so I kindly ask that you wait until later if you wanted to speak to them.”

“O-oh,” Chloe replied nervously. “I was actually looking for Feathers. Is he here?”

Cinnamon closed one eye. “I believe he is out doing some practical work with those boys. Why did you need him?”

Chloe shrugged. “Just wanted to ask him something. Never mind, I’ll head back to my room-”

“Are you not busy?” Cinnamon asked her. Chloe wasn’t sure she liked where this was going.

“Well, Kite already called our day short, so-”

“Excellent,” Cinnamon said with a smile. “We should have our little chat about your being human now, it would be the perfect time.”

Chloe wasn’t sure she could handle any more difficult conversations today. She shook her head. “I- I’m a little tired, I might just head to-”

“It needs to happen,” Cinnamon said curtly. “If you fear something, better to face it head on than dance around it forever. Let’s go to the meeting room, should be empty.”

With that, Cinnamon walked past Chloe in the direction of the room where they’d first met. Chloe spared a glance at her friends, who looked back at her apologetically.

---

“So.” Cinnamon said, shutting the door behind Chloe.

“So, what,” Chloe muttered, not looking at the glaceon. She didn’t want to have this conversation, not with her, not with anyone.

“Chloe, I’ll just lay out some facts, okay?” Cinnamon offered, a little more gently after seeing Chloe’s attitude. “You are a human turned pokémon. This kind of situation is so rare that to the majority of the scientific community it is considered nothing but legend. There is little to no research to be found regarding humans, and most stories are incomplete.”

“Do you know any?” Chloe asked, curious despite herself.

“No,” Cinnamon admitted. “Most historians believe that the stories are all variations of a singular event. Of the fragments that remain, all seem to reference Arceus summoning a human to prevent a world disaster.”

Chloe didn’t speak, suddenly very nervous.

“Another fact,” Cinnamon continued. “You appeared at the precise location a mystery dungeon formed, at the precise time it formed. The chances of that being coincidence are almost zero.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Chloe said at last. “I don’t remember anything. I can’t really help you with anything, can I?”

Cinnamon paused, then spoke slowly. “I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to have my sister help you recover your memories.”

Chloe almost fell out of the air. “What?”

“My sister is a powerful psychic, I’m sure she could-”

“No!” Chloe spluttered. “I- Even if I wanted my memories back, I still wouldn’t want someone else seeing them! That’s- that’s-”

Chloe froze as Cinnamon put a paw on her arm. “I know this is hard for you,” she said softly. “But if the legends are anything to go by, you could be here to help save the world from crisis. The mystery dungeon crisis. And even if you’re not, your memories almost certainly hold a valuable clue about the nature of the mystery dungeons, given the timing of your appearance.”

Chloe shook her head. “I-”

“Please,” Cinnamon pleaded with her. “It’s the right thing to do.”

The right thing to do?

This was the right thing to do…

Chloe needed to do the right thing.

That was the most important thing… right.

Chloe swallowed.

She nodded.

“Thank you, Chloe,” Cinnamon said with a smile. “This is very brave of you. I promise that what we find will stay one hundred percent confidential between the three of us, okay?”

“Okay,” Chloe said weakly.

“I’ll let you get on with your day,” Cinnamon said with a nod, and left the room.

Get on with my day?

What’s left to do?

Chloe flew back to her room. Celes still wasn’t there – probably for the best. She flew towards her bed, stopping when she noticed her storage chest was open. She checked inside, and saw a neckerchief neatly tucked in the bottom. It was red, adorned with golden stars. Who was this from? There was a letter attached, but she couldn’t read it as usual. She’d have to ask Celes when she got back.

It would have been a nice surprise, if she didn’t feel totally emotionally drained. She flopped into her bed, sighing in frustration.

Why couldn’t she just be normal?

All she wanted was to be a normal ledyba, to fit in with her friends, to help other pokémon as a Delver. But now Cinnamon was telling her she was basically the most important pokémon alive right now. She held all the answers to the mystery dungeon pandemic. And she had to let them bring her old memories back to find out why.

Arceus, she did not want to remember. The longer she was here, the more she was convinced that remembering was a bad idea. She couldn’t place why, but she knew that the feeling could only mean that those memories were bad.

Her body felt wrong again. Ugh.

But not that wrong. It wasn’t as bad as it had been the past few nights. That was good. That meant it was getting better – that she was getting used to being a ledyba, and that she was enjoying it. That it was right for her. Whatever her past self was, her human self – forget about her! This is where she wanted to be.

She really, really didn’t want to remember.

She sniffled. She felt like she was going to cry, but-

Stop crying, okay? It’s not a good look on you.

She sniffed harder, and held back the tears.

It was for the good of the world. She’d get over it.

Then sleep took her worries away.

---

---

Piper stood outside the guild, waiting for Chloe.

That ledyba.

What a mess.

Piper was confused. She didn’t know what to think of her any more.

Chloe had definitely only apologised because Piper had apologised first. She’d even admitted it right to her face. So what kind of apology was that, really?

But then she’d broken down, and during her breakdown she had admitted just how bad she’d been treating her, and she seemed really genuine.

She also seemed really…

Pathetic?

Messed up?

Whatever it was, Piper had felt really sorry for her. She seemed so confused and unsure, and Piper found that she couldn’t stay mad at her any more.

Though she had to at least pretend, a little.

Piper pawed at her new neckerchief, the one that Kite had custom made for her. It was maroon, adorned with white teardrop markings. She had to admit it was pretty cool. It was a shame it was the only thing she had on hand to help Chloe clean up her tears, but at least it hadn’t stained the material.

“Piper!”

There she was. She looked up, and saw Chloe flying towards her. She seemed lacking in energy, like she hadn’t slept well. She was wearing her own neckerchief. Hers was red with gold stars. Pretty cool.

“Hey,” she greeted quickly. “We’re going to Gloomwoods, it’s Southeast of the guild. Let’s go.”

“Hey, uh, Piper,” Chloe said quickly. “About last night…”

Piper didn’t look at her, she just kept walking.

“Just don’t tell anyone else about it, okay?” Chloe pleaded.

Piper smirked. “What, embarrassed?”

“Yes! Obviously!” Chloe whined.

Piper barked a laugh. “You’re good.”

“Thank you,” Chloe sighed in relief. “I like your scarf!”

“Yours is cool too.”

“Thanks!”

The conversation died, and they travelled in silence for a while. It was early in the morning, and the air was cool and crisp. There was a gentle breeze whispering through the trees, blowing the golden leaves in spiral patterns all around them. There was no trail for them to follow, but Piper was confident her natural compass would lead her true.

“Did you sleep okay?” Piper finally asked.

“Eh,” Chloe said.

Piper scoffed. “So no, then.”

“Would you let someone read your memory?” Chloe asked unexpectedly. Piper looked up at her.

“They couldn’t if they tried,” Piper explained. “Perk of being dark type. But if I wasn’t, uh, no, never. Why?”

Chloe looked really upset. “Cinnamon thinks my memories might be really important. Like, important enough to save the world. She’s going to get her sister in to read them at some point.”

Piper growled. “And do you want her to?”

“It-” Chloe looked conflicted. “It would be the right thing to do, wouldn’t it? Let them read my mind to save the world? That’s what a good pokémon would do?”

Piper swiped at the ground. “A good pokémon wouldn’t invade another’s privacy if you ask me.”

Chloe just looked even more conflicted at that. Piper pitied her. As easy as it was for her to say, she could see the logic in letting this happen, but… well, non consensual mind reading was one of the grossest things a pokémon could do, in her opinion. If Chloe didn’t want anyone in there, they’d simply have to find another way to save the world. It wasn’t that complicated.

Her thoughts were interrupted before she could voice them by an extremely loud flygon.

“Chloeeee! Piperrrr!”

Chloe perked up, and picked up speed to reach their mentor. Piper followed quickly.

Kite looked at them proudly, hands behind his back. “Glad you could make it in good time! Now, tell me: have you packed your adventuring bags, or done your dungeon research?”

Piper’s mouth dropped open. Nope, and nope. She glanced at Chloe, who was having a similar reaction. They were supposed to do all that? Kite hadn’t said anything about that-

The flygon burst into uproarious laughter. “I’m just messing with you! That stuff is boring!”

Jerk.

Kite then revealed he’d been holding a bag behind his back, which he threw to Chloe. The bag knocked her out of the air, the ledyba letting out a comical “oof!”. Piper snorted, moving to her partner’s side.

“Heavy?” she goaded.

“Shuddup.”

“I thought you should be the bag carrier, Chloe, since you have all those extra arms!” Kite smiled. Chloe picked herself up off the ground, checking the bag.

“It’s like a… a fanny pack?” she questioned, trying to figure out how to wear it.

Kite nodded. “You can’t have a backpack because you couldn’t open your wings. We can like, strap this around you under your wing flaps or whatever those are and you should be good to go!”

Piper moved forward, snatching the bag. “Open up,” she said.

Chloe paused briefly before nodding. She opened her wings up, and Piper strapped the bag around her body, between her top two sets of arms. It was a little tricky with paws, but Piper was more than used to using them for all kinds of unusual tasks. “Is it comfy to close?”

Chloe closed her wings. Her covers stayed very slightly open due to the bag straps, but Chloe nodded. Seemed good to go.

“More importantly!” Kite stepped over them eagerly. “Can you reach inside quickly and comfortably?”

Chloe looked down at the bag. She put a hand inside, rummaging around. “I think so. Why?”

“Grab some stuff!” Kite said, excited. “I packed you a bunch of goodies to help in the dungeon!”

Chloe, still on the ground, started emptying the bag. She pulled out seeds, oran berries, and some kind of orb.

Kite clapped his hands, barely able to contain himself. “Okay first, guess what those seeds are?”

The girls looked at each other. Piper groaned, realising the answer. Chloe looked at her, confused, so Piper just spat it out. “Blast seeds?”

“YES!” Kite cheered. “Five blast seeds, and I’m gonna tell you what they do whether you like it or not!”

“Can we skip to the orb?” Chloe asked. “That looks way cooler.”

Piper smirked, and Chloe smiled triumphantly at her. Wow. It felt good to not have to hide her laughter around Chloe any more.

“Blast seeds,” Kite explained, “are like little explosives! They’re totally a rookie’s best friend, because the explosion they create is a lot stronger than any move a weaker pokémon can pull off!”

Chloe picked one up. Piper nudged her. “He brought them for you ’cause you’re so weak.”

Chloe shoved her back, pouting. “Maybe I’ll try one out on you?”

“Pfft!”

Kite had carried on with his explanation, not noticing his students were talking. “You can throw ’em at an enemy, or if you’re feeling brave you can EAT one, and it’ll cause the explosion to shoot out of your mouth in a big fireball!”

“What’s the orb?” Piper interrupted. “We want to hear about the orb.”

“I’ll get to that!” Kite laughed. “You know oran berries, five of those. Before the orb I’m gonna explain our mission and the dungeon.”

Chloe and Piper groaned at the same time, sharing a look. Meanwhile, Kite took out a sheet of paper from his own side satchel, clearing his throat.

“A-hem! ‘I took an escort through Gloomwoods to get to Xernia quicker, but I lost my sitrus berry on the way. Six hundred poké reward if found.’ A lost item mission, nice and simple!”

Chloe spoke up. “Now can you tell us about the orb?”

“Ah ah!” Kite wagged a claw. “First the dungeon: Gloomwoods. It’s a four floor dungeon, pretty basic, lots of grass type pokémon similar to Crooked Grove, but also lots of bugs, too. Biggest issue is, the trees create such a thick canopy that the place is completely dark.”

Piper frowned. “How will Chloe see, then?”

Chloe looked at Piper, confused. “Can you see in the dark?”

“Uh, yeah,” Piper said. “Sorry, guess you wouldn’t have known.”

Chloe stared at her, impressed. Could this girl stop staring at her like that? It was making her self-conscious.

Kite leaned down, grinning. “I’m glad you asked, Piper!” he said, snatching up the orb and holding it to the sky triumphantly. “This is a sunny orb! It’ll create a sunlight effect so you’ll be able to see, Chloe!”

Chloe nodded. “How? It’s just an orb.”

Kite did a double take. “Do you girls not know about orbs?”

“We’ve been asking,” Piper shrugged. Chloe smirked.

“Okay well, uh,” Kite started, scratching his antenna. “They’re like, these weird things that mystery dungeons produce. They have a ton of different uses, like making sunshine, giving you loads of strength, making all the enemies around you confused, stuff like that. They’re kind of like, the dungeon creating a one use powerful pokémon move or something?”

Chloe scratched her own antenna. “How do they just make these orbs?”

Kite shrugged, tossing the orb back to Chloe, who fumbled it. It fell to the ground with a thud. “I dunno,” he said. “Ask Cinnamon or Feathers. One of the nerds. All I know is they’re invaluable and we don’t know how to make them ourselves yet, so take any you find with you for the nerds to study, or to sell and trade.”

Piper nodded, now helping Chloe collect their supplies and replace them in the bag. Finally, they were ready.

“So the plan is, when we get in there,” Piper instructed, “we use this sunny orb, lighting the place up for Chloe. Then, we find this missing sitrus berry, and get out.”

Chloe nodded twice, turning to the dungeon entrance.

“I’ll be waiting outside,” Kite explained. “Longer than ten minutes, I’ll rush in and save you. But you won’t need me to do that, right?”

Piper took a deep breath.

Her first mission.

She wasn’t going to throw this away.

She stepped past Kite and into the dungeon, Chloe by her side.