ARC 3, CHAPTER 4

“Who can we find to help us?”

“Well… I know someone who might be able to help.”

“Y-Yeah, I do too!”

“Alright, you girls go and find them then. I’ll see if I can find any of our old allies.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

---

At this point, Zari trusted Stella enough about where she was leading them. She had no reason not to, after all. However, she couldn’t say she wasn’t unnerved at where they were right now, with Stella leading her through a darker part of the woods. She knew for a FACT it wasn’t getting late yet, so the sudden darkness concerned her, despite the fact it could be explained by just thicker foliage in the area. Even so, the only thought that came to her when considering that possibility was ‘WHY does it have thicker foliage?’

After a little bit of walking, the two of them came across a small wooden shack. It almost looked like it hadn’t been touched in a while. Now Zari’s anxiety was REALLY through the roof. Something here just didn’t seem right at all. Stella however, did not hesitate to walk inside. Zari just immediately followed her. At the very least, she felt safer being close to her.

The room they entered into was dark. Dark enough to where they couldn’t see anything beyond the light from the entrance behind them. Stella trudged on forward, though, despite not being able to see much.

“Hello?” she called. “Is anyone here?”

Zari couldn’t help but notice that Stella was now moving much slower. Again, it could be because they couldn’t see well. But her cautiousness still alarmed her. Where ARE they?!

It sure didn’t help when they suddenly heard a loud THUD directly in front of them. Both of them jumped in surprise and alarm (mostly Zari, who also let out a sharp squeak).

“Oh dear! Hold on a sec, I’m coming!” came an unfamiliar voice, something Zari didn’t expect. A moment later, the room lit up from some overhead lights. The room Stella and Zari were in was crowded by multiple stacks of boxes, one of which had fallen over in front of them, evidently the source of the noise. Not long after, someone else ran in from the opposite side: a Braixen wearing a blue apron and a string of jingle bells wrapped around her ear.

She huffed at seeing the mess before beginning to pick up the boxes. “Hoo, I’m sorry. I haven’t had time to organize lately…” she said.

“Th-That’s okay,” Stella responded, the exchange putting Zari greatly at ease.

After the boxes were restacked, the Braixen turned to the pair. “Anyways, welcome back, Stella!”

“Hello, Miss Raelynn,” Stella greeted back.

“Hon, I told you you don’t have to go with formalities. You can just call me Rae-lee!” the Braixen responded cheerfully, a hint of southern accent in her voice. She then turned to Zari. “And you must be Zari, right? Stella has told me lots about you!”

“O-Oh… Y-Yes, that’s me…” Zari said, blushing a bit. “Uhm… You know Stella?”

“Mhm! She comes to my little shop here every now and then. I run this place to sell things to young rescue teams!” Raelynn said with a bright smile. “This way, come in!”

Raelynn led the duo to a room that was a lot more neatly kept, and actually looked like a pleasant little shop. She slid behind the counter on the left side of the room and dusted her paws off before turning to them again.

“So! What brings you here today, Dreamsavers?”

“Actually, Miss Raelynn… we need your help,” Stella said.

“Help?” Raelynn reiterated with slight concern. “What’s going on?”

“Ma’am… Team X is planning something… something just awful.” Zari explained. “We can’t take them on alone… so we were hoping you’d join our team.”

“I see…” Raelynn said, putting a paw to her chin.

“Can you help us, please?” Stella pleaded.

Raelynn sighed with a hint of regret. “I would love to help you, but I can’t. I’m too busy with my shop, and even this is taking my full attention.” This news wasn’t what Stella and Zari wanted to hear at all, but they couldn’t really do much about it.

But before the sadness could set in, Raelynn spoke again. “But I do have a different idea.” The duo looked up at Raelynn as she continued. “You see, I have an assistant who’s lived with me for a while. She’s been a great help… but she told me she’s wanted to go out and explore. She’s tried going out on her own, but… it’s been hard for her. But maybe if she had someone to go with her, she’d be better off. So… do you think you could help her with that?”

Stella and Zari looked at each other for a moment, but they both knew the answer even before that. “O-Of course we will!” Zari said, smiling.

“Thank you, girls.” Raelynn said, smiling back. She then turned towards the back of the store and whistled. “Carrie! Can you come out here, sweetie?” A couple seconds of silence passed before the group barely saw a pokémon peek out from behind a corner. The moment it layed eyes on Stella and Zari, though, it immediately darted back behind the wall with a small yelp.

Raelynn sighed sympathetically while Stella watched on in wonder. “Carrie, it’s okay, please come out. They won’t hurt you, I promise! Just come here, please, we need you.” Another pause, but after what seemed like forever, the pokémon hesitantly waddled out. It was a Quilava that was somewhat shorter than most others of their species. Aside from that, she didn’t seem much younger than Zari’s age. She wore a magenta jacket also. She quickly (relatively speaking) ran close to Raelynn’s side

Raelynn patted the Quilava’s head before speaking again. “Carrie, this is Stella and Zari. And they want to help you go exploring like you wanted.”

Carrie looked up at Raelynn with a shimmer in her eyes. “R-R-Really?” she said, barely loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Carrie…” Zari spoke to her. “We’d like you to join our rescue team. We promise we’ll keep you safe… All I ask is that you help us too…” Carrie slowly turned to the duo, who had nothing but friendly smiles. “W-Will you join us?”

Despite being wary, still, Carrie was now looking at the pair intently. She looked especially interested in Zari, if only marginally. Raelynn was right, they did seem friendly, and if they really could help her… it was intriguing at the very least. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to trust them still, but if Raelynn did, then maybe it was worth it…

“O-Okay…” Carrie whispered after her mental battle. With that, Carrie slowly (very slowly) walked up to their sides. Zari gave her an assuring smile. Carrie avoided eye contact, but couldn’t help but stare at Zari.

“Thank you, Raelynn,” Stella said to her friend. “We should probably hurry out, now.”

“Hang on! Before you go, I want to give you two something. It’s the least I could do for you, after all.”

“R-Really?” Zari said.

“Really! Now let’s see here…” Raelynn walked out, and dug around some boxes for a moment. Soon enough, she found some things that stood out to her. “Ooh, I think these will do nicely!” she said as she pulled out two items. “Zari, this one’s for you.” Raelynn gave Zari a purple rock that was round on one end, and pointed on the other. “And Stella, for you.” Stella was given something that felt like a rock also, but it looked exactly like a chunk of ice.

“What are these?” Stella asked, examining the rock in her paws.

“These items are very special, as they don’t get consumed when you use them,” Raelynn responded. “In your current state, as long as you keep them close to you, they’ll make you stronger, I promise.” She turned to Zari as she continued. “You know, Zari, I used that rock myself before I retired from adventuring. It really does wonders, I hope you make good use of it.”

“I-I will! Thank you so much!” Zari responded, storing the rock in her hair. Stella did the same for hers.

“You’re very welcome,” Raelynn said. “Good luck on your adventure. I know you can do this, I have faith in you!”

“Thanks again, Rae-lee!” Stella said. With that, the three of them exited in high-ish spirits. There was still a looming threat ahead of them, but they would focus on that later. Right now, they had one more stop to make.

---

Now, Stella was following Zari. Unlike her, though, Zari led the group right into the city. This did confuse Stella a little bit, though. Wasn’t Zari scared of the city?

Zari knew where she was going, though, and it wasn’t long before they made it to a shop of sorts. Zari immediately walked inside, her companions following close behind. Inside was a large cork board, but aside from that, no one was here.

Zari looked around. “Rall? Are you here?”

“Hey, Zari!” a voice came, immediately followed by a poof of blue smoke. Stella almost jumped at the sudden appearance. The smoke quickly disappeared, though, and from where it was centered there stood a new face: a Zoroark. “Good to see you again!”

The Zoroark then noticed Carrie, who had her face buried in Stella’s tails. “Carrie, is that you?” he asked, making her peek up at him in recognition. “Hey, long time no see!”

“Y-You know her?” Stella asked him as Carrie shuffled away from her, blushing in embarrassment.

“Yeah! Rae’s assistant, right?” Carrie nodded after realizing she was being addressed, which took more time than she’d like to admit. He paused for a moment, thinking to himself. “I ought to pay her a visit soon…” The Zoroark mumbled, scratching the back of his neck for some reason. He then shook his head, putting those thoughts aside for the time being. “Anyway, glad to see you brought more of the team this time! What brings you all here today? Need a tough mission today? I got plenty!” The Zoroark motioned towards the corkboard, which Stella could now see had a bunch of papers tacked on. She curiously took a closer look, and each paper did indeed have missions on it. They weren’t rescue missions like on the billboard at the guild, but rather tasks of sort. Stella didn’t read much farther in before her attention was drawn back to conversation.

“Actually, Rall… we need your help,” Zari said to him.

“My help?” Rall responded. “Aw, Zari, you know I’m retired.”

“Aww, B-But-”

“Sorry… I ain’t a fighter no more. I do want to help you, though, and I know just the kid who is!” Rall then turned towards the back of the room. “AY, VERLO! GET OUT HERE!”

Just a moment later, a Zangoose walked out, a tote bag slung over their shoulder. They tilted their head in question.

“VERLO! YOU WANNA JOIN AN ACTUAL RESCUE TEAM?” Rall yelled, which at this point was just unnecessary, but no one had the heart to say anything about it.

Verlo stood there, emotionless for a good few seconds. Then, they just shrugged.

Rall cocked an eyebrow. “Uh, is that a yes?”

Verlo just smirked at him, then they walked over to the group. Verlo stood next to Stella, then pulled a slate and marker out of their bag. Stella looked at Verlo curiously as they started to draw on the slate, and when they noticed, they just smiled and waved at her.

Zari just watched this interaction, flabbergasted. “Um… Is Verlo always this… silent?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Rall responded. “It’s kind of his… thing or whatever.” Verlo briefly looked up, then just shook his head as he went back to drawing. No one noticed this, though… except for Stella. “But, I promise you won’t regret having him on your team! Kid’s got talent, you’ll see!”

Zari smiled. “Thank you so much, Rall,” she said.

“No problem, Zari!” Rall said, also smiling. He then turned to Stella, whom he noticed was now staring at him.

“Oh, s-sorry,” Stella said after noticing. “It’s just… you look kind of familiar.”

“Ah, yeah I get that a lot,” Rall responded with a shrug. “You’re probably thinking of my twin brother.”

“You have a brother?” Zari chimed in.

“Unfortunately,” Rall said with a groan. “He’s… he’s something, alright. The big reason why no one comes here often.” Stella and Zari exchanged glances, knowing who he was likely describing.

“But hey, at least I have you guys! Stop by if you ever need something to do, I got plenty of missions!”

“S-Sure! We will!” Zari said. “And thanks again!”

“Let’s go back to base. Larei’s probably waiting for us,” Stella said to her team.

“Okay. Bye!” Zari said to Rall. Rall waved before the four of them exited.

“Hm…” he thought to himself. “I should go visit her…”