[IC] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

[Card Captor]

Kamina was confused "but that doesn't make any sense. It says that there's an Eevee with a light blue scarf missing. You're an Eevee with a baby blue scarf. There's a huge difference between the two! Is your entire family color blind Celes? I just thought blue scarfs was a thing your family wore for some reason, and you all wore different shades of the color. I can see why you left, it must be hard having to live with people unable to tell the difference between light blue and baby blue. Jeez, and some people call me dense" the fish ranted.

[Riddles]

Matt floated over to the mission board, next to Hex. "Where shall we go this time?"
"Let's see what we have here." Josh said. There was plenty of missions on here. He took one of them off.

I found some pretty shady folks in a camp down in Crystal Chasm. Now, they could be friendly, so I don't want to go up and attack them, but I also don't want to reveal myself until I have backup. I have a camp set up not too far from theirs. Meet me there if you're interested.
-Leeroy

"What do you guys think about this one?" He said as he showed it to the rest of the group. This guy could have found a bandit camp, but then again, if it was just a bunch of regular Pokemon they would just be wasting their time.

[Lugia]

[Spruce]

I look back at Celes for a moment before getting a mission off of the board, and end up smiling for some reason. That was weird, why did I smile like that? Maybe I should focus on getting a mission... ugh, why am I always so tired in the morning? Some of the other pokemon don't have a problem with this. I think as I look over the board with a glazed look in my eyes. One of the missions jumps out at me, apparently there was treasure hidden in Foggy Plains, and this Gregory guy knows exactly where to find it... he just needs a capable team of explorers, most likely us, to help him out. I wake up a little bit, and tear the mission statement right off of the board. I then run back to my team and say "Guys, I've got a mission, let's go!" After that, the smell of breakfast hits me like a truck, but, I figured I could skip that today, after all, what was the worst that could happen, right? We'll be a five-pokemon exploration team for a little while, so I could probably just go on without breakfast. I just hope my team doesn't hate when I get hungry during the exploration... I then think as I still hold up the paper, which, now that I look at it, had a little map pointing out the location of Foggy Plains to anyone who, well, took the mission. On the front, it said...
~~~
Attention, explorers!
I, Gregory, have finally found the location of the famous treasure that was apparently
hidden in Foggy Plains for generations. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that
treasure might be, but from the tales that my dad used to tell me, it's going to be a
good one! The only problem is.... I'm not tough enough to get through this place on
my own. If an exploration team would like to help me out with this, I will split the
treasure with them, thanks in advance
~Gregory
~~~

---

[Anthony]

After eating a huge breakfast, my first one this week, I head over to the mission boards, where Josh was mulling over some random mission involving shady folk and Crystal Chasm. I finish the apple that I brought to the boards with me, and try to pick out anything that would make me not want to go. Hm... new area, that's nice, putting an end to these shady folk, that'll work, and, hm... reward... oh, here it is, 400 poke. Not bad. I think as I read the mission statement. I then say "Yeah, let's do that one! Um, I like that mission, I mean." I tried to hold in my enthusiasm, but it didn't work all too well. Of course, that could have been just because I always felt much more awake and energetic early in the morning for some reason. Apparently, it was unusual for a pokemon to be so ready to go in the morning, after all, Spruce looks like he just left a graveyard rather than a nice, comfy bed with those glazed-over eyes. Thankfully, just before things got too weird, he perked up and ran back with a mission in his leafy hands. "So, are we leaving now, or are you guys going to have breakfast, first?" I ask the rest of my team, who were all gathered around the board. I then notice a bellsprout, a slugma, and a ponyta somehow climb down to the mission area. The poor bellsprout seemed nervous about something, and the trio seemed to be some sort of exploration team... strangely enough, however, it seemed as though the bellsprout was the leader... weird.

[Evanist]

Celes looked back at Kamina, and then facepaw, shaking her head, before looking at Spruce, a look that was saying why the heck did we have Kamina in our team anyway... She then let out a large sighed, before going and fallowing Spruce, before noticing that he was not going for breakfest. Well... last night she had gathered more of her food portions and had them ready for later on. She looks at Spruce calmly.
"Well... I guess we could do that mission. And seeing treasure might actually be really fun. I am in!" she then says happy. She then goes near Spruce, ready to leave. What would thy find? Gold? Poke? A infinite supply of gummies? She did not know, but she could not wait to see what they would find. It might end up very nice. Just then she heard Arnold continue on with the Bidoof, before Archie stepped in, trying to calm Arnold down and try to reason with him. At least... at least he was not putting 1 + 1 together and trying to get her in trouble with her familly.

[Noire]

"Eh.." Hex pondered it for a moment. The last full meal she had was a couple days ago. She had a large bowl of honey, which she slurped up quickly, considering she couldn't really eat solids. But then, she could go for a good few days without eating and keep going like a steam train. She was still excited about the whole explorer thing, and finally being free. "You know, I'll keep going. Josh and Matt, if you guys wanna have some breakfast, that's fine." She decided, turning to the Reuniclus and Skrelp. "I can just wait here until you guys are finished with your food, unless you want to go now.

Hex turned her attention to the new group of explorers that had just arrived. The group consisted of a Bellsprout, Ponyta, and a Slugma. The leader, which appeared to be the Bellsprout, looked nervous, his black beady eyes darting around. She raised a brow. A Bellsprout? A leader? That was new. Most of the ones she had encountered had no spine, no shadow. They were cowards, and.. Hex shook herself out of it. Her mother had drilled some stereotypes in her head that she couldn't seem to get out. That was one thing she hated about being trapped there. She was forced to look at the world in a whole other way.

She fluttered over to the group. "Hey, you need some help?" She asked, directing the question at the Bellsprout. "You look a bit.. nervous."

[Card Captor]

"Any adventure is just fine with me!" Kamina exclaimed "think about it; an epic quest for a long and forgotten treasure, doesn't that sound exciting!? Sure, I have no idea what I'm going to do with treasure, but hey, this isn't about the treasure itself, it's about the search for it. An adventure like that is worth more then the treasure itself to me. Just thinking about it fills me with intense energy...we must go at once! Where's the other one, that strange looking Magnemite who's name I don't think I've heard yet?" he asked, looking around for M. Something that was a lot harder then it sounded since he had to jump up in the air to turn himself around "hey! Magnemite guy! Where are you!? Hurry up, we got an epic quest to embark on! Don't make me roast your...your...your" that that's when Kamina realized something, something so absurd the very idea of it had never even crossed his mind "dear sweet Arceus...Magnemite's don't have an ass!"

[KaBling]

((As awkward as this post may seem, I needed some time to respond to Evanist's post earlier, to which I wasn't allocated any during to my absence.))

I couldn't stop thinking negatively at myself. That dream obviously had something to do with Davis, but thanks to myself, I screwed up. Went off-topic and left little for that Porygon to respond. He wasn't Davis after all, despite the name in his anagram. Something was terribly wrong, and a cover-up couldn't be coincidental. Why erase my memories of last night? Sure, a message was sent, but then erasing it would've been pretty stupid.

"Hmmm...?" I slowly floated upwards, attracting bits of lint. Like many others in the room, I had heard some rather damaging rumours. I wasn't tired; rather, I wasn't used to the concept of sleep. Someone forced me into bed. I felt nauseated when echoes of voices talking about scarves and disappearing Pokemon began ringing in my head. Then it struck to me like last night - I had a concussion. Heh; the last time I had a concussion was when I was barged into a tree, when floating upwards to reach a seemingly-glowing Sitrus berry. I wearyingly managed to hover out the room, forcing off lint and some fur. Fur? What the...? I was shocked to find fur on myself. No, I wasn't growing any. Rather, someone had slept on my bed while I was getting bashed in my head. Upon close inspection, the colours of red and dark brown had reflected in the sunlight edging off my magnets. "I suppose some people are that desperate for a place to sleep." I came to a shoddy conclusion that I knew was wrong. Yet, what could I do about it? Was I assaulted in bed by a Pokemon with fur? That conclusion was the best one, and it also happened to suit myself.

"Eh... my head." I muttered, dragging myself from the once-crowded corridors of Arnold's guild. "Morning." It often annoyed me how just one word was acceptable for greetings. I expected more effort going in their acknowledgement of others. At least until now, when I experienced first-hand why they often didn't even bother. "I think I was assaulted in the lobby, because I've got a concussion and can't remember what I did for 30 minutes that night."

"That brings me to the present." With strength in my rotation, I reluctantly (in dull pain) turned to Celes, who fashioned a handmade-scarf, crafted by... Spruce, by the looks of it. "Celes, would you please explain - KINDLY, because I've got a concussion - why there's a bounty out for your head? (Or something; I haven't been remembering things well lately.)"

[Evanist]

Celes looked at M, then looked down, growling a bit.
"Do I really need to explain everything.... Fine... Here why I just want to get away for a while. You see... I am not a normal eevee... I kinda.... Am able to sense ghost types nearby... Each time there one, i kinda feel it and know if it is coming closer or not, without having to hear it." she then says, then breathing deeply.
"It all started when I sensed ghost types near my famillies gardens one night. Some crooks were trying to steal from us. I warned my familly about them, and we fought them back... But I was not able to fight them cause of my move set as well as the low strength I had. My mom had to protect me a couple of times...
After that my mother and father really wanted me to evolve so I would not be in danger from attacks like these again, but I did not want to evolve... I did not want to be like one of my brothers or sisters. For 2 weeks my life was hell, each of my familly members trying to make me evolve into what they were, trying to make me evolve. Burns, shocks... Wet fur as well as freezing cold. I had suffered so many of those while they were trying to make me change. My parents usually stopped them, but they were trying to change me also, telling me it would not be like that if I were to evolve into what they were. I had enough... Enough of being pushed around, enough of not having my own decisions. I wanted to be free to do my own choice, free to do what i want with my life." Celes then says, sadly.
"Now you understand why they are looking for me... Why I do not want to come back. Not before I evolve into what I actually want, even if I am not sure yet." she says

[KaBling]

"Celes. Whenever there's a situation like this, you have to explain fully what you did in the past. Before it comes up." I said softly, yet sounding a bit authoritative.

Don't chastise me over the irony of this. It's not like Davis is out to kill me; it's the other way around. Or something completely different, say a peaceful reconciliation.

"Now..." I strained my eye to deal with the sudden increase of pain. "Where I came from, Pokemon like myself were discriminated. Yet, there would always be this group, dedicated to our safety. Full of Pokemon not unlike myself, and others who we unlike myself." I lied. I wished that was true over a decade ago, but of course life wasn't fair. "We are that group, similarly. I don't expect anyone here to be bastards to turn you in for profit (excluding myself, but you get what I mean). The main problem is if you get caught, and if that happens then... well, Spruce's reputation will be tarnished, I'd have to return to my community, Kamina... something bad, and you definitely won't be better off." I would've added 'your family will probably play Ruszian roulette with those three stones,' but that was too graphic. Plus, Celes didn't need to be disturbed to the point where she'd go crazy to avoid her family.

"Point is, we can always try to look out for you, but you have to explain yourself first." If I thought differently, I'd say I sounded like I wanted her to turn herself in. "Arceus, I need something to take the pain away."

[Lugia]

[Spruce]

I overhear what Celes was saying about herself, about how she wanted to choose her own evolution, her own path in life. That certainly seems like a valid reason, I mean, at least she ran to the guild instead of somewhere like Birchwood Forest. I suppose I should feel lucky, then, that my parents let me choose my own path in life. I think as I start heading towards Foggy Plains. The place was over to the west and thankfully, there was a way to get to it without entering Treasure Town. "Alright, everyone, let's go." I say to my team before heading off. I made sure that my team followed me, and slowed down just to make sure everyone was able to follow me to this new area. Surely nobody would want to miss out on this, not with the possibility of a long-forgotten treasure in a place that didn't seem like it had pokemon that were too tough for us to handle. That was when I overheard M saying something about Celes turning herself in... or something similar, "Celes isn't turning herself in, she should be able to choose her own future, and, uh, she's a vital part of the team by now." I say in response to what M was ranting about. Oddly enough, I didn't have any memories of exploring this place with Vine, though, he did tend to leave me out of his explorations after a while, this didn't seem like the kind of place he wouldn't take me to. After following the map and hardly looking up from it, I finally reach my destination, or, no, wait, I got lost, somewhere and ended up on the opposite side of Arnold's Guild. "Uh... whoops... is there anyone here that's good with maps?" I ask my team, somewhat embarrassed that I led us in some sort of giant circle. I turn back to see my team and notice Celes wearing that vine scarf I kinda made for her, and decide to try to not smile... this time, it actually worked, though, the expression I WAS making to cover up my smile was probably hilarious, and not an actual expression.

---

[Anthony]

Hex flew off to try to help the bellsprout, and Josh wasn't being very responsive for some reason, so I had to sit and wait as the bellsprout said something along the lines of "W-well... I'm supposed to be the leader, right? Well, I'd just like to have a team where I don't have to run for cover every time one of my teammates attacks. I feel like such a coward, and you probably think I'm a coward, huh?" of course, I wasn't paying much attention, and that bellsprout could have said anything, but that SEEMED to be what he was saying. I guess not everyone can be fearless, like me... ah, what am I thinking? That's stupid, I mean, I am afraid of spinarak... oh, and its evolution. Well, those and seviper, possibly even ekans and its evolution, too... heck, even espurr gives me the creeps. I think, getting completely off-topic for a while and somehow ending up listing all of my fears in my head. I had almost forgotten what my original thought was, but, it did keep me busy. I then notice Spruce take off somewhere, obviously on his own mission, which I'd rather be on than just standing around at the guild and probably make a mess of the place just due to the fact that I'm a very slimy pokemon. Of course, their cleaning standards can't be that high, they have a grimer as a fellow apprentice of the guild, though, the do tend to keep him outside, with the rest of his team, a trubbish and a koffing. Of course, that doesn't mean that they are never inside, they're just not in here as often as myself, Spruce, or our teams.

[Noire]

"Heh.. heh.." Hex chuckled nervously. "Noooooooo..?"

She briefly turned back to Anthony, Josh, and Matt. This was getting a bit awkward. The Bellsprout had knew exactly what she thought, so it must've been picked on a lot. She turned to the other two members of the Bellsprout's team, a Ponyta and a Slugma. Two fire types and a grass type on one team? That was new. Must've been pretty intimidating for the "leader" if his teammates could easily knock him out whenever they wanted.

"You know, I'm sure you're not that cowardly." Hex said, trying to soften the blow. "If you were bold enough to get into the explorers, you're not at all cowardly."

Well, he might still be cowardly. Arnold let anyone in. But Hex was sure that the Bellsprout could just use some.. work around the edges. Maybe mix in some boldness with that fear he was always feeling. If this Bellsprout kept going like this, always hiding behind his teammates, she doubted he would really get anywhere in the explorers, or he or his teammates could get seriously hurt. And she didn't at all want or need that.

"So, you want new teammates?" Hex asked, glancing between them. "Or you want to learn how to work with your current ones?"

[Evanist]

Celes listened to everything, from M going about and demanding more explanations, to Spruce saying to move on. Celes looked back at M while they were walking.
"Look, I want control in my life, control of what I will become. I do not want to end up like one of my sibblings without having choosen it. I was getting hurt back there. I wanted to get away. Case close. I do not want to speak about it more, cause it might attract unwanted attention." Celes then says. She then continue to move on, fallowing Spruce into the opposite sides of the guild. She looks at him as he was looking at her with a very strange expression, covering something. What was with him? She did not know... Was it... No... Probably not.
"Well... I could try..." she then says before going and looking at the map, thinking.
"Lets see... We should go west from here, continue on, try to find the road. Also, with the whole fog thing, we might want to be careful. We would probably end up lost or seperated. So we need to stick together...." she says. She breath deeply, thinking and looking back at the group, before looking at M.
"Also, uhm... Maybe we will need help with the map. I am not too great with these kinds of things anyway. M, think you could help a bit in this?" she then asks

[Card Captor]

Kamina began to weep great manly tears "Celes...your story has touched by burning soul. Such a sad and tragic tale, to have one's home become such a hostile place...surely you must have suffered greatly." By this point, the total volume of tears Kamina had released was more the twice the total mass of his body...somehow "It's decided! Celes, I will stand by your decision to forge your own future! Should your family come to strip that freedom from you, I will gladly put my life on the line and fight by your side!" He boldly declared

[Riddles]

Josh was still examining the mission statement. There was no way for them to know what this guy looked like, or even what species he was. Josh sighed. "This might be a bit harder than that other mission with the Emolga. All we know about this guy is his name, and that he's probably alone."
Matt took a quick glance at it. "Odd. If he wanted us to find him, why wouldn't he include a picture, or at least a description?"
"Don't know. We might still be able to find him, though. If we see a small camp with only one Pokemon, that's probably him."
Matt shrugged. "Fair enough."

Josh looked over at Hex. She was talking to another team - a Bellsprout, a Ponyta, and a Slugma. They went over to join them.
"So, what's going on over here?"

[KaBling]

"As plausible as that may seem, your family thinks otherwise. And now so do the authorities." I would've continued on, droning away until Spruce interjected. "The best we can do..." I stopped momentarily to think. "You can either continue hiding from them and risk everyone's life, or you could confront the authorities yourself and inform of your reasoning to run away."

My headache must have gotten to me. I didn't know how we managed to get into the Foggy Plains without outside support. This place was notorious for getting Pokemon off-track, whilst endangering their lives at the same time. "Alright, please don't speak too loudly unless you want me to die from a headache." I moaned. I silently leered at the landscape, trying to keep an eye out for any hostile Pokemon. So far, so-

"Please! I have a headache." I shot up into the air before returning to eye-level with the others. "The frequency of your voice now sounds like a chess grater." Then, they mentioned a map. "Give me. Chances are, nobody taught you about geography. That's why only a few people can read maps nowadays." I muttered rather loudly, shooing off a little cloud of mist and letting an arc of electricity off as a result. "Damn moisture. I might electrocute people, because water is a conductor. Air is a insulator, but of course it can also be a conductor if there's enough voltage." I spoke keeping my eye on the map and fearing that I'd get attacked soon. After all, I wasn't keeping an eye out, and I swore I saw something shifting around a tree. "In this case; it's a combination of the two, otherwise there wouldn't be fog present."

"...I can't use this bloody map. There's no latitude or longitude, and we don't even have a compass with us. Whatever happened to the art of geography..." I sighed, handing back the map and analysing-

I snatched it back from someone's hands, possibly back from the air. "Wait... if I'm correct, we're about two minutes into the plains. Assuming we were going straight the whole time... we should be lost. Of course, the track started bending twenty seconds ago, so... just go up the little hill and we'll be at the heart of the plains." I rubbed my eye from the strain of staring at the map. "I'm only saying this, because the track itself is stated to run through the center of the plains; we went into a full circle and ended up back on this admittedly obscure track."

[Lugia]

[Spruce]

I was absentmindedly following M until he stopped, and I finally noticed that we were somewhere in the middle of the plains. A gible's shape could be just barely seen through the fog, and I, probably stupidly, headed towards it. The figure noticed me and ran towards me, revealing that I was right in assuming he was a gible. "Oh, so, you're the exploration team that's going to help me out with this?" He asked me, with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Uh, yeah... you don't sound too happy about that." I say to the Gible, who I'm guessing was Gregory, the one who sent that mission statement to the guilds. "Of course I don't, you don't exactly look tough, and there's only one of you." He responded, somewhat matter-of-factly. I then start heading back to my team, with Gregory following, though, he complained that we were going the wrong way until he saw the other three teammates. "Well, at least there's more of you. We should be good to go now, so, let's go." He then said as soon as he saw them. Of course, I didn't know my way around this place, but, I had to be in front if Gregory was too weak for this area. I ran out in front, and explained "Look, we're kinda supposed to protect you from harm... kinda hard to do that if you're out in front of us, right?" he nodded, and took his place behind me. I was hoping that Celes would be behind him, and M would go in front of me because, well, we can't have him behind all of us just in case we get attacked from behind, and I can't really lead anyone in a place like this. I simply stood there, waiting for my teammates to take their places, which seemed to annoy Gregory a little.

---

[Anthony]

"Well, maybe they don't actually know what these shady pokemon look like, or something." I said to Matt, who was one of two who actually was doing something related to the mission, and therefore, was doing anything that held my interest at the time. The two then head over to that other exploration team, leaving me alone to be bored again. I could almost swear that the sun was going to set before we actually got to do anything today, but, if this was what our leader wanted to do, then I'll just have to deal with it. "Well... these two are loyal, and would probably be pretty sad to have to leave my team, so, I'd like to keep them on the team." I heard the bellsprout quietly say to Hex, who seemed more concerned with that team than with her own at the time. Maybe I should head out on my own, I mean, what could possibly go wrong, it's just another mystery dungeon, right? I think as I look around for someone to kinda take my place. I find that bidoof who Arnold was yelling at earlier, and take off my helmet, putting it on him, and whispering "if anyone asks, just tell them that I'm trying the mission on my own." He almost blows it by asking something, but I cover his mouth before anyone could hear, and head off towards the cave. The outside felt somewhat colder without my helmet on, and it just didn't really feel right without it, but I had to do what I had to do... I mean, this mission wasn't going to complete itself, and those four would probably just talk forever, which was quickly wearing away at my patience, granted, I didn't have a lot of patience, but still... I had to do something about this, right? I could probably find my way to this cave, thanks to the map that was nicely drawn on the back of the mission statement... the cave in question seemed to be south from here. Easy enough, right?

[Evanist]

Celes movd behind Gregory, and then stood in guard, looking everywhere.
"Well, this is gonna be slightly hard to move forwards with all this fog... Wish we would have defog in this situation. I can't see far... But...." she says before smelling the air, taking large wifs.
"I do smell pokemons over ahead." she says. She then looks at everyone else, then back at M, that was complaining about her decision and such.
"Look, the problem was more of them trying to find me and such. I do not want to risk it with the autorithys, knowing full well that they might just ship me back home when I really don't want to. Once I evolve I will, but for now, I am staying clear from that house. They don't want me dead, they don't want me as a criminal, they want me cause they think I was kidnapped or lost, when the story is more that I decided to take my own path instead of the beaten path that were made for me." Celes then says annoyed a bit, and breath deeply.
"Lets just move... I feel like we might end up having quite some trouble if we don't move forwards. So get into position!" she then says

[Card Captor]

"Alright!" Kamina cried out "onward to adventure and excitement! Foes and deadly hazards may lie behind every corner, but if we stand united then we shall overcome them. Even this mist that stands in out way will turn into steam in the presence of our combined burning souls. We are strong, we are united!" He said loudly as he splashed closer to the group "I can see it in my minds eye even now; the end the long and perilous journey ahead of us. It may test us in ways we couldn't even imagine...but we will emerge from them stronger then ever before! Another evolution of the heart! Small, but part of a much bigger and grander whole! Onward my comrades, onward to adventure!"

[KaBling]

I rolled my eye. Because I rubbing it of dust with the map, which looked newer than me. "Excuse me, but you're still considered a fugitive either way. Despite the obvious difference in reasoning, they're still going to pay someone to hunt you down." I shot down her command. "You're definitely not breaking laws, but they're gonna treat you as such." I finished (to avoid rubbing it in), turning slowly away from Celes with my eye on her.

Which I soon regretted. I wasn't attacked, but the main issue was actually looking out for hostile Pokemon. I was supposed to be protecting our VIP (Very Important Pokemon) after all. Not only that, but this was another mystery dungeon; they wouldn't use the words 'mystery' and 'dungeon' just to give it a cool buzz. "Say, who exactly named these places?" I asked, taking my eye off Celes and flickering my field of vision horizontally. I wanted a different topic to talk about, especially as Celes' problem wasn't exactly for me to criticise about. I had worse problems, but it's not like I wanted a hot war going around. I just looked forward with my eyelid slightly down as usual, even managing to ignore Kamina's enthusiastic spirit somehow.

[Antarctic Termite]

That is who he chose. The Guild, its levels far from towering but by no means small, was the most visible structure of the town. To none more so than Kiera Shannon, whose lofty gaze stared far over most of Allure's residents and even some of its buildings. The Aurorus had wisdom enough to know that the building would become even more distinct in her vision now that her youngest son had chosen to make it his home. For a few seconds she simply stood in the sun, the wagon and masonry forgotten, attempting to divine the future. Yes, perhaps he may have chosen a teacher less worthy. Or a goal less noble. That's not why I am discontent. The wagon lurched, and Kiera was on her way again.

Some measure of her discomfort was that of any parent watching her child moving away. She had seen the process happen four times already in her other sons, but Carrol was not the same. Carrol had started earlier, taking his time, using others as steps, from Kiera and Aiden to Aloais to Arnold. His father passed on not long after Carrol began catching the interest of Alaois, and Kiera had been too passive to take him further on her own. Alaois let himself die after Etna's tragedy. Now Arnold would become the new master/obsession, but Kiera did not know Arnold beyond hearsay. Knowing that she had no real power over Carrol's destiny anymore was deeply unsettling.

Then there was the question of whether Carrol would ever find his final stepping stone. The Shannon's assumption had been that Carrol would start behaving like a leader once he matured and Alaois passed on, but now, evil seeds of doubt had sprouted in Kiera. The elder's death had interrupted his development, of course, but he had made no sign of moving on by himself... Or wanting to. Perhaps they had been wrong about his abilities, and Carrol would refuse to ever move out of the shadow of others. Kiera had no response to that idea.

He'll find his way. The mother tried to feel the warmth of the day, the joy of community, but thoughts are not always comforting. Oh, Carrol. Find the right way. Please. Singing a quiet hymn to Articuno, Kiera continued to the build site praying for guidance.

* * *

Carrol Shannon had never winced from, nor had he ever reveled in sunlight. The sun was where Pokémon worked, played, argued, where the rituals of interaction were strongest. In a settlement like this, sunlight was a way of life. Shannon's experience did not tell him he had a love for it.

Carrol didn't tire on the road from the Shannon's home on the outskirts. Allure was not large enough for that yet, and Shannon was grateful. To approach with much poise and energy was the idea. Shannon did not pause and collect himself before he tapped on the guild's entrance with his forehead; There had been time enough for that earlier. "You said to come a later time." He held his head high, his voice even. "The sun is up and others left already. I shan't delay much longer." The door swung, and Shannon nodded, moving inside. The guild's interior, on this floor at least, was bustling. Bands of Explorers, some rather curiously composed, milled about what looked like glorified notice boards. Badges glinted and conversation was engaged. An active environment, yes, though likely not the final destination for a newcomer.

"Wait right here, uh... Shannon. With luck you'll get a chance to check the place out soon enough." Shannon nodded, looking around keenly nevertheless. The guild's levels were divided by a stairway, to his relief. To hear that Wally's guild relied on a ladder had not been pleasing to the Amaura. His awareness remained keen until Shannon's mind finally projected an image of Arnold, be the Audino intimidating, welcoming, or authoritative, onto the steps, coming to inspect the newbie. The reality of the impending meeting intensified his anticipation. Soon. Yes. Shannon was silent, expecting to be impressed.