Chapter Text
One thing was abundantly clear: he shouldn’t have come in this far. He shouldn’t be there at all, to be honest. Chatot had known that from the start and yet, there he was. It was just- he’d wanted somewhere quiet to read his book where he didn’t have to worry about his mother’s judgement. And maybe he’d wanted a little bit of adventure, and perhaps he had assumed that Apple Woods would be a nice spot, considering he hadn’t realised that it was a genuine Mystery Dungeon. And could he really be faulted for then going further in once he had? It was all so interesting, what with the labyrinth of banks and trees that would sometimes shift into new patterns in the corner of his eyes and all. He’d heard so much about them and now he was getting to see one in person and-
Of course, that was precisely why he was in this situation now.
“Look, if you hand over the cash, we don’t need to hurt you, got it?” The Dustox loomed over him, the threat of a Poison Powder on his wings. Chatot leant back to avoid a few stray flakes, as much as the hard bank at his back would allow. He swallowed slightly.
“I don’t have any!”
“really?” The dust began to spiral as Dustox pressed closer. “Kid like you, this deep in a dungeon? Must have picked up something. Isn’t it only polite to share? I mean, what are you gonna do with that Poké!”
“W-Well, if it’s that easy to find,” Chatot retorted, before he could think better of it, eyes firmly on the wisps of powder, “Why don’t you just go and find some yourself?” his assailant leered at the stupid procovation, and he instantly regreted speaking. Too late to back down now though. He forced his eyes upwards. “A-And anyway! I’m pretty sure that as a Flying type, given type advantages, I could beat you. As a bug type.” Dustox grinned cruelly, and floated back back, staring at him for a long moment, clearly amused at Chatot’s false bravado.
“You’re pretty sure are you?” He finally said, a dangerous joviality to his words. “Well, I’m not going to argue with type advantage! I never was much good at those kinds of tactics. I think my pal Geodude would love to talk about it though!” Chatot’s heart plummeted as a boulder he’d mistook for part of the scenery uncurled it’s arms and began to approach. “He’s probably got a whole lesson to teach you!”
He could do nothing but watch as the pair advanced, as slow and deliberate as a thick lava flow oozing into a ravine. Unescapable. He was too pressed, there wasn’t even room to take off, let alone escape Dustox. Sweet Arceus, were they going to kill him? With the same hurriedness as a continental plate, Geodude drew back his arm. Squeezing his eyes tight, he waited for the blow, praying that the beating would be at least quick.
“Hey!” A shout cut through the clearing, pausing the approach of the thugs in their approach. Chatot opened his eyes in suprise. Behind the duo, a Jigglypuff wearing a small satchel broke through the trees, followed by a Cubone with a bandana tied at the neck. “Leave that Chatot alone!” equal parts relief and fear flowed through Chatot as Geodude and Dustox turned to the two interlopers. Despite their turned backs, he couldn’t bring himself to run. Flight, Fight or Freeze, his mother had called it. A rolling crack echoed as Geodude slowly balled up his fists.
“Yeah?” he rumbled, “Who’s making us? You clowns?” the newcomers glanced at each other. The Cubone gave a small shrug, swinging his club into his hand with an audible thwap. The Jigglypuff looked up with a look of defiance and a twinkle in his eyes.
“Team clowns wouldn’t be a bad name. We are always brainstorming!” He took a step forward, landing in a combative stance. “And, to answer your question: yep!” Cubone nodded seriously, flowing into his stance. His skull shifted slightly as he raised his head.
“I’ve trained hard with both my grandfather and the guild. You will not be getting off easily.” he said with a steely glare. Chatot’s assailants glanced at each other, and Geodude shrugged.
“Should be a laugh,” he said, “Look like a couple of rookies to me. Beat ‘em and then the bird.” There was a tense second, and then both sides exploded into movement.
Afterwards, Chatot was amazed. He hadn’t expected the outcome in the slightest- statistically speaking. Dustox was a fully evolved Pokemon regardless of the relative weakness of the Bug type, while Geodude were known for their high defence. Meanwhile, Cubone was a first-form, and Jigglypuff were not known for being particularly formidable fighters. And yet, Guild training must have taught them something. They were, in short, a sight to behold as they fought, skilled and efficient. When Jigglypuff took a deep breath and began to Sing, Chatot prepared to pass out under its soporific influence. Yet it seemed to have been woven in an expert manner, with more control than most could manage, as only Dustox and Geodude seemed affected. Dustox wobbled mid air, pitching forwards into a dive towards a head first collision with the ground that came later than expected, interrupted as it were by a crack of bone on body as a perfectly timed Bonemarange hit, sending him spinning into the bushes. Simultaneously, Jigglypuff lept forwards, pummeling Geodude with a powerful looking Pound. He pulled out his badge, which glinted as it sent the limp form away in a flash of light. A twin flash lit up Dustox’s crash site, silhouetting Cubone’s crouched form.
“Are you alright?” Cubone asked, glancing over his shoulder as he straightened up. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?”
“What?” blinking away his shock and awe, Chatot shook his head. “Oh, no, they didn’t touch me. I’m quite alright, thank you. Your help is very much appreciated.”
“Is that your normal talking voice?” Chatot squawked in surprise as Jigglypuff’s voice unexpectedly came from right next to him. He hadn’t even heard him approach. His feathers ruffled irritably as he turned to him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know. All stuffy and that.”
“I am not stuffy!”
“Are too.” To Chatot’s indignation, Jigglypuff actually stuck out his tongue at that.
“I am not! It’s called manners!” He was definitely squawking now, but this Pokémon seemed intent on being as infuriating as possible. Although admittedly, he had just saved him. He supposed he had to let manners go sometimes. Jigglypuff just grinned.
“Okay! If you say so. I didn’t say it was bad . Hey,” he said, wandering over to where the path continued deeper in, conversation already seemingly forgotten. “Do you want to help us find the treasure?”
“Pardon?” Chatot blinked at the sudden change of subject. “Treasure?” Now that sounded intriguing.
“Yeah! The treasure of Apple Woods! It’s why we’re here!”
“Well, I…” he trailed off, considering. He should really say no. He shouldn’t push his luck, going so deep in after one last-minuet rescue. He should just take his book and go home, like Mother would tell him to, not go gallivanting off further with two Pokémon he’d never met before, one of whom was just very rude to him. Even if they were guild members. Especially if they were guild members. Powerful ones, at that. “Fine, then. I suppose it will at least be interesting.” Jigglypuff beamed, clapping his paws together.
“Yay!” he sang, bounding down the path. “This is going to be so much fun!”
“”It’ll definitely be an experience,” Chatot muttered to himself, “If he’s like that all the time.” Cubone laughed softly.
“Don’t mind him too much,” he advised. “He means well, even if he can be a little blunt.” humming his agreement, Chatot found he believed that. There was nothing even slightly malicious about him, he could tell.
They caught up to him as he stood deliberating at a crossroad, frowning slightly at each path.
“Everything alright?” Cubone asked.
“Hmm… yeah, I’ve just been trying to work out which way to go while waiting for you two.” he said, waving his paw between the two paths indecisively. Chatot followed his gaze.
“Is…” he started hesitantly. “Is the treasure in the deepest part of the woods?”
“Yep. In the deepest deep part. That’s what we’re trying to figure out!”
“How do you normally do that?” Jigglypuff hummed thoughtfully, kicking at a rock.
“Well, normally we just pick a random path and follow it until we get where we want, or until it ends!” he admitted with a laugh. “We don’t really have a method! It's just gut feeling!”
“We end up walking around for ages, unless we have a luminous orb,” Cubone added. “Part of being an explorer, or so I’m told.” That wasn’t quite what he’d expected. It wasn’t very… scientific. Leaving something as important as exploring up to guesswork? Although, you couldn’t map a dungeon. They changed too much, and some of them messed up most navigational devices. How else could you navigate in a dungeon? Chatot stared up at the leaves, considering slightly as they swayed on their branches, as the others began to deliberate. Then he had a thought.
“What about the wind?” He asked suddenly. They fell quiet, looking at him with puzzlement.
“What about it?” Cubone cocked his head slightly.
“Isn’t there something about the wind in dungeons? It picks up massively, right?”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t worry about that! It only happens rarely, you have to be in for hours before a dungeon tries to blow you out!” assured Jigglypuff brightly. “It happened to me once! It was pretty fun!” Chatot shook his head.
“But it always blows out of the dungeon. So maybe we could follow it in? He suggested.
Cubone and Jigglypuff shared a look of consideration, before Cubone shrugged.
“Lets give it a go,” he said simply. Chatot felt excitement rise in him at the thought of helping a real life exploration team. Skipping over to a leafy plant at the side of the path, Jigglypuff bent down and picked a sprig. He brandished it triumphantly and turned back to them.
“We can use this as a test!” he announced. “Whichever way it's pointing, we’ll go away from!” Facing each path’s direction in turn, he considered the leaf until it caught the wind right. “Got it! C’mon!” Once again, he ran off down the path, leaving Chatot and Cuebone to follow behind as best they could.
“When you said ‘treasure’,” Chatot began, “I was expecting chests, and pokés, or rare potions and jewels, or well, anything except apples !” The so-called ‘treasure’ of Apple woods had turned out to be nothing more than a specific, large tree in the deepest part of the forest, and Chatot was less than impressed. Especially when tasked with collecting its fruits. He nipped at a particularly stubborn stem. “They’re not particularly impressive.”
“They’re not just any old apples,” Jigglypuff looked practically offended at Chatot’s sacrilege. “They’re perfect apples!”
“And that means…?”
“That they’re the best!” once again, he stuck out his tongue. “Duh.”
“Perfect apples only grow here,” Cubone interjected, “so I guess they’re sort of treasure? Because they’re so rare” Chatot just huffed, sending another apple tumbling down from its tree.
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful though.” he clarified. “I do obviously appreciate your help. And I suppose if this is a way I can pay you back, well,” he pecked again, the apple landing in Jigglypuff’s waiting paws. “I have to somehow. I’m not sure how much a rescue usually costs, I must admit.” He trailed off, contemplating. Rescues could be expensive, he knew, but surely that was for more treacherous dungeons? Apple Woods couldn’t result in too high a cost, he hoped. How would he pay it without his mother finding out, on top of it all? A raspberry, courtesy of Jigglypuff, pulled him away from that spiral of panic.
“Don’t worry about that ! You weren’t a mission, so there’s no reward needed. We already did our missions, anyway, so don’t worry about that!” A thought seemed to hit him, and he turned to Cubone. “Hey! We might actually get a bonus for those guys we caught!” He glanced down at his bag, frowning. “Aw. I think that’s all I can carry now,” he observed, a little sadly.
Arriving in the guild was disconcerting. Never previously having need to, Chatot had never warped before. Cubone braced him as he stumbled a little, blinking away the light’s glare.
“Careful.” electing to ignore the grin in his voice, Chatot muttered his apologies, too busy taking in his surroundings. They stood in a large room, round and airy, plain wooden beams arching in ordered rows above their heads, meeting in a sunlight in the center, directly above them. The room was busy, too. About a dozen teams milled about, checking boards, debriefing, and simply chatting. It buzzed like the village square on festival days. A flash caught his attention,not far from where he stood as a Nidorina appeared. She looked around, with a look of confusion and awe that matched Chatot’s own. There was a crash as a Rhyhorn, who’d been waiting anxiously by the wall, charged into her. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they both seemed incredibly relieved. Looking around, Chatot noticed with a start that Jigglypuff and Cubone were no longer next to him. Jigglypuff was found easily- he was talking animatedly to another team, a Clefairy and a Togepi, laughing loudly and often. Just as Chatot began to feel anxious, wondering if he was supposed to go somewhere in particular, Jigglypuff looked over to him and grinned. He called something to the others, and bounded towards him.
“Guys! This is who I was talking about! Chatot’s pretty cool, you’ll like him a lot!” Wondering what exactly in their adventure had qualified him as ‘Cool’, Chatot nodded at them. If it wasn’t for how genuine Jigglypuff seemed to be, he’d assume he was being set up for a prank. “Chatot, this is Cleffairy and Togepi! They’re friendly friends, and they’re in a team called Team Space!”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Chatot offered awkwardly. They smiled pleasantly at him.
“Jigglypuff said you helped him get his apples?” Togepi asked. Chatot nodded.
“Yes, uh.” He needed to say something more. “Yes, I helped him out. In thanks for saving me. Um.”
“Gosh.” Chatot cringed slightly, conversations with strangers weren’t his strong point.
As Jigglypuff jumped into a dramacide explanation of Chatot’s help, a Solrock floated over to the group..
“We have a couple of jobs now. All sorted,” they told Team Space. “Shall we get going?” Noticing Chatot’s guide, they blinked slowly in acknowledgement. “Jigglypuff. It is good to see you. Now if you’ll excuse me and my team.” Jigglypuff exchanged goodbyes with the team, promising to talk again soon.
“Aren’t they nice?” he asked, once they were gone.
“Very,” Chatot agreed. “Are they part of the guild? They seem to be good friends of yours.”
“Oh, no,” Jigglypuff laughed. “Well, yeah, we’re friends, but no, they’re just hobbyists! They come up when they have time to do missions, so about once or twice a month. I don’t see them much, we’re all so busy!”
“Jigglypuff! There you are!” A new voice cut across the room, and Jigglypuff blanched slightly.
“Whoops!” he grinned. A large Machoke strode towards them, annoyance clear on his face.
“How many times do I have to tell you,” he complained, flinging out his arms. “Sign in when you warp in! I’ve been waiting to debrief you!” A finger was waved threateningly. “It’s a good thing I sent your clients home when you sent back the rescuees, I can’t have them waiting for you to turn your brain on!” The hands landed on the hips, as Machoke began to wind up to the end of the lecture. “Thankfully, Cubone had the good sense to clock in for you! But you can’t rely on that every time! It’s bad form! Honestly, I’ve told you a million times.” He shook his head. Chatot was beginning to feel uncomfortable simply witnessing the rant, and judging by his expression, his companion was feeling much the same.
“I’m sorry Machoke. I didn’t mean to keep them waiting, I just wanted to get to the end, and then when I got back, I was distracted talking to Team Space. I’ll try to remember next time.”
Crossing his arms, Machoke grunted.
“You know we have no problem with you reaching the end of a dungeon on your own, heck, we encourage it! But once you warp back in, you have to debrief as soon as possible.” Rant finished, his eyes seemed to fall on Chatot for the first time. “Who’s this then? New recruit?”
“Nope! Just a friend I met in the woods! He was a little lost, so I gave him a lift back!” Machoke nodded in approval.
“Right. You know how to get home from here, kid?” he asked.
“Oh,” he hadn’t thought of that. He didn’t even know which guild they were in. Potentially, they could be anywhere on the continent. “No sir. Not currently.”
“Okay,” Machop sighed. “‘Puff, sort him out. I’ve got more clients to deal with.”
Chatot dutifully followed Jigglypuff into a courtyard flanked by two more tents- the dorms and mess, he was informed. He glanced behind at the one they’d just left, the largest of the three. It was shaped like the shell of a Torkoal. Jigglypuff followed his gaze.
“Isn’t it neat? That’s our guildmaster!” Chatot stared at him.
“Your guildmaster? As in, Guildmaster Torkoal? The Torkoal?”
“Yup!”
“I… wow.” Even he knew about Guildmaster Torkoal. He was one of the most famous explorers ever, known to have discovered many priceless treasures. In his prime, it was said he was undefeatable, though there had been rumors of an intention to retire circling. They walked in silence while Chatot contemplated that.
“So, where do you live?” Jigglypuff asked as they reached the road.
“Near Cove Town.”
“Cove Town? That's only a few miles that way!” He gestured at the well trodden road. “We go there on our days off.” That sounded familiar. He thought he vaguely recognised a few of the Pokémon inside from a gaggle that would occasionally show up. “Do you want me to walk with you?”
“And make you walk all that way for nothing?” Chatot shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t dream of it. You’ve done more than enough for me! Besides,” he protested, “I can fly there in no time. Thank you, though.”
“Oh, alright then.” Chatot fanned out his wings, feeling the warmth of the sun on them. “We’ll see each other again, right?” Jigglypuff asked. “I enjoyed hanging out!”
“Oh! Uh! Of course! When you’re next in town, perhaps?” At Jigglypuff’s nod, he checked his bag was correctly in place.“Thank you once again. Goodbye!” With a few flaps, he took off home.
In a way, Chatot supposed, he was glad he’d gone on that little adventure. He hadn’t enjoyed the attempted mugging, obviously, but by and large, he’d had a good time. His book had been enjoyable, and he’d managed to get some high quality apples from it, which could placate his mother, given the disapproval she obviously had in store for him. Which. Maybe he should have considered earlier. Even if she grounded him, which she most likely would, the day had been worth it. He hadn’t expected Jigglypuff’s offer of friendship either. If that was what that was, of course. His words and request could have just been politeness, in his own way. It was entirely possible that he was simply that nice to everyone he met on the job, and Chatot was misunderstanding. It wouldn’t be the first time. And anyway, He thought decisively, banking to catch an updraft, It’s not like he needs any more friends. Everyone seems to love him! There was no way he needed a hanger-on like Chatot.
Still, though.