FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

• Pokèmon Mystery Dungeon - Chapter 3 A Shadow Fortified

The silence in the room was nearly absolute, Gauner's sensitive ears moved slowly as he lazed in his bed. Today was to be his first true day as a guild pokèmon, his first day as a rescuer. His ears picked up the rhythmic sound of Gypsy's breathing from across the hall, their first day as a team.

With all that had happened to him in the last few days, he found that all he wanted to do was sleep the day away. Begrudgingly he forced himself to open his eyes. The room, having no window was still quite dark, very little of the pre-dawn light that filtered in through the window in Gypsy's room made it across the hall.

It was perfect, he had a preference for the quite calm dark and was very happy to discover he had picked the right room. He looked across the hall to where Gypsy was laying in her own bed. Without doors on the rooms he was able to see her sleeping form clearly. She lay on her side with her back to him, a single blanket draped across her slowly rose and fell with her breath.

Such a calm peaceful morning, despite his usual nocturnal preferences, he was truly enjoying the birth of a new day. Since deciding to leave his cave and travel to find a new home his days had been filled with excitement and trials, even the few days spent at the cozy little inn had seemed a rush, there had been so many new things to experience and learn. He knew that today would be filled with similar excitement, but for now he just wanted to enjoy the stillness of the morning.

He slowly rose to all fours and shook his sleep mangled fur back into order before beginning his usual start of day stretch. He extended his fore legs out and pushed his hindquarters into the air feeling his spine pop and adjust. He could hear Gypsy beginning to stir as he began shifting forward, stretching the nights stiffness from his muscles and joints.

He had just finished his maneuver while watching Gypsy extend her arms, letting out a wide yawn when the door in the common room burst open, "Team Shadow Strike! On your feet, morning muster in the training grounds in half and hour!"

The door slammed shut as soon as the booming voice stopped. Gauner was so startled by the sudden noise he had slipped from the bed and now lay tangled in the bedding on the floor, his fur comically puffed in every direction. He gave a wide eyed look to Gypsy who was now standing in her doorway, laughing loudly while tying in vain to silence herself by covering her muzzle with her paws.

"I'm sorry Gauner, I know I shouldn't laugh but you should see yourself right now." Gypsy walked across the hall and into his room. He had been attempting to extract himself from the bedsheets and had so far only managed to become further entangled, he knew there was a reason he didn't like the damn things.

She pulled the sheets away to allow him to free himself, he quickly bounded away from the ensnaring mess, "Are we going to be woken this way every day?" He asked her as she returned his bedding to its proper location.

"Oh no, not every day. Only on days where we are expected for either training or special assignments." Gypsy said while spreading his blanket smoothly across the bed, "Although, I should warn you that as a new team, and you as a new member, we will probably be doing a lot of training."

"As long as there is a point to it I suppose I can take it." Gauner grumbled, he was in no way thrilled over the prospect of this being morning routine, but resigned himself to it all the same. Anything to keep going on his current path.

"Well, no time for breakfast before muster. Leave your hat and bags for now. We should be given time after muster to eat and gather anything we need for the day." Gypsy spoke while leading the way through the common room and into the hall.

Gypsy had taken the role of leader in their partnership, it had been a long time since he had to follow anyones orders, but he found that he didn't mind taking direction from his friend, "Okay. Also, what is a 'muster'" Gauner asked as they walked to the stairwell that would lead them directly to the training grounds.

"Muster means to assemble to make sure everyone that is supposed to be there is, as well as to give the days assignments and responsibilities." Gypsy explained as the quickly rounded the flights of stairs to the ground level.

Gauner nodded in understanding as they passed through the open doors into the training grounds. There he stopped dead in his tracks, despite the early hour the grounds were already beginning to fill up. Even though the grounds were completely surrounded on all four sides by the guild building they were impressively large.

Everywhere Gauner looked there were pokèmon training, practicing using attacks, repeatedly lifting or dragging large objects or just running laps around the grounds. He followed Gypsy past a group of pokèmon that were throwing a medium sized leather ball back and forth, he wasn't sure what that was supposed to do until a healthy looking female Mienfoo over extended and missed the ball causing it to land next to Gauner with a heavy thud.

"Sorry 'bout that foxy. Roll it back over here would ya?" The Mienfoo called to him with a suspiciously cheeky grin.

Gauner pushed the ball with his head and was surprised to find that it was in fact quite heavy. He hadn't figured it to be light from the sound it's impact had made but try as he might he could barley move the thing. He could hear the other pokèmon laugh as they waited for him to return their ball.

He realised now that he had fallen into some sort of joke, that they didn't expect him to be able to move the ball. Refusing to seem weak in front of the new pokèmon, not to mention his new partner, he put everything he had into it and managed to get the ball rolling, keeping the momentum he was able to roll it back to the Mienfoo.

She easily picked the ball up and looked down at him with a smile, "Your a lot stronger than you look. Thank's a lot foxy." She then turned back to her group and heaved the ball over to a stout Machop who caught it easily .

Gauner wasted no time getting back over to Gypsy and away from the group with the heavy ball. When he was once again walking beside her she spoke, "I'm not going to lie, I'm impressed. Those balls are for training upper body strength, they are filled with either solid stone or a heavy metal depending on how much weight is needed. They are not easy to move."

"Strength really isn't my thing, I've always relied on speed and stealth." He knew from their initial fight that he was the faster of the team, but that she outclassed him by far in strength, if they were to be a successful team he couldn't let her down, "I suppose I'm going to have to get stronger now too."

"Don't worry about that for now." She said while leading him to the center of the grounds where a large group of pokèmon were gathered, "We work in teams for a reason, each of us uses our own strengths to support the others. You are fast and super sneaky, that will work well with me. Besides, my training team back home was me and two Meowths, both of them together couldn't have moved that ball."

Gauner tried to imagine Gypsy teamed with a pair of Meowths, it seemed improbable, he added it to his list of things to find out more about that. They reached the assembled pokèmon in the middle of the grounds and took a seat near the edge of the group. They sat waiting patently as more pokèmon meandered in, some solo but most in groups of two to four with the occasional larger group.

After some time a loud bell rang once, all the pokèmon in the grounds stopped when it sounded, even the ones training away from the center group. Gauner hadn't really noticed how loud the grounds had actually been until the new silence took over.

A single high pitched voice began to speak over the assembled teams, Gauner looked but could not see the speaker, "Good morning rescuers. Today will be fairly lax, we don't have a lot of new jobs so I'm calling for a field day." A groan echoed from all those present, "I know this is not everyone's favorite way to spend there time but it is necessary. Any teams not dispatched on a job or assigned special training will need to report to Mr. Mort for your assignments."

Gauner looked to Gypsy and raised one eyebrow in question, she leaned in so she could whisper in his ear, "A field day means we are cleaning the guild headquarters. It's boring and hard work but it keeps the facilities nice."

Gauner nodded, even in the wild you had to keep your home clean, it made perfect sense to spend a little spare time keeping the guild tidy. The voice began again, "Everyone should get something to eat and check the duty board for their team's assignment for the day. Some good news for you all, there isn't much to do so it will be a half day for anyone on cleaning detail." The wave of relief that swept the crowd was clearly felt. "I only have one more announcement for this morning, we have a new team joining us today. Where is Team Shadow Strike?"

"Here sir!" Gypsy called out.

The crowd between the speaker and their selves cleared and Gauner got his first look at the speaker. He was a small pokèmon, standing not quite a foot tall. The pokèmon was covered in dark fur along his back with a while belly and face. On his face were two yellow markings on his cheeks, similar to the red ones on a Pikachu, Gauner assumed that they would also carry electricity. The insides of his ears as well as a flap of fuzzy skin stretched between his arms and legs were matching yellow.

This was another new pokèmon species for Gauner, but that isn't what stood out most, across the pokèmon's shoulder draped a green sash, held in place with a ornate gold pin, this was the Guild Master. Gauner looked at the small rodent like pokèmon in awe, this was the one that commanded the might of the guild.

The Guild Master smiled at them. "Well now don't be shy, come on over here and let me get a good look at the pair of you." Gauner and Gypsy walked over and stood before the Guild Master, "It's a pleasure to meet you both, I am Guild Master Kite. Welcome to the Tranquil Glade Rescue Guild."

"Thank you." Both Gypsy and Gauner replied. Up close he could now look into the Guild Master's eyes. His time living on his own in the wild had given him an excellent sense of another pokèmon from just looking in their eyes, the Master radiated power.

"As is custom for the first day, I will personally give you your assignment. After your morning meal equip your travel bags and report to Quartermaster Zack for outfitting. Afterwards stow your gear and report to Nurse Paula for a basic exam, then back here to Master Trainer Linn," he motioned to a stone faced Grovyle standing behind him, "Who will do your initial physical assessment. Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir!" Gypsy said with a quick salute.

The Guild Master gave them a quick nod and spoke back to the assembled group, "Alright then, your are dismissed, take your morning meal and report to your assigned stations. And remember to always move with a sense of urgency."

With that the Guild Master leapt to the air and glided back from the training grounds. All the assembled pokèmon moved off quickly in the same direction, Gypsy and Gauner followed.

"So... what are we doing?" Gauner asked as they walked into a new part of the guild.

"A lot, this is going to be a long day." Gypsy replied. She lead them through the room that was filled with long tables and they got in a line that was forming along the wall. "First things first, we need to eat. This is the mess hall. You can get two free meals a day here, breakfast and dinner."

The line moved rapidly and soon it was their turn to receive their meal. Gypsy gave their team name to a chubby Munchlax who wrote it down and handed her a wooden tray and placed on it two wood bowls and a single spoon. She then held them steady for a distracted looking Jynx who ladled out some strange thick grayish paste into each bowl from a large iron cauldron.

Gypsy led them past the rest of the line where the other present pokèmon were adding various fruits and powders to their bowls to a nearby table and took a seat, Gauner hopped up onto the bench and sat next to her. She pushed one of the bowls in front of him, "Grits, it's not the best plain but a light breakfast will be best for today."

Not one to pass up food Gauner put his muzzle to the bowl and began rapidly eating the pasty grey white mess, "It's not bad, not as good as an omelet, but still a lot better than what I used to eat."

Gypsy was clearly not enjoying her breakfast responded with a grunt between spoonfuls of grits.

"G'morning team Shadow Strike!" Said a cheerful Cubone with a heavy accent as he set his own tray down across from them.

A Rufflet jumped to the bench and slid a bowl from the tray before speaking to them, "I'm Elation, this is Zee." The Cubone nodded at the mention of his name, "You already met our fathers, Fitz and Noble, they said you two were good and we should introduce ourselves. So here we are, Team Wingbone."

"Wingbone?" Gypsy asked mid spoonful.

They both gave a little sigh before Zee spoke, "Well, Da' went 'n took da good name. So we just turned it 'round see?"

"I guess whatever works for you." Gauner said with grits dripping from his face.

"We're going to join Bonewing once we're good enough not to be a liability." Elation said before dipping her beak to her own bowl.

"Best of luck to you on that, your father's both seemed like good pokèmon," Gypsy finished off her bowl, picking up Gauner's empty, and licked clean bowl, she put them both on their tray. "I really do wish we could stay and chat, it was nice meeting you both, but it looks like we've got a full day today." She stood and gave Wingbone a polite nod. Gauner jumped down and did the same.

"G'luck today, if you need anyt'n don't hesitate ta ask. We're in room forty-two twelve." Zee said before returning to his breakfast.

Gypsy set the tray on a counter with several others and led them through the halls. They quickly ascended to their room and grabbed their respective packs before heading again to the ground floor.

They made several twists and turns as they went, walking at a brisk pace they passed a few other pokèmon to whom the gave a polite nod and greeting. Gauner noted that each of the passing pokèmon returned the salutations, he was thoroughly surprised however when one of them called them by team name.

"Nice to see our name sticks." Gypsy said as if on cue. "We're nearly to the quartermaster, It's been a while but I've been here before. My parents used to bring me here when they had business at headquarters."

"I was wondering how you knew where to go." Gauner said as they turned into a large room that was filled with shelves containing various items.

Before Gypsy could respond a very large Ratticate jumped down from one of the shelves to land between them, "Good morning rescuers! I was told to expect a new team for outfitting, am I right to assume that's you?" He said with enthusiasm while rapidly darting about them, opening the different sections of their packs, rummaging through their contents.

"Yes, that's us, Team Shadow Strike. You must be Zack then?" Gypsy said with the much larger Ratticate halfway inside her backpack.

"That's me." He said before dashing off to a shelf to grab an item. "You are set up pretty good but your friend here is missing basically everything." He spoke as he darted between shelves, snatching items and practically bouncing back to put it in their packs. "Don't you worry about it though. Basic equipment is required and paid for by the guild. I'll have you both geared up in no time. If you want any extras fill out a supply request and I'll get it for you."

True to his word Zack had them fully loaded and out the door in just a few minutes. Gauner was impressed with the large rodents speed and obvious skill in his work, shaking the pack a little he was pleased to find that while it's weight had increased quite a bit, it was perfectly balanced side to side.

After a quick trip back to their room to drop off their gear, Gypsy lead them back down to the first floor. They quickly made there way to the sick ward, Gypsy stopping to check a map conveniently placed on the wall, "Once you're able to read it these will tell you how to get to anywhere you haven't been before." she informed him before continuing down the hall. In very little time they were standing at the entrance to the sick ward.

"Okay Gauner, we're here for a medical exam. We will have to do one of these every so often. They will be touching and looking at basically every last part of you. It's embarrassing but it doesn't hurt so don't be nervous."

Gauner nodded but though to himself there was nothing anybody here could do to make him feel embarrassed. A very cheery Chansey, introduced herself as nurse Paula, and took Gypsy to the back first while Gauner waited patiently for his turn. After a few minutes Gypsy returned and motioned for him to go to the back.

Paula gestured for Gauner to take a seat on a large padded table in the center of the room. He jumped onto the table and sat while she looked at the paper in front of her, "Well Mr. Gauner, you are the first Zorua we have ever had in the guild. In fact, we don't have any record of a pokèmon called Zorua, or any mention of a dark type fox pokèmon that matches your description for that matter."

"My kind are very... reclusive. We don't usually go where others can see us." Gauner explained.

"I see, well I have nothing to measure against so I guess we will just have to go with basic checks here then." Paula said while setting down the paperwork and moving over to the table. "If you don't mind I would like to record your measurements for future reference."

"That's fine with me." If he was to be staying here he needed to help in any way he could,. After all, if he was sick or injured how would they know what to look for if it wasn't known.

She quickly went to work checking over Gauner's physical health. She peered into his eyes and ears, had him open his mouth while she depressed his tongue with a flattened stick and moved his lips to check his teeth. She deftly ran her paws around his joints checking the motion of each one as she worked her way from nose to tail all while taking measure of the length and diameter of his various parts with a cloth tape.

When she got to his hindquarters Gauner thought she was done and started to sit down again when she spoke, "Oh, not yet. Got a couple more things to check." She lifted one of his hind legs and looked between them, he figured this must be what Gypsy had warned him about. It really didn't bother him to be looked at and was not embarrassed in the slightest, until she reached a paw between his legs and grasped his sheath.

Gauner was no stranger to being seen, but nobody had ever touched him before. He quickly realised there was a big difference between seen and touched, he for the first time, found himself quite embarrassed,

"Sorry to get fresh here but there are a lot of illnesses in the wilds that can be checked for this way." Paula said while examining his sheath.

Gauner clenched his teeth unable to respond as she pulled back his sheath to expose his member, moving her paw to adjust she peered around his shaft. He knew about checking for illnesses this way, he had learned about it back home, but it was seldom called for and he hadn't ever been a recipient of such an inspection.

While the contact was strictly clinical, the young male still had to fight down the primal urges the contact spurred to keep himself under control. When she finally released his member he was quite relieved to feel it slip back completely into his sheath.

"One more check, this one isn't as bad." She said to him while lifting his tail to peer underneath.

He was still a bit shaken from her previous check he was very much relieved to have her on a portion of his anatomy he considered significantly less personal. This time he was not embarrassed and instead found himself curious as to what she could be looking for there.

He decided to simply ask, "What are you checking for now?" Nurse Paula released his tail and he turned to sit facing her. "In my tribe I was being trained to be a Shaman, a sort of healer and guide. But nobody ever mentioned checking that for anything."

"Oh? I didn't figure you to be the healer type. I was checking for blood flow, when pokèmon have certain illnesses, blood doesn't flow right and they pale. You can see it in some pokèmon easy enough, but anyone with fur, this is the best way. Are you interested in learning to be a healer here?" She asked with obvious interest.

"Sorry but no. I wasn't really interested in it back home, I wasn't given a choice, that's why I left." He told her flatly.

"Well that's a shame to hear. We always need more healers. It may not be your calling but it's always good to have someone with healing knowledge on a team, I would recommend you come get at least some basic training here when you have the chance." She said as she lead him back to Gypsy.

"I might just do that, thank you." he gave her a slight bow then turned and followed Gypsy back to the training grounds. Healing was definitely not his calling, but she had a point, it could be useful. Gypsy had some skill in healing, maybe he should learn at least a little more, after all, it might just end up being Gypsy that ends up hurt and needing it.

They walked together in silence most of the way back to the training grounds. Gauner was still feeling a little shook up from the inspection but mostly from the though of studying healing again. He had found himself somewhere new and exiting to live, though he had finally escaped his past, but now felt it returning to haunt him again.

He was deeply lost in his own thoughts when Gypsy bumped him with her hip to get his attention, "Last thing we were assigned was initial review. We are going to be given several physical tests, they will be hard and tiring. But we both have to do our very best."

"I will. What are we going to be tested for?" Gauner was glad to have something else to occupy his thoughts for the moment.

"They are going to be testing our current level of strength and speed, things like that. It lets them know what areas we need training on." Gypsy paused for a moment before adding, "Don't worry about them though, you can't fail. We just want to score as high as we can so we don't have to do any unnecessary training."

He gave her a quick nod, "My very best then, I can do that," The last week had been mostly mental exercise, He was ready for a physical challenge.

They briskly walked back into the training grounds and quickly found Linn, she had apparently been waiting for them. Gauner looked at the veteran rescuer, she was tall and very lean, he could clearly see each of her well toned muscles move beneath her green reptilian skin as she walked to meet them.

Again Gauner used his experience and felt for the power radiating from grass type. He was not in the least surprised to find that she also radiated pure raw power that far exceeded his own. Her every motion, every step, was clearly controlled strength.

As he watched her walk towards them he looked at her many scars wound and criss-crossed over her scaly hide. Even the natural leaves hanging form her wrists and flowing back from her head showed signs of damage. Whatever her past held, Gauner was sure it had been far rougher than anything he had endured.

"You two finished up quickly, I like that." Her voice was hard, with a slight rasp to it, "Down to the point, that's the way I roll. Move with a sense of urgency." She gave them what could either have been a slight smile or a sneer.

Gauner noted the use of the same phrase the Guild Master had used, it must be some sort of motto around the guild. He would look into it later, for now he needed to focus on the tests.

"If you are both ready we will start on the skids." Linn didn't wait for a response, she simply turned and walked quickly, Gauner and Gypsy both had to pick up to a mild jog to keep up as she led them across the grounds, without ever looking back to make sure they were following.

She brought them to a rack that had many different leather harnesses hanging on it. She grabbed two and through them to Gypsy, "Put those on while I get the skids set up.

Gypsy was putting her own harness on first so Gauner watched Linn. She had walked to a long flat looking cart. It had a single axle much like the one they had rode to the guild in, but where that one had been tall sitting on top of the axle so it rode well over the ground, this one was slung well beneath so it practically drug the ground. Linn loaded several large square cut stones onto the strange looking cart.

Gypsy, now finished with her harness spoke to Gauner as she fitted him into his, "This is a skid, the stones make it heavy. The idea is to pull it as far as you can, but there is a trick to it. You see the funny gears by the wheels?" Gauner wasn't sure what a 'gear' was but he could see several strange round objects near the wheels so he nodded, "Those move the axle back as it's pulled forward, the farther you pull it, the more weight that gets drug on the ground."

"So how do you beat the trick?" This seemed almost like a game to the young fox, he liked games.

"You can't, that's the point. All you can do is fight it as long as you can. Just keep the rope tight and keep the skid moving as fast as you can without running, keep your feet on the ground as much as possible." Gypsy instructed as she finished up with his harness.

"Your up first Gypsy. Let's see what you can do." Linn commanded, holding the rope out for Gypsy. Linn attached the hook on the end of the rope to a ring on the back of the harness before giving it a tug to insure it was secure, "When your ready."

Gypsy took a deep breath and surged against the harness, the skid lurching along with her. Gauner watched the gears turn on the skid, just as Gypsy had told him the axle moved slowly towards the back as she pulled. What had started as a rolling cart was rapidly becoming grinding dead weight.

Gypsy pulled until she was no longer able to keep traction and was simply scratching the ground with her feet without moving the skid. Linn had followed the skid the entire way, she looked at a mark on the ground before unhooking Gypsy and dragging the skid back easily.

Gypsy removed her harness as she walked back to return it to the rack. Gauner walked over the the skid dancing slightly to limber his muscles. Linn bent over and secured the rope to a ring that was between his shoulders, she paused before standing again.

Grabbing Gauner around the ribs she lifted all four of his feet from the ground. He tucked his tail tightly between his legs with his eyes wide, another new experience, he had never been picked up before. He was not enjoying the sensation of being held as she gentle hefted his weight.

"You're a light one, wait a minute while I adjust the skid." She returned his feet to the ground and wasted no time removing several of the stone weights. "It's supposed to weight about as much as the puller, that should be good for you. Whenever your ready."

Gauner swallowed once before putting everything he had into pulling against the rope. At first the skid moved deceptively easy, so easy Gauner was able to build up quite a bit of speed. Any illusion Gauner had that he was going to get distance for it was quickly dashed as the front of the skid began to drag harder.

In short time he went from pulling easy to struggling in vain against the immobile skid. He through all his weight against to rope making one final tug with all his might before being yanked down flat on his rump. He looked to where it had stopped and his heart sank, even with less weight he had only pulled it a little over half the distance Gypsy had.

Linn unhooked him from the skid and he walked slowly to Gypsy so she could remove the harness with his tail hung low, "I didn't pull it very far did I?"

"Don't look so glum, for your weight and build that wasn't a bad pull, not good mind you, but not bad either. You've got some work to do but nothing to be ashamed of there." Linn said as she pulled the skid to the starting position again. "We will do speed test next." She quickly walked off leaving Gypsy and Gauner to follow.

This time they were led to a short cleared path with benches on both ends. Linn positioned them near the first set of benches that were empty, on the far side Gauner could see colored rods setting on the others. Gypsy was stretching and limbering up again, so Gauner did the same.

"Easy enough on this one," Linn began, she held up a small grey candle, "I will start this time candle, you will run to the far side, grab a baton and come back. Place it on this bench and go grab another. You will move all of them but your final score is determined by how many you get before the candle is expired, make sure you stay in your lane while doing so. Are you both ready?"

This one Gauner knew he could do well on, he nodded along side Gypsy, taking a position in the lane beside her. Linn looked around for a moment before she motioned a small orange colored lizard over and lit the candle from the flame dancing on the end of his tail, "Begin!"

Gauner darted forward, rapidly reaching his top speed. The benches were far enough apart that he could accelerate fully. He dashed forward to his lanes bench and grabbed the first baton in his mouth. He was pleased to find it was simple wood and not something heavy. He turned to dash back and almost stopped, Gypsy was only a third the way across.

Recovering from his initial surprise at their difference in speed he dashed back to the starting position and placed the baton before turning again to sprint to the far side. This time he reached the end and grabbed his second baton just as Gypsy picked up her first.

"Keep it up, your doing great!" She shouted at him as they both turned to run back.

They continued to run back and forth while Linn watched, she kept the candle hidden from their view. Gauner finished quickly, ten, there had been ten batons. Gypsy he noticed had just placed her sixth and was half way back to number seven. He had started out much faster but she was keeping a steadier pace.

"Sit tight and rest while she finishes." Linn instructed.

Gauner was breathing hard, his tongue dangled limply from the side of his open maw as he panted, he plopped his rump down, swallowed once and went back to panting as he watched Gypsy run back and forth. Gauner was glad to find that his new partner managed to get all her batons across without slowing too much near the end. She, unlike him was still breathing steady when the tenth baton was finished.

Linn looked at them both for a minute before speaking in a lighter tone that before, "I'm not supposed to tell you what the measure is for any of the tests, but I will tell you this. You both exceeded what was expected by far." She turned to show the candle she was concealing sputter and die. "You are fast," she said to Gypsy, then turned to Gauner, "And you... Foxes are all fast, but you are well beyond what I was expecting."

"Thank you," Gauner said, a little surprised to be receiving such praise.

"Don't let it get to your head. This is an initial test. There are many faster pokèmon than you here. You are just beyond what is expected of a new member." Linn said, returning to her previous indifferent tone.

"I will keep that in mind." Gauner replied with a slight dip of his head. He had no delusions about his current skill, all it took was one look around the yard, there were many pokèmon here that he had no doubts could wipe the floor with him before he could do anything about it.

Linn leaned her head back and studied him for a moment before turning again to walk across the yard, "One more test, we need to know your reaction time and agility."

Gauner and Gypsy quickly followed the briskly walking Grovyle across the yard to a large clear area. Here Gauner saw something he couldn't quite comprehend, floating in the air were dozens of flat wood paddles. As he watched they moved about through the air without anything visible keeping them aloft, then without warning they would dive down and across the ground where there were several pokèmon, who would in turn dodge them.

Gauner recognised the pokèmon as the group from earlier with the heavy ball. As the paddles dove and twisted through the air they would all bend and weave to dodge them, or in the case of the less agile Machop block the assaulting paddles. Gauner watched the Meinfoo in awe as she dodged all the paddles with graceful, nearly dancing motions.

Suddenly all the paddles stopped and fell lifeless to the ground, the pokèmon practicing saw their approach and moved aside. Linn motioned for Gauner and Gypsy to take the places vacated by the team. Gauner noticed that there were small concentric circles drawn on the ground. He followed Gypsy's lead and took his place in the center of his group of circles.

Linn cleared her throat to get their attention, "Since neither of you have probably done this before, and there is some danger in this drill so I will explain. As the paddles move you will try to dodge them, if you fail to dodge one, it will hurt. You will stay inside the largest circle, the smaller ones are for more experienced teams to increase the difficulty."

While Linn was giving her explanation the Mienfoo and her group were taking seats around the field to watch them. Gauner spared a quick glance to look at the Mienfoo, she noticed his attention and gave a slight wave.

Linn continued in her explanation without seeming to notice Gauner's slight distraction, "If you are struck, continue to dodge as many as you can, use of natural abilities is allowed but attacks are not, if you can't dodge you may block but that doesn't count for as much as a dodge. If you think you have been injured or are unable to continue drop to the ground and the psychics controlling the paddles will stop immediately. Do you understand?"

Gypsy was a little apprehensive of the prospect, she looked over to Gauner, who was clearly excited. Well, couldn't be outdone now could she, "I'm good."

"Sounds fun!" Gauner said with a wag of his tail.

"Then lets begin." Linn motioned to a group of Kadabra sitting outside the rings to begin.

Gauner watched as the paddles levitated into the air. Close now he could see a slight purple glow from each paddles that matched the aura surrounding the psychic pokèmon. They lifted slowly and drifted randomly well over his head. He watched closely, always turning his head to see in different directions. He risked a quick glance over to Gypsy who was standing still with her eyes closed, he hadn't actually seen here use her aura sight before but correctly inferred that she was using it.

He returned his attention to the paddles approaching him and moved quickly to avoid one, he thought he was in the clear when the paddle he just dodged changed direction, slapping him hard in the side. Gauner bit back a yelp and spun wide eyed, he looked quickly to the paddle as if floated again to the air above him. Hearing a rush of air from his side he jumped and rolled out of the way as another paddle passed dangerously close.

Gauner now understood how this game worked even though all the paddles came from above their movements were completely random and a strike could come from any direction and change paths without notice. He looked back to see another approaching paddle just as unseen paddle stuck his hip, this one was moving slower but caused him to jump aside none the less.

The paddles continued to increase in speed, spinning faster and faster above him, swirling too quickly to watch them all he did his best to keep from being struck too many times. He wanted again to look to see how Gypsy was fairing but found himself far to occupied dodging his own paddles to look.

He managed to dodge most of the swirling paddles but was struck several more times before they all dropped lifeless to the ground. He looked to Gypsy who was rubbing her nose with one paw and her right hip with the other, guess he wasn't the only one to take a hit.

"Not bad at all," Linn said as they walked back to her, "You both managed to dodge most of the attacks without moving too far from the center. All and all I would say you are a fairly well balanced pair."

"That's good to hear." Gypsy said with obvious relief, "I was worried Gauner was too far ahead of me."

Him? Too far ahead of her? He may have more experience with the wilds but this was all new to him. "I don't know the first thing about any of this, how would I be ahead of you?" He couldn't fathom how she would have come to that conclusion.

"You may lack knowledge of the guild workings but it was pretty obvious from our fight on the road that you are stronger. Pretty sure if you knew about my aura sight that I wouldn't have been able to stop you." She told him.

"Sounds like a story to be told here," Linn said with a smirk, "A team that started with a street fight?"

"It's really not much of a story," Gauner said, rubbing a fore paw behind his head, "I was hungry and trying to take some food from Gypsy and she knocked me out for it." He was quite happy they couldn't see through his fur to see his blush, the more he learned about the guild the less pleased he was of his prior life.

"I'm nobody to judge your past, used to be a bandit myself actually, until Kite set me straight. Well Kite and a couple years breaking rocks in the mines." Linn explained. "Only thing I care about is what we need to do to get you in shape for work here."

"Where do we stand on that? I overheard that the skills tests are coming up in a few weeks right? Will we be ready for them?" Gypsy asked nervously.

"Well, the way I see it we have two choices; option one, we put you straight to work on non-ranked jobs and you score okay on the tests, option two, you both stay here on training detail and you score better." Linn said while holding out her hands as if weighing the options, "I usually go with option one since the guild gets more use from you right away, but, since Gauner is a newbie and he could use some classroom time, not going to get that if we send you out on jobs."

"So we do training until the tests and I do 'classroom' as well then?" Gauner asked.

"I think that's the best option for both you two and the guild." Linn replied. "Any questions?"

"What's 'classroom'?" Gauner asked causing Linn to give him an odd look.

"Like what we've been doing teaching you to read, you go to a specific room every day and learn about everything you need to work as a rescuer." Gypsy told him. "On top of training like everyone is doing in the yard here."

Gauner looked around at all the pokèmon working hard to improve themselves, "Sounds fun. When do we start?"

"That's what I like to here! I'm putting you both in my training class then, we start now. Follow me." Linn turned and started across the grounds again, but this time she jogged.

Gauner and Gypsy ran behind the speedy Grovyle to the far side of the yard where a large group of pokèmon were standing in formation stretching in unison. Gauner looked at the wide variety of pokèmon present, an interestingly diverse group. He also noted that Team Wingbone was present, as well as the heavy ball group.

"Sorry for the delay group, but I have some good news. Team Shadow Strike will be joining us from now until the skills test in three weeks." Linn called out to the group, "Shadow Strike, form up and let's all get started, were running circuits today."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" the entire group shouted in unison.

"No time to waste, move with a sense of urgency!" Again Linn used the same phrasing as she started running with the group.

Gauner saw that they were all staying in formation as they ran, so he did the same. He was surprised to see the handful of flying types also running with them instead of taking wing as he would have expected. They made two easy laps around the entire grounds before Linn called again, "Break formation, sustained run at team pace, flyers to the skies."

Gypsy fell in line beside him as the group took off at different speeds, "That means we run as teams now, at whatever pace we can maintain for long distances." She told him between breaths.

They continued to run in different formations and speeds for the remainder of the afternoon until Linn finally called for them to stop. They formed ranks and stretched again before being dismissed. Linn motioned them both over before they could leave. "Make sure you check the duty board each day, you will be training three days a week, classroom three a week, with cleaning and guard detail mixed in. Dismissed." With that she turned and left them.

"Six days work one day off, we've got three full packed weeks to get ready Gauner. Let's get some food and rest up." Gypsy told him as they walked from the grounds.

When they reached the mess hall they repeated the same process as they had that morning, except this time the Jinx served up some form of stew. Team Wingbone was in the same seats from the morning so they again sat across from them.

"Hello again, Shadow Strike!" Elation exclaimed.

"Hello to you, Wingbone." Gauner replied, he was beginning to like being addressed as a team and decided to try it himself.

"So yer bo'f with us n' da advanced group aye?" Zee said in more of a statement than a question.

"I guess so," Gypsy said while shoveling stew down her throat, clearly enjoying her dinner more than she had her breakfast.

Elation finished off her bowl and pushed it aside, "It's a good thing, means Linn thinks you have potential. But it is hard work so you better be prepared."

"Aye, class is da worst of it." Zee told them.

"Only for a bone head like you, I like class the best." Elation teased.

"Zee, I hope you don't mind me asking, but your speech is different than your fathers." Gauner said curious. Noticing his use of 'da's' in place of 'th's as well as his odd contractions.

"I dun mind," Zee said, then opened his mouth and pulled back his lip to reveal several missing teeth, "Had a fight wiff some stairs. Can still do most right, but some sound are hard."

"Ouch," Gypsy said looking at the gaps between Zee's teeth.

"Not so bad, day will probably come back when I evolve." Said Zee. Finishing the last of his meal he picked up Wingbone's bowls and stood, "Looks like it's our turn ta eat n' run."

"No problem, good evening Wingbone." Gypsy said to the departing team.

"Good luck with classes tomorrow," Elation said beginning to turn to leave she quickly added, "You might want to sign up for set classes tonight so you don't miss the start of one tomorrow."

"Good idea, thanks." Gypsy replied.

After Wingbone left they quickly finished their strew, Gauner again licking his bowl clean, this time he managed to steal Gypsy empty bowl and licked hers clean as well. Gypsy giggled at his antics before swatting him lightly, taking both bowls she placed them on the counter them with the other dirty dishes.

"I guess were off to go get our classes lined up." Gypsy said walking to yet another new section of the guild.

"Okay," Gauner followed behind thinking as they walked, "Um, Gypsy."

"Yes?" She stopped to look at him.

"Nurse Paula, she recommended I learn some healing. Is that something that I would do in classroom?" He asked.

"If you want to yes. Most of what we learn is determined by the Guild but you get to pick a couple extra subjects too." Gypsy explained, "I've always had an interest in human history so that's the first I picked back home. I do healing also so I guess we can have a class together then."

"Great, I learned a little back home but it's not really my thing. But it's useful so I want to learn more." Gauner told her while looking at his paws, "I would feel a lot better about it if you were there too."

"No problem Gauner. We're a team, I will help all I can." Gypsy gave his head fur a ruffle before continuing to the class wing.

They found the office for the classes with no trouble and were able to get their assignments from an elderly Persian who introduced herself as Hilfy, the Headmistress of Education. Linn had apparently sent word ahead and most of their classes were already assigned but as Gypsy had told Gauner they both had extra slots to pick. Gypsy of course picked Human History as her first and signed them both up for Field Healing. Gauner's second slot was apparently already filled in as Reading and Writing.

They thanked Hilfy and retired to their quarters for the evening. Gypsy assured Gauner that they would have plenty of time to explore the city most evenings. For tonight they were both too tired for it and spent the rest of the day talking about the various things too see in the city. As the evening grew later Gauner fetched his brushes and was about to groom his fur when Gypsy stopped him.

"We have running water here. It comes in from a tank on the roof through wood pipes. I think we are both overdue for a bath. Bring your brushes and let's go down to the washroom and get cleaned up proper." She said told him.

They descended the stairs but this time they continued past the first floor into the basement. Here there was only one large room filled with dozens of raised baths cut directly into the natural stone floor. The entire area was lit with bright copper lamps and had a quite relaxing feel. Gypsy led them past the first rows baths that were all occupied to an empty bath near the rear of the room.

Gypsy climbed over the lip of the bath and sank happily into the warm water, "This whole room sits on natural hot spring, they mix the spring water in with the tank water from the roof, the farther back you go the warmer it gets. Just don't ever try the last ones there." Gypsy pointed to the final three baths that had steam boiling out of them.

"What is the purpose of those?" even from the distance Gauner could feel the heat coming from the nearest of them as he climbed in and slipped into the warm water of their bath. While the edge was shallow he found that with one more step it was deep enough for him to swim, he paddled around happily.

"These are for fire types," replied a loud voice from inside the steam. A massive shadow rose from within the concealing cloud and stepped easily over the edge to the floor. The giant shape dripped boiling water as it walked to the edge of their bath in a thick cloud of steam. The steam rapidly boiled away to reveal a thoroughly soaked Flare, "They are quite nice actually."

"Oh! Hello miss Flare," Gypsy said to the big dog.

Flare suddenly shook violently sending steaming water flying in each direction, "Just Flare please sweetie. No formalities between friends." The now significantly dryer Arcanine laid her head on the edge of their bath nose to nose with Gauner, "Hey there cutie, how was your first day?" She gave Gauners nose a quick lick before he could pull back to speak.

"Uh, it was good." Gauner said nervously while looking down at his nose.

"That's good to hear. Linn said she put you in her class. That's impressive for a newbie." Flare leaned over their bath to give them both a lick on face and quick nuzzle.

Flare flipped her tail as she turned to walk off causing it to brush across Gauner's face. She walked away slowly, with a wide stance and her tail held high, pitching her hips seductively as they slowly swayed from side to side. The desired effect was quite obvious as it forced Gauner's eyes to focus on her sex as she sauntered away. She paused, turning her head with her hindquarters still on display, "You two cuties enjoy your bath, I'll be seeing you around." She said with a slight growl and a wink before resuming her slow walk out.

Gauner and watched until Flare was out of sight before turning his attention back to Gypsy and his bath, "She is a bit more uh... friendly... than I'm used to." He said scratching his head with a paw.

Gypsy giggled, "She is a bit more 'friendly' that anybody I have ever met." Gypsy giggled again before teasing, "She seems to like you, I sure hope you can handle her, she might just eat you otherwise."

"Don't get me wrong, I like females. But I really don't think I need to add that to my list of things to focus on right now." Gauner said with a grin.

"That's good. All males are a bit crazed in that regards, but it's nice to know you keep yourself under control." Gypsy splashed him lightly and giggled again, "Get over here and I'll help wash your back fur."

"Thank you," He replied while giving her a return splash before paddling over to her. "Honestly if I did try anything, with our size difference I doubt I would be able to do much for her. She really might eat me."

Once they were both clean they stepped out, Gauner shook himself dry as Gypsy wiped down with a towel from a nearby shelf then deposited the towel in an adjacent hamper. "Let's get our fur brushed out and get some sleep. Classes tomorrow."

Gauner retrieved his brushes from the nearby bench he had left them on and began straightening his damp fur. Gypsy quickly fixed her shorter fur with her own brush before picking up Gauner's second one and helped with the areas he couldn't reach. They then ascended back to their respective rooms and settled in for the night.

Gauner listened again to the silence of the room, it had been a long day. Looking back they had done so little, yet at the same time the daylight had seemed to slip away so fast. Tomorrow would be yet another new experience, he couldn't wait.

*******************************

The following morning Gauner was fully awake and ready to go in the common room well before the mornings wakeup call. He had spend much of the night anxiously awaiting his first day of classes. He had always had a insatiable desire for knowledge. It was the one aspect of training to be Shaman that he enjoyed, learning all he could about everything.

He had finally managed to make himself sleep at least for a few hours in the early morning but found himself wide awake well before he needed to be. He had groomed his fur before creeping, ever so carful not to awake his sleeping team mate, to the common room where he had sat waiting in the early morning dark since.

Finally after what had seemed like an eternity the door swung open wide, a small female Linoone was preparing to shout when she noticed him sitting with his tail wagging, "Oh, your already up. Wake your team you have classes in one hour." With that she closed the door leaving Gauner yet again alone in the dark.

He quickly bounded to Gypsy's room, he cleared the space from her doorway to the bed in a single leap landing softly beside her. His landing was gentle enough that she had not woken, placing both front paws on her shoulder he shook her gently, "Gypsy, time to wake up!"

She groaned once and pulled her covers farther over her head. Well this wouldn't do... Gauner took a corner of her heavy blanket in his mouth and jumped from her bed, taking her covers with him. The now uncovered, awake and unhappy Gypsy whimpered slightly.

She was just about recovered from the rude awakening when Gauner landed again on her bed, this time standing directly over her nose to nose, "Come on! Classes in one hour, wake up pokèmon said!"

"Okay okay, I'm up." She said groggily, pushing the entirely over enthusiastic fox aside. She yawned loudly and slid from her bed. "Breakfast first, then off to classes."

Gauner jumped down beside her and lightly padded back to his own room, returning shortly with his hat seated firmly on his head. Gypsy looked again at her partner who was standing beside her with his tail rapidly wagging. She would never admit it to him, but the hat gave him quite the devilish sexy rogue appeal. Despite his assurance in the baths, she would have to watch the other females around him.

He looked up to her and gave a wide goofy grin, "So what classes do we do today?"

Gypsy picked up a copy of their class schedules she had left on the table, taking a seat she looked them over, "Well, looks like were going to be split up for the day." Gauner's enthusiasm visibly wilted, "It's no big deal Gauner, we have three classes each so we will be done at the same time. I'm in Human History, Team Leadership and Strategy today. You have Reading and Writing, Guild Laws and Ethics as well as pokèmon Types and Species."

Gauner was still not liking being separated from her for the day, after being alone for so long he was really liking having someone with him again, but he really wouldn't be alone in the classes either. He would just have to make some new friends, a skill he had basically no practice in.

They headed down to the mess hall, where Gauner was introduced to pancakes and sausage. They sat next to team Wingbone again and chatted idly while they ate. Afterwards the four of them made their way to the classrooms. Gypsy did her best to show confidence in leaving Gauner on his own but obviously fretted over it, making sure for the fifth time that morning that he knew what class numbers he was in and that he could read those numbers.

They continued to walk together until Zee split off and headed for his own class, Gypsy and Elation were both in the same first class and left together shortly after, Gypsy had offered to take him to his class first but he assured her he would find it just fine.. He walked down the hard wood floor making no sound looking at the numbers on the doors as he past. He had been making good progress with reading words, but he had found that he had no trouble with numbers from day one.

He followed the numbered doors as they decreased. Gypsy had told him his first class was in room nine, he numbers on the doors still read over fifty. Picking up the pace he made his way down the hall to search for his assigned room. As he walked the halls began to fill with pokèmon, as usual he was only able to identify a small number of the species present. Gypsy had said he had a class today to learn about them all, that would really help.

As he walked further he noticed the age of the pokèmon decreasing, by the time he reached room nine he was surrounded by young children. He walked through the open door to find himself in a colorful room filled with small tables and chairs. All about the room were seated very young pokèmon, all of whom were looking right at him.

"Um, hello?" Hello he said nervously.

"Oh! You must be Gauner," He looked to the source of the voice, it was a large tan colored bipedal reptile with short wings on her back and friendly soft eyes.

"Yes I'm Guaner. Is it okay if I ask what kind of pokèmon you are?" He replied.

"Of course you can, I'm miss Dori and I'm a Dragonite," she said with a wide smile then turned to the seated children, "Class this is our new student, Gauner. Everyone be nice to him, he just came to the guild from the wilds. He is going to be learning to read and write with you. Everyone say hi!"

The assembled pokèmon each gave him a happy greeting. This would be an interesting experience. He returned their enthusiastic salutations as he took a nearby empty seat. His feat shuffled slightly as he looked around the room again.

Dori had closed the door and taken her place at the front of the room. Picking up a small white object from her desk she began dragging it across what appeared to be a large flat piece of slate on the wall, leaving behind a trail of white.

She quickly formed several words as well as a few individual letters on the wall slate before addressing the class, "We will practice basic words and letters again today. When I call your name read what I point to."

He had been playing this game with Gypsy, this would be fun thought Gauner with perked ears and a wag in his tail.

*******************************

Gypsy could hardly focus through her class, she knew Gauner would be okay but she still didn't like leaving in a strange place. It was extremely obvious to her that he hadn't faired as well on his own as he tried to make it sound. He had clearly been suffering without any social contact, she tried to imagine herself suddenly found alone and shuddered.

She looked to the front of the room where a grouchy old Ninetails was speaking about pokèmon species that went extinct with the fall of humans. Gypsy was thrilled with the topic, but the instructor was so incredibly boring she couldn't focus on him and therefore couldn't distract herself from wondering how Gauner was fairing. Her instructor hadn't seen fit to introduce himself to his new student, in fact he had barley acknowledged her existence when she had entered the classroom.

She had met a couple Ninetails before and knew from those experiences that they tended to have a lofty opinion of themselves, and this instructor seemed no different. The way he spoke without turning from his book made if feel as if the class was inconveniencing him with their presence.

Elation leaned over from her adjacent seat and whispered, "Professor Kubara is boring here in class, but he absolutely comes to life when we go down to the archive to look at human relics."

"Ahem!" the professor cleared his throat to get their attention, "Miss Elation, do you have something of value to add to todays lesson?"

"Sorry Professor, I was just helping Gypsy here get caught up so she could enjoy your class." Elation replied to the visibly agitated fox.

"Ah yes, the new student. I appreciate your desire to help your classmates but please do not interrupt my class." He had walked from the back of the room to stand beside them as he spoke.

Now face to face with the old Fox Gypsy made several startling discoveries that were not noticeable from a distance. He was missing his left front paw and his right eye had been sewn completely shut. His fur had appeared messy and tangled from afar but now she could see that it was in fact missing in large patches, replaced with thin scars. The most shocking discovery was made when he set before her and fanned his tails out behind him. He only had six of his nine tails remaining.

"I see you have noticed my injuries young Gypsy." His one good eye bored through her, "These are my souvenirs from many eventful trips deep into unstable human ruins. Please look at them now so you will be able to focus on class instead of my injuries."

"They, they don't bother me. It's a little shocking at first but your not the first pokèmon with scars I've been around." She thought about her mother back home, no his scars weren't that bad at all.

"Scars are certainly common amongst rescuers. Being that we are on next to the borderlands we have more than our fair share of battle marked warriors here, in fact, you will find more of the permanent staff her is marked than not." As he spoke she watched his eye light up and felt his body heat rapidly rising, "I do not care if you are or are not bothered. I only care that you pay attention to my class and learn the information that was payed for with these scars, as well as the lives of many of my friends."

"Yes sir!" Gypsy responded in an unsteady voice. She stood nervously, trying not to tremble before the old fox. The air around him was beginning to shimmer in the haze from his heat. Her professor back home hadn't been anywhere near this intimidating. She suddenly found her mouth dry and swallowed hard.

Kubara gave a nod and spun on his heels, heading back to the front of the room, growling all the way. Carefully turning the page on his large leather bound tome with a single claw he continued his lecture about long lost pokèmon species.

Gypsy sat stiffly the rest of class, her small ears pinned to her head. She fervently hoped Gauner was fairing better, for all his friendly, outgoing and silly personality she had a strong impression that he was overcompensating for nervousness at his new situation. She couldn't blame him for being a bit timid, what with all that was changing in his life.

If he could overcome his nerves to stay here and work on being in a team with her, then she would just have to believe in him to push through any difficulties he encountered. With newfound determination she was able to focus on the lesson at hand.

Before she knew it, class was over and she was back in the halls, heading to her next class. She scanned the halls as she moved, her next class took her the opposite direction Gauner would be traveling, she should see him. She became anxious as she approached her next assigned class and was about to have a fit when she saw his familiar dark furred self walking happily down the hall.

"Gauner!" She called to him as he passed, his eyes lighting up and his ears perking when he saw her.

"Hello Gypsy." He zig zagged between a few pokèmon between them and plopped his rump down before her.

"How was your first class?" She asked rubbing her paws together nervously, she sincerely hoped it had gone well.

Gauner picked up on her anxiety right away, "Class was fun, you really don't have to worry about me." He appreciated her concern, but he felt bad that she was stressing herself over him.

Gypsy heaved a sigh of relief, her entire body visibly relaxing, "Thank goodness for that, my first instructor was a bit intense, I was worried you might be having a hard time."

Gauner cocked one ear to the side, "One time Shaman beat me with a switch for watching the other Zoruas play games by the river instead of 'sitting with calm indifference' as he was trying to teach me. I really doubt there is anyone here that can compare to him. You really don't need to worry about me."

Gypsy stared at him with her eyes wide in shock, "Beat you! Like beat beat or swatted."

"The switch left blood blisters underneath my fur and I couldn't move right for days." He said while trying hard not to remember the pain. It may have been severe, but it had been his own fault, it had been the third punishment that day for the same offense. "That's not important now, that was then, this is now. Will I see you after next class?"

"Oh... yes." She shook head to clear the thought of Gauner being beaten by his old trainer, she would have some choice words if she ever met this 'Shaman' person. "We get an hour break between the next two classes, meet me back here in the hall okay?"

"Okay, I'll meet you here in the hall after class is over. See you then Gypsy." With that he turned and walked down the hall. He forced himself to skip a little, knowing Gypsy would be watching, he decided he would refrain from going into any of the less pleasant aspects of his former lives with her, for both their benefits.

He found his next class with ease, pushing the door open he walked into the room. He found classroom to be significantly different. Dori had taken time near the end of class to explain that reading and writing were taught to guild pokèmon at a young age, so that class was made to work for them. This one was clearly intended to cater to adults.

The room was set up around a circle, all of the tables and chairs radiating out from a central point. The already assembled portion of the class were talking to a massive stone grey, bipedal, vaguely reptile looking pokèmon with a large horn on his head.

He noticed Gauner almost immediately, "Ah! I was told I would be having a new student today. A recently added addition from the wilds, Gooner right? I'm Professor Slate."

"It's Gauner. Slate?" Gauner tilted his head, looking at the oddly named pokèmon.

Professor Grey chuckled, a deep rumbling belly sound, "Gauner then. There are several conventions for names that have persisted throughout the years. Some are more common in different areas but for the most part all are found in any area. Many pokèmon choose to name their children based on a physical trait or personality quirks, it's from the times humans kept us as pets."

"I see. I don't know much about humans but I don't think I would like having a pets name." He had to admit to himself that his own chosen name was also based of a perceived trait.

"Well have no fear, you will be learning a bit about one of the good sides of humans here. Our's as well as the other various guild's laws are based on the laws that humans had set about for their society." Slate had started speaking to Gauner but was clearly speaking to the entire class towards the end. "Please take a seat and we will begin."

Gauner was about to walk to an empty seat across the room when he heard someone call him from the right. He noticed with surprise it was the same Mienfoo from yesterday, she was motioning him to the empty seat beside her. Not finding a reason to sit elsewhere he took the seat beside her.

"Hello again foxy," She said with an odd grin, "I was quite impressed with you yesterday. I though it would be nice to get to know you a little better." She had put a lot of emphasis on the 'get to know you' as well as reached over to give him a rub behind one ear. "My name is Maria, don't go forgetting it now."

Gauner lowered his ears slightly and gave her a nervous grin. He was rusty with social skills but he had finally figured it out, she was flirting with him. "I... uh... wont forget." He was looking straight into her eyes and found himself feeling an embarrassing swelling between his legs causing him to shift slightly to sit with his hind legs close together.

After what had seemed like an eternity Professor Slate started the class off in earnest. Gauner was most happy to have something to take his mind off of Maria's flirting which continued all throughout the session. When the class came to a close he quickly bounded back down the hall to where Gypsy had instructed them to meet.

Gypsy was already waiting and he practically bowled her over as he slid to her side. "Whoa! What's the hurry Gauner? Are you alright?" She asked with a concerned look.

"Uh, nothing. I'm fine." He said glancing nervously behind him.

"No, your not. What's wrong?" This time she widened her stance and placed both paws on her hips, clearly agitated.

Gauner squirmed slightly under her angry gaze, "It's really nothing. Female in class was flirting a little and I'm not really used to it that's all."

Gypsy's angry expression melted into one of her giggles, "Really? I guess I really don't have to worry about you with the females, do I. Come on you little rogue, let's get a snack before our last class."

She could tease him all she wanted, he had been 'off limits' in his tribe and while he had made great strides in ignoring the xenophobic beliefs of said tribe since, he had still found it easier to avoid contact with other pokèmon as much as possible, he was in no way sure how to deal with females. It was bad enough that he had apparently drawn Flare's eyes, now he had Maria to worry about too.

He followed Gypsy to the end of the hall where a large set of open double doors led them into the city streets. Here there were all sorts of carts lining the roadside, each of them sending off a bouquet of delicious aromas. All around the food carts were crowds of pokèmon waiting to buy something to eat.

"We don't have much time so getting through the lines can be a problem." She looked about with a very out of character sly look on her face, "I have a trick, I don't want to abuse it often if I can avoid it but there is someone I want you to meet anyways." She turned and walked quickly towards a large cart with a blue and yellow cover.

Gauner followed with great curiosity as she lead them behind the cart. She walked right up to the carts attendant, who looked to be a larger, but slightly different, version of Gypsy. Her evolved form maybe?

Gypsy stood beside the new pokèmon without saying anything, her tail wagging rapidly and a wide grin plastered across her face. After a few moments the attendant turned, his eyes twinkling and a happy grin appearing on his face, "Gypsy! What are you doing here?" He shouted, picking Gypsy up and giving her a massive, although off to one side to avoid the spike on his chest, embrace.

"Hi Uncle Vurdon!" Gypsy returned his hug with her tail still wagging.

"Is my sister here?" Vurdon asked, looking around the crowd before his eyes settled on Gauner, "And who is this sinister looking fellow?"

"Moms not here, I just moved to the guild proper. This is Gauner, he is my team partner, and he isn't..." She had a sudden flashback to Gauner's fight with Grimm, "Okay, maybe he can be a little sinister, but he's a good pokèmon. He saved me from bandits."

"A friend to me he is then." Vurdon gave Gauner a small bow with his eyes closed, "Thank you for saving Gypsy. If you ever cause her any hurt, I will destroy you."

Gauner stared blankly at the large male, who was still holding his partner like she weighed nothing, the same partner that had knocked him out with ease. He was unsure how to respond, but there was something he knew for sure, "So long as I live I will never allow any harm to befall her." He bowed slightly.

"Good lad." Vurdon set Gypsy down, picking up two longs sticks speared upon witch was a large amount of roasted meat and vegetables, "It was nice to see you Gypsy, if your staying here you will have to visit me properly sometime, but for now, I bet these are what you were really after." He handed both sticks to Gypsy who took them with a smile.

"Naw, these are just a bonus. We'll visit soon! Bye Uncle Vurdon!" She said as she walked back towards the guild.

Vurdon let out a chuckle that was surprisingly similar to one of Gypsy's giggles. Giving Gauner a serious look he said, "Good luck with her, you're going to need it." With that he turned his attention back to his hungry customers.

Gauner ran after Gypsy, following her back to outer wall of the guild where she, along with several other pokèmon, was using an ornamental lip around the building as a seat. He jumped up and sat beside her, he opened his mouth to speak but instead found one of the meat covered sticks shoved in.

"Eat, we have one more class then we can see some of the city." Gypsy tore into her own meal, "Uncle Vurdon's skewers are the best."

Gauner began ripping chunks of meat and vegetables from his own and found that he wholeheartedly agreed. He quickly devoured the remaining portion, Gypsy took the clean stick from him and tossed it in a nearby trash bin.

Gauner kicked one ear to the side and gave his friend a perplexed look, "Why do you keep doing that?" He asked as they began to make their way back down the crowded hallways to the classrooms.

"Do what?" She replied with a raised eyebrow and a curious tilt of the head.

Gauner soaked in her odd expression before clarifying, "Every time we're finished with something you take the dishes away. Why do you do that for me? I can do it myself easy enough."

Gypsy giggled before replying, "I don't do it because I don't think you can. It's just polite." She pushed both paws out in front of her and flexed her short fingers on her paw like hands, "I have hands and you don't. There are so many different forms pokèmon take, it's considered polite to help others around you if your shape is better for something."

"What's my shape best for?" He asked.

"Quadrupeds are best at carrying things on your back, moving through small spaces, stuff like that." She explained before gesturing to a door, "This is your last class for the day, I'll see you when it's over."

"Okay, see you then." With that he turned and walked through the open door to his final class.

Finding the room to be empty he walked in slowly while looking about. He crinkled his muzzle as he sniffed the air in the room. He was beginning to see why the pokèmon in the city didn't use their sense of smell much, there was simply too much to filter out individual scents.

He focused his attention on the general layout of the room, the position of the tables and the front desk were similar to Dori's room but lacked the colorful adornments it had. For the most part this room was the same simple cream white colored walls with wood floors the rest of the guild had.

He drifted about, eventually finding himself at the front of the room. There on the instructor's desk he found an odd pink colored blob of some strange substance. He leapt up and put both fore paws on the edge of the desk to get a better view of the strange object. As he watched it's surface bulged and shook strangely.

Curiously he poked it with a paw and was mesmerised by the jiggly shockwaves that spread across it's surface. Without warning the odd object suddenly stretched upwards, two odd protrusions forming on either side. Gauner started to step back from the weird jelly thing when it suddenly opened two eyes, a mouth appearing a second later in a comically wide grin.

"Well hello there. I was just taking a bit of a nap. Is it time for class again?" The pink goo said in a voice that jiggled as much as it's body.

Gauner stared eyes wide and ears back at the odd goo creature unable to answer. The pink blob rolled toward him across the desk but it's face never seemed to move. It cocked it's whole body oddly and returned his stare for a minute before settling down with it's wide smile returning.

"Ah! I bet you've never seen a Ditto before!" The strange blob said in it's jiggly voice.

"No, I haven't." Gauner recovered from his surprise and realised he was staring quite rudely. "My name is Gauner, I just joined the guild from the wilds."

"Ooooooh!" The pink goo said with it's mouth extremely wide. "If your from the wild I bet you've seen all sorts of strange pokèmon."

Gauner noticed his ears were still back and made a conscious effort to bring them back forward. "Actually I've seen more new pokèmon in the last couple days that I have ever seen before."

"Aww... That's too bad." The goo deflated momentarily before puffing back up, "Don't you worry about new pokèmon here, I'm Professor Liam, and it's my job to teach you all about pokèmon types and species." it said with a bow.

Gauner looked the odd blob pokèmon over again, "Uh, thanks." Try as he might he couldn't determine anything about the weird pink goo creature, not age or gender or anything else.

A scuffling sound behind caused one of his ears to swivel back to the classroom. Turning he found that the rest of the class had been trickling in. He noticed immediately that while his classmates were all older than the ones in his first class, they were still much younger than himself.

"Ah, good, everyone is here, let's go ahead and get started with an introduction from our new student." Liam announced to the class. Turning to Gauner he said, "If you would please. Tell us all your name, species and type and maybe a little about yourself."

Gauner looked out to the seated class, he hadn't been made to speak to everyone like this in the first two. Swallowing once against his nerves he spoke, "My name is Gauner... I'm a Zorua... Dark type... I just joined the guild from the wilds so there isn't much to say about me." He realised he had been shuffling his paws together while speaking, he quickly forced them still.

"Zorua, a dark type eh. Not one I've seen before, and that's saying something since it's my job to know all I can about different pokèmon." Liam said.

"We are secretive, I really doubt you ever see another of my kind." Gauner replied, causing a wide, wobbly grin to spread across the professors face.

"Is that so?" Liam's entire body shook slightly then changed rapidly. Suddenly the pink blob darkened to grey, sprouting limbs and fur. In just a few seconds Gauner was no longer looking at a Ditto but instead an exact duplicate of himself, minus the hat. To his horror he saw that Liam's duplication had not copied his illusion and was highlighted with his natural blue fur.

"I... ah..." Gauner couldn't speak. He was too concerned that everyone was going to figure out his secret.

"Pretty neat huh? I can turn into any pokèmon I've seen." Liam's body shifted again, this time changing into the shape of the Guildmaster. "Bet you've never seen anything like this before."

Gauner had a sudden desire to show off his own illusion ability, to give the class something to focus on other than the form they had just seen. But that would give away his tribes most well kept secret, their method for staying hidden. No, he couldn't do that, "No, I've never seen anything like that before."

Liam, although with Kite's face, looked pleased. Returning to his natural state he he said, "It definitely helps with teaching this class. Now if you will please take a seat we will start class. We are studying pokèmon type advantages today."

Gauner wasted no time taking a seat at an empty table, not wanting to be near anyone that might question the color Liam's fur had been. For the rest of the class he focused his attention entirely on the professor without ever looking at any of his classmates for fear of drawing their attention.

The remainder of class went smoothly, Professor Liam would say a type while changing and naming into a pokèmon of that type, and the class would list out that types strengths and weaknesses. Liam would then write them on the board in a grid, making what Gauner could recognise if not read as a table of type advantages.

Any fear Gauner had of being found out was quickly overcome when he saw how disinterested his classmates were. Most of them sat with bored expressions as Liam continued his class in either his high pitched voice or the voice of whatever he had turned into. Gauner did have a startled moment when Liam had named dark type again, but settled down when the professor changed into what he called an Absol.

Without proper ability to read he knew he wasn't getting all he could out of this class. This only served to add to his determination to learn to read properly. He spent the rest of the class doing his best to learn the various pokèmon Liam took the shape of.

When class ended he found Gypsy waiting for him just outside the door. They walked together through the halls and back out into the streets, Gypsy talking about her final class the whole way. Her last two classes had apparently been what she called 'teach yourself' classes, but apparently the professor for the final one hadn't bothered to show up at all.

"It's just unprofessional you know." She continued as they made their way down the street, Gauner looking here and there as they passed different shops while always keeping at least one ear perked to his partner. "I just don't get why she would be absent when she had a new student."

"Surely they had a good reason for it." Gauner said while looking around.

With all the various students at different levels, it made sense for them to be learning at their own pace with an instructor to help when needed, yet he had to sympathise with the instructor tasked with what would mostly be sitting, waiting to be needed. It sounded too much like the Shaman's role.

"I'm sure she had a reason, who knows if it was good or not." Gypsy replied with a slight growl. "Doesn't matter though, let's just forget it and explore the city... And if you don't mind I want to see Uncle Vurdon again."

"Well, I don't have any family to see, so don't let me stop you from seeing yours." He hadn't meant to upset her, but couldn't help but notice the change in her posture and a slight pause in her steps.

He stopped and looked up to Gypsy, he could immediately see the sympathetic look in her eyes. He had never really had much of a family to begin with, he saw his parents in the tribe but had always been kept apart, the closest thing he ever had to family was Shaman. He couldn't miss what he never had, but he knew his partner wouldn't see it that way.

Never the less he had to try to get her to understand, just to get her to stop looking at him like that, "It's okay Gypsy, it really is. If I had had family worth having I would have stayed with them and not gone running off on my own." He finished with a large smile and a wag of his tail.

Gypsy continued to look at him with her sad face for several seconds before she bend down and picked up his front end in a tight hug. Gauner liked contact, but was still quite unaccustomed to being held, yet he found Gypsy's warm hug infinity better than the sudden dangling feeling Linn lifting him the previous day had caused.

He closed his eyes, wrapped his fore legs around Gypsy, returning her hug. If family was anything like this, he could see what he must have been missing. His tail continued to wag happily as he nuzzled against his friend, thoroughly enjoying the contact.

Their hug continued until they both became aware of the growing attention of the other street going pokèmon. Gypsy set him down with her ears back in embarrassment, bringing one paw to her mouth she turned away until his voice brought her face back around to look at him.

"Thank you Gypsy. I don't have family, but I'm glad I have you as a friend." He said earnestly.

"I'm glad you're my friend too. Come on, we're making a scene." She turned and continued down the street. "Uncle Vurdon lives right down this way."

Gauner followed along and was relieved when he noted that her posture and pace had returned to her normal cheery self. Mentally he added his lack of family to his growing list of topics not to bring up. Knowing that Gypsy was back to normal he returned to looking at the various buildings as they walked.

The village they had stayed in before had been very small, here some of what he recognised as houses were significantly larger than the inn they had stayed in. As they travelled farther away from the city's center, the houses started becoming smaller, with less ornamentation.

Just as they were getting ready to leave the section they were in and travel across a street Gypsy stopped them and gestured to a small house nestled between two much larger ones. "This is it." She walked up to the door and knocked, "Uncle Vurdon's house used to belong to my great grandparents. It was here before any of these others were built."

Gauner nodded in understanding, that would explain why the house was so much smaller than it's neighbors. He also took note of the difference in construction, while the large houses were formed with timber and walled with plaster like the Guild Hall, Vurdon's house was made from rough cut stone. The warm grey color of the stone wedged between the off white monsters to either side made the little building look very inviting.

After a few moments the door swung open reveling Vurdon. At the sight of his niece his eyes lit up and he picked her up into another hug, "Come in, come in both of you." He said, although Gypsy didn't have much choice as he carried her inside.

Gauner followed, pushing the door shut as he passed. He didn't like feeling trapped in a building but didn't want to seem rude either. The interior of the building was divided into two main areas. The majority was filled with cushions and chairs while the second smaller area was clearly Vurdon's sleeping area. The two areas were separated by thin translucent curtains.

Vurdon plopped Gypsy down on a thick worn cushion which she promptly sank deep into. "Please make yourself at home Gauner." He said, gesturing to the remaining cushions, opting to sit in a carved wooden chair himself.

Gauner picked a cushion that would put the three of them in an even triangle. Hopping into the soft thing he settled down on his belly with his legs tucked underneath. He looked about the house briefly but aside from some more cloth curtains on the walls their wasn't anything to see.

"It's good to see you again Gypsy, it's been entirely to long." Vurdon said with a warm smile.

"Really Uncle, it's only been a year." Gypsy responded.

"That's too long to go without seeing family young one. You will understand when you're older." Vurdon voice was tinted with sadness. "No point in dwelling on that. Now tell me, how did you come to be here with your unique partner here?"

"Short or long version?" Gypsy asked.

"Short version is only for when I'm working. Long version please." Vurdon said.

"Long version it is." Gypsy began telling her Uncle about their first encounter on the road, she left out Gauner's illusions but told the rest in great detail much to the young Zorua's embarrassment. She told her Uncle of her run in with Grimm and her resulting capture as well as Gauner's sneaky rescue and the fight with Grimm himself. She went on to explain how they had decided to form a team and travelled to the city, all while Vurdon sat quietly.

"That is quite the story." Vurdon stared at his feet for a few moments before speaking again. "You two are lucky to have made it out with your lives. I'm very glad you are both alright."

After a long silence Gypsy and Vurdon began talking about family and homes. Gauner didn't have anything to add to the conversation so he instead listened politely as the pair continued to talk until it was time for them to part.

Gypsy and Gauner bid Vurdon goodbye and returned to the Guild for their evening meal. They sat and chatted with Team Wingbone again as they ate. After their meal they checked the duty board before retiring to their room to rest for the next days training.