Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Quenched Torch

Chapter 21: Familiar Faces

"Hey, Beck? W-why do I feel like we forgot something?" Rye asked as he stuffed our bag away, ready to tucker in for the night. As with the rest of the Guild, we had hurried back to our base as the moon started to climb into the sky. Apparently the Guild had a curfew in place, and while I wasn't sure why exactly, I wasn't about to try and challenge it.

"Sh... ergh..." I groaned in response to Rye's pondering, momentarily forgetting I couldn't say I didn't know. As I shook my head, Rye shrugged his unsure feelings off, lodging the bag under the table. He gave a quick gesture, signaling me to fire a Water Gun off at the torch lighting our base. Our small base was plunged into darkness just moments before the toll of a bell rang through the air. Rye sighed in relief.

"Whew, that was close. They don't like when rookies stay up after lights-out." he said, curling up in his bed. "Hey, what do you say we go to Cinccino tomorrow and... uh..."

Rye paused.

"...w-we forgot to give Nidoran her bag."

I heard him hit his head against the floor as he let out a groan.

"Well, I'm an idiot," he huffed.

"Shaagh," I added, gesturing to myself. Surely if he was an idiot for this, then two's a party, right?

"W-we'll get it back to her early tomorrow. Here's hoping she won't be too mad at us," Rye decided as he rested his head. "Night, Beck."

As Rye started to snore beside me, I found myself staring at the backs of my eyelids, finally afford some time to think without attracting too many odd looks.

'When I got poisoned yesterday, I had that flashback... what did it mean? Maybe that voice knows something about it? Come to think of it, where'd the voice go? Why won't it just tell me why I'm here? Will I ever hear from it again, or...?

Ugh, my head hurts, moving on.

...uh, Rye. What he told me... just... what do I even say to that? I haven't lost anyone like that, have I? He clearly trusts me a good bit if he's going to tell me all that, so what comes next?'

Such questions frantically swam through my head, keeping me awake for a while before sleep finally claimed me.

---

"Nidoran? Yeah, I think I saw her heading down to town square just a bit ago."

As Rye thanked the Silggoo pointing us up the street, we started up the rocky path into the town. The morning atmosphere of Impetus Town bubbled pleasantly around us as we walked along looking around for Nidoran. A pair of laughing young Pokémon chased each other around us as a small street band played a lively tune on strings, providing ample noise over the dozens of pleasant indistinct conversations around us.

As we passed Officer Magnezone giving us a nod of greeting as he floated by, we caught sight of Nidoran intently watching something in the square with a Seedot standing close by, the Pecha scarf we had retrieved not so long ago wrapped around it.

"H-hey, Nidoran! We-" Rye began.

"Shh. We're listening," Nidoran whispered, not breaking her focus. Shuffling past her, we peered into the square to see what she was looking at. A small group of kids, mostly Fire-types, I noticed, was gathered in the center of the square watching a familiar Quilava talk over them, his teammates behind him.

"Alright, keep those deep breaths coming. In, out. In, out. Now... yes, you in the back?" Arden said, pointing to a Magby raising its paw.

"What does this have to do with fighting? We wanted to learn how to be stronger, this is just what my mom would tell me!" the Magby said. A small murmur rose among the group, the nearby May and Pike smirking knowingly as Arden got over the initial shock of the comment.