Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Quenched Torch

Chapter 36: The Division Bell

"We're goin' to where now?" Mavy asked as we walked away from our quarters, the noon sun beating down on us.

"Uh, w-we're gonna try and get a job in Arid Riverbed. Something we need to do," Rye shakily explained. Mavy gave an incredulous look towards the Treecko as he hopped beside us.

"Y'all ain't subtle 'bout this, you know. I ain't the sharpest, but I can read a map. Pretty sure the cop had good reason to tell us not to do this," he said. Rye and I exchanged a quick glance.

"I-it's important," Rye eventually said. Mavy gave a quiet scoff, inching towards me as we rounded the corner.

"How do ya put up with this 'mon?" he asked me. I just made a little cry I hoped he'd interpret as an answer, turning my attention to the boards ahead.

Our bag restocked and a basic game plan in mind, we were prepared to go ahead and try and hop a ride to Bassa Village. Rye had pointed out that we couldn't just drop everything and go, the Guild would most definitely notice. It'd happened before, why wouldn't it happen again? As such, he'd eventually proposed just taking a job in the general area and hoping for the best.

As the three of us reached the job board, Rye took to climbing up onto it to scour for appropriate jobs.

"Okay, uh, we've got collecting Cacturne quills in Arid Riverbed, a lost bag of Soft Sand in Fulgurite Oasis, a Z-"

He froze, pausing over one of the notices. As I watched him worriedly, Mavy cocked his head.

"What?" he asked.

"I-it's..." Rye said.

"Lemme see," Mavy requested. After a long moment of hesitation, Rye silently tore the notice off and let it flutter down to us. Looking down, I found a crude drawing of a Zangoose looking back up at me from in between the Fletchling-scratch as Mavy peeked over to read.

'...please don't tell me it's that Zangoose.'

"Request from Team Luster. We lost our partner Zangoose on Mt. Twist Path. We need someone to resupply and help us get him out. Please come ASAP. Reward pending," Mavy read, looking up worriedly once he was finished.

"A Zangoose... wasn't he one o' the 'mons that stood up for us a couple days back?" he asked. Biting my lip, I gave a nod, causing Mavy to try and fold up the notice with his forepaws.

"Wh-what're you doing?" Rye asked.

"We're goin' to save Zangoose, ain't we?" Mavy asked. Rye and I exchanged a glance before the Treecko sighed.

"We... w-we can't," he said quietly. Mavy was quiet for a minute, only staring at Rye in a mix of horror and quiet anger.

"Why not?" he soon demanded. Rye gritted his teeth before climbing down from the board.

"This... i-it's more... it's more important," he squeaked. Mavy's face twitched, the Zigzagoon looking ready to explode.

"Why the fuck would whatever this is be more important than...?! We are talking about someone who's probably about to die! Are you seriously about to leave this Pokémon to fuckin' die?!" he lashed out.

"W-wait, I... I-I don't-" Rye managed.

"No. No! Beck, you can't seriously agree with this shit, can you?" he demanded. I stumbled back, at a loss here.

I'd only talked to Zangoose a few times, but I didn't want to just leave him like this. We could always just reschedule and head to Bassa Village after we went and saved him, right?

But then again, the Phoenixes had broken Hawlucha out, so chances were they knew we were coming. What if we did delay and arrived to find the place abandoned? Sure, we'd save Zangoose, but all that trouble we'd gone through yesterday would be for nothing. Just...