Another morning

North of town, in a small, cozy room at the bottom floor of the Grassveil Guild, a Skitty was curled up in her bed...  Though she wasn't asleep at the moment.  The Skitty had woken up a little early, so she had decided to spend a while studying...  She knew better than anyone that she had a lot to learn if she was going to continue working at the guild.  The day outside was overcast, perhaps promising rain later on, but the coming of morning cast the gardens behind the guild in a soft blue light and just enough leaked through her window to read by.  At the moment she was browsing through a book about first-aid.  Among the books her father had picked out for her, this seemed like one that she should prioritize...

But now the sounds of other Pokémon outside her door had grown louder, and it seemed that the rest of the guild was starting to wake up and go about their morning routines.  Now seemed like a good time to see if her new teammate was ready for the day.  With a smile, the Skitty closed her book and climbed out from the shallow basket full of blankets and pillows that served as her bed, taking a long moment to stretch her body before she trotted towards her bag and scarf hanging on the wall next to the door.  She put them both on, ensuring that her badge was visible on the blue scarf around her neck, then pushed her way out the door and into the hallway.

She came to a stop at the room right next to hers...  The door was still shut.  She briefly wished that her teammate hadn't asked to have her own room.  She didn't want to accidentally awaken her if she was still sleeping, but it didn't seem like there were many options.  "Um...  Excuse me, Yooka, are you there?" she called while softly scratching at the door with her claws.  She wished she could just knock, but her body didn't lend itself well to that...  Hopefully this would be enough to get her friend's attention.

Alki poked out of the basket, the sunlight streaming into her eyes. She squinted, but still held the paper tightly. If I could, I would frame it and hang it up on a wall.But it's not like this is my wall... So she contented herself with placing it in the basket of scarves, and pushing the basket into an empty corner of the room. This would be her bed, for the time being. Considering the basket was about as big as Alki was, it was quite a task, and after a few minutes of hard work, and lots of pushing, she leaned against the basket and sighed. What am I supposed to do, I don't know anyone except for Yooka... how can I trust anyone? Even if they have her seal of approval, it's not like I know them.

So she sat down by her basket, the note tucked safely inside, and contemplated her options. I can go out into the hall-way, where there's a bunch of Pokemon I don't know, to go into a room with another Pokemon I don't know. Or I could wake Yooka up...she didn't TELL me I couldn't wake her up... So after a bit of hesitance, she bounced onto the bed. And then got cold feet, and bounced back down. After a bit more thinking and a few steps towards the door, she shook her head. I should wake her up, I don't know what I should do... Hopefully Yooka wouldn't be mad at her. She heard footsteps, and then a scratching at the door. Alki jumped and stumbled backwards, away from the door. Maybe if I don't answer, they'll go away... but maybe they want to talk to Yooka? Her suspicions were confirmed when the voice asked for the Kecleon.

Alki opened the door, just a crack. She saw who was calling for it, a Skitty. The Igglybuff's eyes grew wider. Was this who the note had talked about? She couldn't be that bad then... she waited a bit, thinking, but decided to open the door a bit more. "H-Hi..." She said, a bit nervously. Yooka had taken a long while to let Alki into the guild the night before. What if she doesn't want me here? What if I get in trouble. "Y-Y-Yooka's sleeping..." She said, trembling. "I-I'm Alki..." Alki bounced onto Yooka's bed, and begin to shake her, trying to wake her up. I don't want to deal with whoever this is... I don't want to talk to anyone. Alki shuffled nervously as she shook Yooka. "W-What's her name?" She asked herself, a bit louder than she meant to. She glanced over at the Skitty, clearly scared. She didn't know what she was supposed to do in a place like this, and she didn't know what this Skitty was like... I hope Yooka wakes up soon...

Feeling comfortable, wasnt even close. Despite the bed bekng beyond what her previous bed back at her father's place. She couldn't feel comfort with all these mixed feelings. She was having a nightmare, but unlike most others, she doesnt roll around in a panicked state. the sound of scratching only made her tense up, and the slight feeling of being pushed by some small force caused her to snap away. However, she didnt just suddenly wake up. She merely opened her eyes quickly and held the force still with her tongue, but not in a grip, more like someone holding an alarm clock's bells for it to stop. "I'm awake! Sorry, father... huh. oh, uh... right. guild." She slowly got up to see who was shaking her. She blinked completely forgetting the igglybuff she had brought to the guild the other day.

"Well, hello. oh–" She noticed it was getting scared and was practically motioning towards the door. "–right. I forgot how active the guild is. Don't be worried about it." looking towards the door she noticed it had to of been opened because a skitty was standing infront of it. Yooka didn't care if the door was open or closed she was focused on the skitty. It's been 3 days since she joined the skitty's team. She still didn't want to be in the same room with her while sleeping, due to personal matters. However, she doesn't care about it too much, having a room to yourself just feels more secure.

Yooka instinctively stood between the skitty and the igglybuff. what should I say... or better yet, how would she act? ngh... "It's not what you think." That's all she managed to say, she didn't want to get into the full details without forcing to many problems. If anyone would understand it would be Darcy, so thankfully it wasn't anyone else.

Darcy smiled and looked up as the door cracked open, expecting to see the face of her Kecleon friend, but...  It seemed like there was no one there.  It wasn't until she heard a voice that the Skitty noticed the small, pink Pokémon below her, looking awfully shy and timid.

The sight was...  Well, it was a surprise, to say the least.  The confused Skitty followed the Igglybuff inside and gently pushed the door shut with her tail, a smile still on her face, if only because the whole situation felt so surreal.  The Igglybuff bounced up to Yooka's bed and shook her awake, and before long, the Kecleon was on her feet and standing between the two of them, almost protectively...

Darcy settled onto her haunches and stared up at Yooka, tilting her head at the Kecleon's words.  This wasn't what she thought?  She didn't know what to think in the first place, really...  "Yooka...  Are you..." she said, the the gears in her head turning as she tried to piece together exactly what was going on here...

She inhaled sharply as everything fell into place.  "...Are you a mom?  Because you should have told me that sooner!" she said breathlessly as her confused smile was replaced with a genuine one.  That must have been why Yooka wanted her own room!

Excitedly, she cantered around the Kecleon and towards the little Igglubuff.  "Hi, Alki!  My name's Darcy, and I'm Yooka's teammate.  I'm really happy to meet you!" she said with a giggle while holding out a paw for Alki to shake.

A mom? Yooka's a mom? Alki thought, bouncing in shock, her mouth a perfectly round 'O' as the Skitty stated this fact. Yooka couldn't be a mom! Where was her kid? Why did the Skitty think this? Unless... she thinks I'M her kid? She tilted her head at the Skitty as she shook her Paw, staring at her paw in confusion and feeling a bit timid. She seems really excited and I don't want to let her down, but I'm not Yooka's child!

She looked up at Yooka, scared to mess up.  What if I let her down? She seems so excited... "Y-Yeah! I'm her kid..." She said, lying to keep her excited. But... lying isn't right either. "Err, no, I don't think I am, a-actually..." She said, kicking at the ground. What was she supposed to say? She didn't want to let them down... "Err... m-maybe I am, maybe I'm not?" That'll be safe! That way it could go both ways. Alki smiled at Darcy and nodded, proud of herself. She'd finally done something right in a conversation!

"It's nice to meet you too... I suppose." Alki said, almost whispering, nervous again. Even if I said something right, I don't want to mess up now. She walked over to her basket and grabbed a scarf and wrapped it around herself, like a coat. She shivered, it was kind of cold. Or maybe I'm just nervous... She sat back and looked up at the Skitty nervously. She shifted her weight and glanced at Yooka. I'm not her kid...

Alki sighed and looked at the Skitty. "Ermm... I-I'm not quite her child..." She muttered, staring at her feet, the scarf still wrapped around the Igglybuff. "S-Sorry... I-I didn't mean to disappoint you." She said, closing her eyes tightly, hoping that the Skitty wouldn't be upset at her.

The skitty seemed to ponder the situation and suddenly announced Yooka as the igglybuff's mother. Yooka turned a nice shade of purple. She thinks im......... before any of them looked at Yooka she was back to being green. She blinked, confused. Then to make matters worse, the igglybuff agreed to it, somewhat. it just confused Yooka that much more. She leaned in on the skitty and whispered, "no, I just found her in the marketplace without parents. oh, and she apparently hates them, but she didnt tell me that directly, just don't ask her about them. she freaks out. heheh" When yooka looked at the igglybuff. she was wrapping itself in one of the random colored scarves. When the igglybuff cameback to say something it looked down. Yooka then whispered to the skitty again, "Found a few scarves just lying around the town. they dont do anything so I leave them in that basket. I was thinking of giving them to Faye for the guilds collection."

The Igglybuff sure looked surprised to hear that Darcy had figured it out!  She even bounced into the air a little.  The Skitty smiled at the sight as she sat down and waved her fluffy tail back and forth.

...But then Alki began to go back on her words, and Darcy's smile took on an air of confusion again.  Was Alki...  Adopted?  Or maybe something else..?  Thankfully, it seemed like Yooka wanted to clear things up.  One of Darcy's ears twitched as the Kecleon leaned in and began whispering to her...

And the Skitty's smile quickly faded.  Yooka's words only made things more confusing.  It sounded like...  Alki had ran away from home, or something along those lines.  Darcy instantly wanted to ask her about it, and help her work things out, but...  Yooka explicitly told her not to do that.

Darcy glanced back to the Igglybuff, currently swaddling herself in a scarf and looking nervous and dejected...  And she instantly felt a pang of sympathy for her.  Now it made sense that she was so timid, being all alone, taken by someone she barely knew to a place that she probably didn't understand... Whatever was going on with her parents...  Surely it could wait for a little while, right?  All that Darcy's heart wanted to do at the moment was help her feel better.  With a warm smile on her face, the Skitty trotted closer to Alki and settled prone on the floor to bring their eye level closer.

"Hey, it's okay.  You don't have to apologize.  I shouldn't have assumed that anyway..." she said gently, then paused for a moment as she chose her next words.  "Um...  From what Yooka said, though, you probably don't want to go home right now.  Do you know what you're going to do from here..?"

Alki shied away from the Skitty as she lay in front of her. She realized how much shorter she was than the Skitty, Darcy. They were whispering something, I guess I did say something wrong after all… She pulled the scarf tighter around herself, closing her eyes. She didn’t like that… what was the Skitty going to say? Probably nothing good. Speaking out of place wasn’t a good thing, and that’s what Alki had done, after all.


But to her surprise, the Skitty spoke kindly and gently. A lot gentler than I deserve… She listened to the Skitty, her eyes still closed. Even if she didn’t deserve it, it was awfully nice to be spoken to kindly. She’d almost forgotten what it felt like. She suddenly realized that she’d been asked a question. She jumped. Oh! She’d almost fallen asleep. Waking up in the middle of the night to read that letter Yooka had left her by the moon’s light was a bit tiring. “Sorry!” She said, yawning. But Darcy told me I didn’t have to apologize. “Er… n-no. Not… sorry?” She stammered, trying to avoid the question, lamely.


But what else could she say to avoid the question? Nothing… “S-Sorry… N-No, I don’t have a plan… Y-Yooka was nice enough to let me stay last night, b-but I can’t stay forever, c-can I?” She stammered, looking around the room nervously, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. “I-I guess I should leave soon...” She realized that the Skitty had mentioned her home, and Alki immediately got antsy, pulling the scarf tighter and tighter around herself, her face showing how scared she was.


“I-I-I d-don’t want to go home… y-you can’t make me! P-Promise y-you won’t make me go home. Either of you two! I-I’m n-n-never going back… Promise!” She said, terrified that she was facing the possibility of going home. She could make it to the door if they didn’t promise, she could run away! Back onto the streets… w-what would she do? She began to tremble. I have no idea what I’m going to do…


They’re so close and I’m so tiny, even if the Skitty’s about my height right now, the moment she stands up she’s twice as tall and I can’t do anything and they’re going to make me go back! She thought in a panic, backing away from the two, back towards her basket. “B-Both of you h-have to promise before you say anything else!” She said, with a bit more conviction than the first time, but still clearly afraid. If she had to go back she’d be in for the worst day of her life, meeting her parents… she shuddered. They’d yell for hours at her. She closed her eyes again, this time to block away a few tears from coming out. When she opened them back up, she looked at both Yooka and Darcy, waiting for the two words she needed to hear: ‘I promise’[/color]

Yooka watched as the skitty walked towards the igglybuff then sat down. Yooka turned away from them and ploped back onto her bed, belly-down. I can finally rest my hea-- Yooka had assumed the skitty had this down but --end she mentions home... pivoting in the bed, she checked the igglybuff, and just as she expected. It was freaking out. oh boy... "Hey alki, the whole reason I brought you here is because of that. I too, don't want to go back." for a completely different reason. "however... I dont know what to do with you just yet, if you don't want to go back, I'm not gonna make you. I couldn't care less. I don't mind having company. but, im not exactly fine sharing a room, I was just to tired writing the letter in the basket from yesterday. speaking of which. did you read it, alki? or... uh... you, can read, yes?" I hadn't thought of that completely... she switched to laying on her back to view the two upside-down. she just wanted to lay in her bed, feeling it. To her, it was still far better then her old one. She felt like she could lay on it for a long time, if it wasn't for a nagging feeling in her mind. Like, she won't get away. it'll find her. but the 'it' is unknown to her...

At first, Darcy just smiled with amusement at Alki trying not to apologize...  But the Igglybuff only got more and more anxious as she continued, until her desperate pleading made it seem that her very life was at stake.  Darcy stood to her feet with concern and took a step forward to comfort her but froze in place when she saw just how terrified Alki's eyes looked...  She didn't think she'd seen anyone this scared in her entire life.  It shocked her into silence while Yooka spoke, feeling absolutely sick for having caused someone to become so panicked...

After a long moment, Darcy looked Alki in the eyes and carefully spoke up.  "...I promise too," she said.  "I don't understand why you don't want to go back, but...  If things are really that bad..." she trailed off while sitting back down.  And after a moment of thought...  She nodded her head.  "Then I think you should be the one to decide.  Not me or Yooka or anyone else.  I'm...  I'm really sorry for scaring you like that.  I didn't mean to."

Feeling a shade lighter after speaking those words, she wagged her tail and flashed a cautious smile as she continued.  "And...  You know...  If you really have no place to go, I'd be okay with you staying here, too.  There's space in my room if Yooka wants to be alone.  ...I don't think the guild staff would be happy if they knew we were keeping someone here like that, buuut...  I think you could fit in my bag.  It would be really easy to sneak you outside every morning and inside at night.  I could bring you food and everything, too."

The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea.  It was beginning to sound kind of fun, like having a new teammate all over again...  Or like having one of her little sisters around.  She smiled a little wider and wagged her tail a little faster as she continued.  "And if you want to, you could always tag along with us on missions.  Especially since sometimes they're out of town, and we're gone for a week or two...  They can be a little dangerous and scary, so it would be up to you, but I'd understand if you didn't want to be alone for that long."

Alki loosened her grip on the scarf as the Skitty and the Kecleon continued to talk. Thank Arceus... they don't want to make me go back. She nodded at their words, sighing and smiling in relief, dropping the scarf. It suddenly didn't feel cold at all, certainly not as cold as it had seemed before. Alki's face began to turn red, embarrassed at her outburst. "S-Sorry." She murmured, thinking about what the Skitty had offered. I don't want to be a bother to Yooka, I'd rather be alone too, but I have no idea how anything works around here...


"Ok... T-Thank you. I-I guess that's my best option, s-staying here... b-but I don't know h-how anything works..." She said, looking up at the Skitty. Her tail was wagging, faster than before. She must be excited... "T-Thank you." Alki said, nodding. Missions? That sounds cool... but I'd probably just get in the way. "I-I'll t-try not to be too much of a bother..." They'll be gone for a while, huh? I mean, that's nice, but if I stay behind, I might get caught and end up in trouble... and besides, if I came here to make myself useful, staying behind while they go on missions isn't the way to do that... I'll probably be useless, but there must be something I can help out in, right? Even if it's small... "S-So what do I do now?" Alki asked, looking up at the Kecleon and the Skitty."A-And I'm not very good with other... I'm sorry if I say something bad, and I'm sorry I got a bit upset earlier... I-I'd just rather not talk about home, o-ok?" 

She had noticed that Yooka had whispered something in Darcy's ear. What did they talk about? She wondered. She heard her stomach begin to grumble, and she put her hands on it in an attempt to calm it down. "I-I'm kinda hungry..." She mumbled. I don't want to ask them to do stuff for me... "W-Where do I go to get food?" She asked, bouncing towards the door, slowly. I don't want to be a bother... "C-Can I go get food?"

Yooka just giggled at the igglybuff's words. "heheheh, nah. You wont be a problem. If you read the note, you'd know that, that mending move you have is actually pretty powerful. just stay behind us and focus on using it. If something were to get close to you just roll away. oh, and from what I seen from the encounter with the Nuzleaf, you have an ability to dim down damage to people who are... well, I dont know if I was a friend exactly at the time, but it seemed like Friend Guard. Not many pokemon have an ability like that. Actually I dont think anyone in the guild has that ability." and I snuck a peep at the archives, when faye wasn't around... funny though, I thought I saw a pokemon similar to this igglybuff now that I remember. a relative? I'll have to go look again... meh... She shock her head and continued. "Uh... yea, you'll be fine. oh, and one last thing. Darcy, I don't know if the guild would allow a non-member to have anything here. Perhaps if she were to join the team, it'll blend her in at least, I dont know." exhausted from talking to long Yooka sighed and curled up as if to fall asleep again. with a slightly muffled voice she said "I'm still a bit tired, but what time is it...? I just want to sleep today."

Darcy sighed with relief as the poor Igglybuff calmed down.  She still didn't seem secure in the slightest, but it was good to see that she wasn't scared anymore...  She reminded Darcy of her youngest sister.  Seeing Alki in such dissarray really pulled at her heartstrings...  But thankfully, if Yooka's words were correct, Alki didn't have much need to be afraid or insecure.  If she just had a little encouragement, maybe her confidence would start to grow...

At the Igglybuff's question, Darcy returned to her feet and stretched out her body.  "There's food in the dining hall upstairs, buuut I don't think they would let you in if you're not a guild member.  I'll go up there and bring some back with me."

She trotted a few steps towards the door, but stopped next to Alki, looking down at the Igglybuff with a gentle smile.  "And...  You are welcome to join our team if you'd like to, Alki.  Though if you do, you'd definitely have to come with us on missions.  It's okay if you don't want to, or if you want some time to think about it first.  Maybe...  You could come with us today, and see how you like it?  We'll either be doing missions, or just training if there's nothing our team can handle right now.  We're all still beginners."

With that said, she turned back to Yooka with a small giggle.  "Aaand I came here to wake you up, Yooka!  It's morning.  Do you want me to bring something back for you, too?"

Alki smiled, staring down at the ground, her face a bit red. They were both being so nice! And they barely even knew Alki... Darcy is really friendly... It's almost too good to be true... she thought, as a small warning of 'Be Careful!' went through her mind. Pokemon had treated her kindly before, but they had ended up hurting her anyways. She couldn't trust them fully yet...

"T-Thank you, D-Darcy." She said, looking up at her with a small, nervous smile. She still felt a bit scared, but D-Darcy spoke so kindly and gently, nobody ever talked to Alki like that. If they spoke to her at all it was usually harshly and they were anything but gentle. Alki couldn't help but feel confused, and it showed. I didn't do anything to deserve her kindness... "A-are you really inviting me to join your team?" She asked, shuffling her feet nervously. What if she misunderstood? But she didn't want to lose the opportunity... "Err... I-I mean... I'm not sure I'd be too useful but... I-If you'd allow me to come and see what it's like... I-I mean, I wouldn't mind. I'd be OK with... If you two are, and I'm... Uh... Y-Yeah..." She said, rambling, getting more nervous the more she talked. Alki stared at the door, half expecting somebody to come in suddenly and begin to talk to her. She didn't want to talk anymore...

"I-Is there a lot of Pokemon here?" Alki asked, after a long pause, at least for her; not moving her gaze from the door. What if I join their team, and then let them down? "I-I don't know if I should stay here... I'm not grown up, I-I haven't evolved or anything..." But it's still not a bad idea to see what the guild is like... "M-My sister evolved before she came to the guild... And she was always better than me..."

Hearing the skitty say she's a beginner just made her annoyed. Perhaps I shall give her a little test tomorrow, or later today before the day ends... then once she heard the reason the skitty came to her room made her groan. "eh... Darcy...? come oonn... just one day. yesterday night was a mess for meee..." she snickered at the end. Sitting up and talking slightly more formal but still a bit groggy, "If it wasn't for Alki, I probably would've been mugged by a... well i forgot what. heh" she lied, she just wanted an excuse to stay in her room for the day. She would have recovered from the encounter pretty easily on her own, however she didn't want to cause a scene with Alki present, not on purpose.

The igglybuff asked if the two really invited her. Yooka stayed silent to that. the igglybuff continued questioning it making itself seem like a bad teammate then asked if there were more pokemon in the guild. Yooka giggled to herself, then said "Remember the marketplace? It's about that, but slightly more." however Yooka finally realized something the igglybuff said which made her go silent for a few seconds. Then she stood up... on her bed. "Did you say one of your 'sisters' is in the guild? does she know your absent from your parents?"I knew I saw it, but why did I not see 'this' sooner. Does she know Alki's gone? I'll need to find out.