The Next Day
Marowak Dojo
Treasure Town, Grass Continent
"Agh!" Victor let go of his wooden stick as Daichi smacked his hands with the bone club. Victor hisses in pain as he rubs his bruised hands gently.
"I think that's enough for today," Daichi comments.
"No shit," Victor grumbles before pulling out an Oran Berry and taking a bite to heal his bruises.
"I think you get addicted to that," Daichi says, with a sweatdrop.
"Cut me some slack," Victor replies in annoyance. "Do you think I could endure a day without any kind of healing? Especially with how painful the trainings are?"
"I was pointing out how you use it too much," Daichi says. "Like, I counted how much Oran Berry you had consumed ever since you started training with me, and let me tell you, the number is concerning."
"Am I gonna have some sort of side effects if I overeat?" Victor asks in concern.
"The effect will lessen over time. It's why Pokemons always prefer healing by resting in a Dungeon. It speeds up their recovery." Daichi says as Victor sighs before munching the entire Oran Berry. Despite knowing the risk, he can't exactly toss away the berry after biting it. It's a waste of food.
"Thanks again for today's training, sensei," Victor says as Daichi nods.
"So, how's the rest of your team? I haven't seen them coming back to train for a while." Daichi asks.
"I…am not sure why they haven't been coming back. I mean, given how we were busy clearing 30 jobs from the guild two days ago, and yesterday was supposed to be our break before the Drowzee fiasco…" Victor muses.
"Ah, right…" Daichi mutters. "I...have been hearing that Marill kid, Mark, calling that outlaw a pedophile for doing something to his little brother. No offense to the kid, but…his brother doesn't look like a victim of a child predator…do you have any idea?"
"…I may have called the outlaw pedophile, the little brother asked what it is, I explained, and they misunderstood," Victor mutters as he facepalms. "I try to explain more, but they seem adamant to insult the Drowzee as a child predator."
"…snrk," Daichi tries but fails to hold his snicker at his student's story. Victor gives his sensei a deadpan stare before letting out a sigh.
"Daichi-sensei, sorry to intrude. I-" Thorn's voice can be heard outside the building before Thorn enters and sees Victor. "Oh, Victor. Good morning."
"Morning," Victor waves lazily, his face showing a tired expression. "Waking up early as well?"
"Given how Larry's gonna shout in our ears like there's no tomorrow, I had to wake up early. It helps when you have a roommate who seems to wake up before sunrise." Thorn comments as Victor rubs the back of his head Mareepishly.
"U-um, sorry about that," Victor says as Thorn shakes his head in amusement.
"So, what's your plan on training, kid?" Daichi asks. "Mastery over movement? Fighting experience? Or a simple growth?"
"Maybe a fighting experience and growth," Thorn says. "I need to get used to fighting while moving. Still a total sitting Psyduck when battling."
"Very well," Daichi says as Victor sits at the side while watching them prepare to spar. Victor pulls out his notebook and pen, preparing to write something.
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Later
Wigglytuff Guild, Grass Continent
"Ow, ow, ow! Everything, everything hurts!" Thorn groans in pain as Victor laughs while giving his friend a Spoink-back ride.
"You still have a lot to work on when it comes to fighting," Victor huffs before chuckling.
"I am not hearing this from you, Mr. Former-Human," Thorn grumbles as Victor can't help but laugh again.
"Okay, okay, sorry," Victor says in amusement while Thorn huffs in annoyance.
"…so, how are you?" Thorn asks as he leans his head on Victor's back.
"It's…been fine," Victor answers. "I…am still scared about the future, but you guys help me a lot in dealing with my fear."
"How so?" Thorn asks.
"Just being by my side, and being a supportive friend," Victor says as Thorn snorts.
"I didn't take you to be the cheesy one," Thorn says as Victor slightly blushes in embarrassment.
"Don't mock me, I don't exactly know how to word it better," Victor whines as Thorn laughs before Victor joins in. As they walk back to the guild, they notice Sabo sitting near the gate of the guild while looking down. Both Victor and Thorn look at each other, slightly concerned by Sabo's situation, before approaching the young Pokémon.
"Hey, Sabo," Victor calls, getting Sabo's attention. "You're okay? What's going on?"
"I…" Sabo looks hesitant, unsure if he should answer.
"Sabo, you can tell us," Thorn says gently as Sabo looks at the older Pokémon before sighing.
"It's big brother, he's gone complaining on the guild again," Sabo says.
"Did Larry yell at his ears again?" Victor asks as he furrows his brow. What happened that made Tesla snap again? Victor seriously had no idea what was with that guy's deal, and his short temper worries Victor.
"No, it's more about today's job," Sabo says while shaking his head. Seeing both of his older teammates' puzzlement, Sabo continues. "Vice Guildmaster Charlie gives us the Sentry Duty since we didn't get to fully rest after the 30 jobs." They all shiver while remembering that moment. "It was suggested by Guildmaster William since he wishes us to get a proper rest, but my brother somehow didn't take it well. He's been trying to complain to the Guildmaster, and the other has been holding him for a while. I…was scared and ran off…"
"…Arceus-damn it…" Victor grumbles before gently putting Thorn down by lowering himself as he faces Sabo. "Come on, we need to stop that idiot before he does something stupid."
As Victor walks to the guild, Thorn looks at Sabo, who lowers his head in shame and embarrassment, which makes Thorn frown a bit. This isn't the first time Tesla has caused trouble, and Sabo ran away out of fear.
"Sabo," Thorn says. "How long do you think you're gonna keep letting Tesla do whatever he wants?"
"…" Sabo didn't answer.
"You know this can't keep happening. We're now a team, and whatever problem is caused by Tesla, it'll also affect the entire team." Thorn says. "You need to do something to keep Tesla from causing more trouble. I'm sorry to say this, but right now, Tesla's being unreasonable."
"…I don't know how," Sabo mutters. "I don't know how to tell him without hurting his feelings."
"Sabo, I ask you to tell your brother to stop being angry at any Pokémon he meets or anyone who only displeases him in the slightest." Thorn looks at his friend in utter disbelief. Why would Sabo think keeping his brother in check would hurt his feelings?
"…I have a lot of things to say to my brother, and I'm scared that I might say something that I didn't mean to," Sabo mutters. "Tesla isn't the only one with a temper, you know…"
"…for real?" Thorn looks at Sabo in disbelief. Is he saying he has a temper as bad as Tesla's? He can't believe it, especially when Sabo was very timid.
"…I know you won't believe me," Sabo says. "But I once had an outburst that made me say a lot of terrible things. It…once made Tesla go silent for weeks, and he refuses to talk to me…I…I don't want that to happen again. He's the only family I have."
"…I understand your fear, but keep letting Tesla get away with everything he's done won't help. Victor's been great at redirecting Tesla's rage towards himself, given your brother has an unhealthy amount of hate towards him, but do you want our leader to take the full brunt of his anger every single time?" Thorn asks before they hear a loud smack and Tesla's outburst. "Tesla's only going to listen to you. You need to say something to him."
"…." Sabo looks down, slightly scared.
"…think about it, please," Thorn begs. "You can't let him keep controlling you like that. I get he's your only family, but do you want your brother to become a bad Pokémon?"
Thorn didn't let Sabo reply and walked into the building. Sabo merely stood there in silence, unsure of what to do. He didn't know what he should do, and he didn't trust himself to be in control of his anger. He wishes anyone could give him advice, but who would do that for him?
As Thorn enters the building, he is greeted with Tesla lying unconscious on the ground with a giant steaming bump on his head, Victor holding his paper fan (Thorn seriously wonders where in the world he gets that), Larry, and Sally looking at the unconscious Tesla with a sweatdrop.
"You sure this is fine?" Larry asks hesitantly.
"I have tried with alternative methods, you saw it yourself," Victor says. "I try to talk, try to negotiate, convincing him to calm down, and even warned him. It doesn't work, so I had to resort to brute force. He's lucky I use this instead of my wooden staff."
"Why would you hold a wooden staff?" Sally asks with a sweatdrop.
"In case someone needs a good smack on the head, or more humiliating, on their asses," Victor says with a grin that made Larry and Sally question if any of their juniors have any shred of sanity left in them. Victor didn't need to tell them he's been training using a weapon, given how it's taboo for them. He is still wondering how a wooden stick wasn't considered a weapon, but with how the world views what a weapon is, he can't blame them. Compared to any weapons, a wooden stick didn't seem deadly.
"Hey, Victor," Victor turns to see Thorn before beaming and waving at the Bulbasaur, making Larry and Sally sweatdrop even more. "…you didn't kill him, right?"
"Thorn, please don't joke like that," Larry says with a wince.
"Sorry," Thorn grimaces before looking at Tesla.
"He's just unconscious. That hothead is hard to talk with," Victor says while rubbing the back of his head. "He won't listen and keeps yelling at me, so I had no choice."
'There is, you just choose the easy one,' Both Larry and Sally sweatdrop as they look at Victor. But, they can't blame him; anyone would have less patience than Victor and would do something worse.
"…so, I heard we get a Sentry Duty," Thorn says as he looks at Larry. "May I ask for more details about it?"
'He doesn't even ask if the Pikachu's okay,' Larry sweatdrops again. "I-If you must know, being in a Sentry Duty means you're going to be reporting us regarding anyone entering the Guild. You must guess what Pokémon is entering the guild and reporting to us."
"I have several questions regarding those flaws," Victor says. "What happens if those who enter can learn Transform like Ditto or use Illusion like Zorua and Zoroark? And how does reporting what Pokémon are visiting the Guild help decide if they're allowed to enter? It was like implying some Pokémon weren't allowed to enter."
"For your first question, Ditto can't fully replicate Pokémon's footprint as it would look misshapen whenever it did so. They may be able to transform, but due to Ditto mostly transforming to combat, they rarely get the details correctly. And for Zoroark, the gate has an anti-illusion tool, so you will be able to see their footprints without issues." Larry explains. "As for your second question, reporting what Pokémon are visiting the guild will allow Helena to use her Psychic abilities to sense their intention. If those you're reporting are either resistant, immune, or vulnerable to Psychic, we usually warn Helena about it."
"Wait, so you guys read our minds before we enter the guild?" Thorn asks as Victor can't help but panic internally. Does that mean his secrets were exposed already!?
"No, Helena simply detects your emotions. Reading minds can be…tricky. Psychic-Types could mostly read only surface-level, and attempting to dig deeper will harm or worse kill any Pokémon, so Guildmaster William won't allow her to do so. And reading minds is not as effective as some Pokemons think, you can still lie even inside your thoughts. Emotions, on the other hand, aren't capable of lying since they reflect your true self. You can try to suppress or hide it, but emotions in your mind will never truly go away….well, except those like the Beldum lines. Their emotions were based on logic." Sally sweatdrops. "Anyways, in short, you report to us, our Psychic resident will detect their intent through their emotions, and we decide if we allow them to enter or not."
'If that's how you operate, then how did you guys let Team Skull join the Guild for a short period!?' Victor can't help but wonder about the future plot holes, but he simply pushes the thought aside. The world has proven they're more different than he expects. Victor then notices Larry staring at him and becomes nervous. "W-what?"
"Speaking of Helena, she had accidentally read your mind due to the confusion you caused," Larry says, making Victor's heart skip a beat. "But what she read doesn't make any sense. She said that what you think consists only of '1' and '0'."
Victor could hear a record scratch in his mind when he heard that. 0 and 1?! Why would he even think about those numbers!?! He pauses before trying to think about it and putting the pieces together. Veemon is a Digimon, a creature made of data instead of atoms, and 0 and 1 were the binary codes, a two-symbol system representing data.
"That's…..interesting," Victor mutters while sweatdropping, while in his mind, he is cheering like a madman. That means Psychic-Types can't invade his mind and have to rely on detecting emotions, and emotions can't exactly tell secrets like his true identity as a human or future knowledge! A bonus is that binary codes don't exist in the Pokémon world!
…or does it? In this world, some Robots are also considered Pokémon, and any Psychic-type might gain similar results when reading their minds. And they might develop a way to translate those codes, making Victor groan in misery. He thought he would find a way to avoid Psychic-types' mind-reading, but the possibility made him think otherwise.
"Do you have any other questions regarding the jobs?" Larry asks.
"One last thing," Victor says. "Where do we even perform the Sentry Duty?"
"…I knew I forgot something," Larry grumbles as Sally giggles a bit. Larry gestures for them to follow him as Victor drags Tesla while Thorn follows suit. Meanwhile, Sabo had entered the Guild and noticed his teammates had walked away, following Larry, before he followed them. Thorn notices Sabo and quickly helps him catch up with the details as they walk to the Sentry Post, which is a hole that leads to an underground tunnel.
"…remind me how big the post is? Because you're implying the entire team receives the Sentry Duty." Victor says.
"It's easy, your team will be split into two teams with two members each, one team will do the duty first before the other waits for their turn. Each team will do the duty for at least 4 hours." Larry says. "Your performance matters for this job. You can earn rewards by simply doing the Sentry Duty, and each rewards are based on your performance on the duty."
"…okay, we're so going to ace this job," Victor says confidently, causing Thorn to raise his eyebrows while staring at him. Larry merely laughs at his junior's enthusiasm.
"I love the confidence, but you must understand. The job won't be easy; it takes Douglas, our current best Sentry, a few moons before he can even become good at his job." Larry says as he pats Victor's back. "But, still, I wish you luck, junior." With that, Larry walks away along with Sally.
"…I'm gonna be with Tesla," Sabo mutters, getting Victor's and Thorn's attention (Victor was spooked by Sabo's appearance as he didn't know Sabo had been following him). "I'm the only one who can keep an eye on him, and…I need to talk with him."
"…okay, then I suppose I'll go with Victor," Thorn says as they both climb down the stairs and walk through a dark underground tunnel that leads to a room. Light shines through the roof and reveals a pair of seats at the center of the room with a pair of cups and a letter on the table. Victor and Thorn weren't expecting such things, given how they looked from above.
Victor picks up the letter and tries to read it before he gives it to Thorn, annoyed that he is still unable to properly read their language. Thorn can't help but chuckle before reading it for him.
Dear Team Dawn,
I am Douglas, the Sentry of the Wigglytuff Guild. I'm sorry that you guys had to be on this duty, and I know not all Pokémon are pleased with this kind of job, so I set the furniture for you guys, along with a jug of coffee for each shift, so you guys could be more comfortable. I wouldn't ask you guys to do this if not for the emergency I had with my dad, Dee-Nice. Truly sorry for this, and I wish you the best. No need to be nervous, it's an easy job. I even made sure to add a guidebook for you guys! Good luck!
Best Regards,
Douglas.
"It's official, Douglas is the best senpai anyone could've asked for," Victor says as he grabs a mug and starts to fill it with coffee.
"Senpai?" Thorn asks in confusion as he looks around and finds a guidebook that Douglas has mentioned.
"Humans tend to speak multiple languages based on the country we live in, and senpai is a word used to call our seniors in another language," Victor says as he takes a sip before letting out a relieved sigh. "Ah, that hits the spot…"
"You didn't seem to worry about our job," Thorn says as he picks up a cup and fills it with coffee.
"Ah, right. I never told you about this, but Pokémon actually exists in my world as a fictional creature and has even become a form of entertainment like games, stories, books, and many more. Even merchandise." Thorn feels his brain short-circuit when he hears that and almost spills his coffee if not for Victor.
"W-what!?!" Thorn asks in disbelief.
"Yeah, it's a whole can of Orthworm," Victor says while shrugging. "You guys are famous, mostly Pikachu. Whenever Pokémon is mentioned, Pikachu will come to their mind."
"…you shouldn't mention that to Tesla, never!" Thorn says as Victor snorts. "But, that doesn't answer my question at all."
Before Victor could respond, the room suddenly grew darker. Victor looked up while sipping his coffee.
"The footprint is Gible's! The footprint is Gible's!" Victor reports loudly without any hesitation.
"W-what!?" Thorn looks up before looking back at Victor. "D-don't randomly guess whose footprint is that!" Thorn constantly flips through the pages and looks at the book. "It's…really Gible's…?"
"See?" Victor smugly smirks as he sips his coffee before they hear the gate open and the room goes back to normal.
"T-that's beside the point, don't just randomly guess someone's footprint without confirming it first!" Thorn exclaims.
"Trust me on this," Victor says smugly. "My knowledge won't fail me."
"Then, why do you act like you never knew most Pokémon earlier?" Thorn asks.
"Have you considered how suspicious I will be if I know who you guys are without saying I'm a human, especially with the 'I'm from Digital World' backstory?" Victor points out. Thorn had to concede as Victor raised a good point. Victor then looked up after noticing the room had gone slightly dark again. "The footprint is Poochyena's, and there are three of them!"
"W-wait! D-don't-!" Thorn flips the book again and double-checks. "It…really is Poochyena…" Thorn looks at Victor in disbelief. "How?"
"Like I said, my knowledge won't fail me," Victor smirks as he takes a sip.
"… Do you have some sort of fascination with Pokémon's feet?" Victor choked on his coffee and spat out the contents upon hearing Thorn's question before looking at his friend in utter disbelief.
"What!? No! I just love drawing Pokémon back when I was a kid, and I pay a lot of attention to their appearances!" Victor exclaims, wiping the coffee stain off his mouth. Victor then looked up. "That's Cryogonal, and it doesn't have feet!"
"…" Thorn looks up and sees that the Pokémon is really Cryogonal. "…you're just gonna guess every Pokémon coming here with no hesitation, huh?"
"Yup," Victor says while sipping his coffee. Thorn also sips his before grimacing.
"How can you drink this without adding some sugar?" Thorn asks in disbelief.
"When you have to spend the night studying without sleep, drinking a cup of bitter coffee is a must. I got used to the bitterness of the coffee and life," Victor responds, causing Thorn to sweatdrop.
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Later
"U-uh…" Larry looks at Victor and Thorn in sheer disbelief as he looks at the report and guest lists given by Helena, who Victor easily finds out is Chimeco since she's the only Psychic-type Pokémon in the building. In a shocking twist, Victor and Thorn had somehow perfectly guessed the entire group of Pokemons arriving in the Guild for the whole 4-hour shift. When Victor says he's gonna ace it, he wasn't joking about it and had aced the entire duty.
"…I am honestly impressed," Charlie says as he blinks while looking at Victor and Thorn. "Sentry Douglas took a while to even get perfect results in Sentry Duty, and you all managed to do it in the first day."
"It was all Victor's," Thorn mutters. He didn't want to take credit for Victor's ridiculous knowledge about Pokémon.
"Is that so?" Charlie muses before looking at Victor.
"…you're not going to convince me to take Senior Douglas' position in the Sentry Duty," Victor says in a deadpan manner.
"It's worth a try." Everyone gives Charlie a deadpan stare, causing the Vice Guildmaster to awkwardly clear his throat. "Anyways, congratulations to you two. For your effort, you both will be rewarded with these."
Larry gives Victor a bag of items. Both Victor and Thorn look at each other and open it to see a bag full of Poke, two seeds, and a bottle of medicinal drink. Victor looks at the seeds before giving Charlie a questioning look.
"The one on your left is a Life Seed; it improves on the consumer's health and endurance, allowing them to stay on the battlefield longer. The one on your right is a Joy Seed; it grants you strength that makes you stronger, faster, and more durable." Charlie explains. "As for that bottle, it's Ginseng; whoever consumes it allows them to use their moves more times than usual."
'In short, Life Seed increases HP, Joy Seed increases level, and Ginseng increases moves' PP.' Victor thought before nodding and giving the seeds to Thorn, which made him take aback.
"W-what?" Thorn asks in surprise.
"You need it more than I," Victor says.
"…I'll just keep it in the bag," Thorn mutters, grateful for Victor letting him have the seeds, but he hesitates to use them.
"Fair," Victor mutters before looking at the bag of coins. "And we got money too, neat."
"Of course you would think that," Thorn deadpans as everyone chuckles while Victor rolls his eyes at his partner. Both of them look at Sabo, dragging still unconscious Tesla and sweatdrops.
"How hard did you hit that guy?" Thorn asks in disbelief.
"Very," Larry says. "I remember his paper fan glows golden, and he swings it right at the poor Pikachu's skull."
"You use MP when hitting Tesla!?!" Thorn asks in disbelief.
"It's either that or causing brain damage using my wooden stick!" Victor tries to defend himself.
"…oh, Arceus, you are impossible…" Thorn mutters while shaking his head.
To be Continued