The plan was simple, and the goal was clear. This was the time for the greenhorns to shine, and they were to put all they had into achieving the goal. The newbies and lower-ranking members would be assigned a certain area in order to survey for hideaways and dungeons that may contain their quarry of thieves. As Morris also put it, it would also teach a valuable lesson on leadership and roles as they wouldn’t have a defined "leader." With a map, a few berries, and some gummies in a bag, they were to investigate where they could be hiding and go through any dungeons that may stand in their way. While Arno and Lumi would be stuck with some other guild members, it seemed like Costello and his gang would be paired with some more familiar faces.

As they sat in the middle of the wilderness waiting, Liam bounced Costello’s head like a speed bag as Floe looked on in amusement. Zata, however, sat a bit away from the main group, curled up. It had been a few minutes over the scheduled meeting time, but eventually the associated group came. As late as they were, it was to be expected that their help would be needed because, as informed by Morris before they left;

"S-Salandite like to ambush."

The team assigned to them were some Pokemon from the initial guild test. The first to arrive on the scene was the Gligar, by the name of Esme. She glided down from the treetops, bowing for her lateness as soon as she hit the ground.

"I. Am. Sooo Sorry. At first, the scout training with Devlin went overtime because he kept trying to impress the others by showing us some new things until one of us crashed into a berry cart, and then Roka wouldn’t get up and Sera wouldn’t stop talking about how Caspian shouldn’t have gotten put on the spot like that, and then there was Ion, and they’re all coming now, I’m sure."

Costello simply put a hand up to greet her, his head still bouncing from the flat impact of Liam’s practice kicks, while Liam flashed a smile at her and began to strike up a conversation about how the flying practice actually works on account of

"My lack of wings. And unfortunately, Cos

"Not my name."

"He says that we wouldn’t be able to find enough feathers to make me fly."

"Your suggestion amounted to tarring and feathering you."

"It might’ve worked."

"It would not. You would die on your first flight. Or probably scarred horribly."

The second to arrive, albeit with a heavy delay, was a Litleo, who went by the name of Roka. With a lackadaisical saunter to the group waiting beneath the trees, his general body movement seemed to come without a care for the world. His mane was an odd shade of butterscotch. A kind of shine radiated off him that seemed to attract attention in spite of his subdued demeanor. His eyes seemed to be half open as he looked around at the group in front of him. A small smile grew on his face. Not one of active enjoyment but more of the passive kind of fulfillment that existence gave.

"Hey… "Do I know you guys from somewhere?"

Liam’s ears perked up at the sound of recognition. "Oh yeah! You lads were part of the same group back during that big dungeon crawl."

Roka’s head tilted to the side. "No. It's not that. Right! You two were the ones that broke Arno’s nose in a street fight. I remember seeing him with a wicked bruise for a few days. He kept mumbling about taking a cheap shot or something."

While Liam began to ready himself in defense of his alleged assault, Costello was first to cut him off. "Yes, that was us."

"Don’t just admit it, Cos!"

The Treecko could only offer up a shrug. "I have no reason to lie to him."

"How did that fight end for you last time, buck?" taunted Zata from the side.

"Hey, me and Cos did well, with Cos having no experience."

"It ended with you getting knocked out by the Lucario."

"Styles is strong." The rabbit assumed a pose, flexing his (soon to be )muscles: "But we’ll be stronger, eh, Cos?"

Finally, the last three to show up were a Leafeon, a Totodile, and a Shinx. Each word out of their mouth came with an implicit cockiness that could only be homegrown. The living analogy of a big Magikarp in a little pond kind of confidence. The leaves of the Leafeon seemed to be serrated at the edges while the tail kept itself neat and glistening. The tail seemed to be covered in dew drops,and had a tendancy to splash around as they talked. At this moment, Costello and Liam were getting rocked wbythe moisture.

"Look, kid, you've got to look at things from a different angle. Even if Thea didn’t mean to point you out, now you’re out. That’s too bad that you’re on the minds of the general popupop."

"You mean Populace, Sera. And I don’t disagree with you on that, but blaming Thea entirely isn't a good look. "

The Shinx herself seemed to be smaller than average, but her coat of fur shone a light blue. A light hum seemed to follow her every footstep. Beside her was

Him.

A Totodile. He seemed uncertain with every step. Jittery, with his hands and eyes flipping everywhere. His body movement wasn't suspicious, but it gave off a sense of discomfort in his own body.

"I said what I said, Ion, Caspian; you can’t let Mon walk over you like that."

"Its fine. Really Sera. I shouldn’t have let my eye off the assignment. If we don’t find the message, then I’m going to thank whoever does. "

The Shinx whipped her tail at the Totodile in jest. "At least you know your manners, Caspian. But we’ll find it first. Make a competition out of it. Just like life is."

Him.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The repetition ached in Costello’s mind. "Do we know him?"

Alzbell talked of him. Mentioned him. He is the other patient.

"So I should—no .

Nothing will happen. Interact. Be calm and patient. Now go up to him and shake his hand.

….

Caspian was not having the best start to his week or to his month. His whole life really. Since he had gotten here, he had barely gotten control over his biting problem, and now he had woken up to this. Getting assigned to a ragtag team of oddballs and character tropes. The familiarity felt warm in his brain cage, but as always, there was nothing solid to be found there. Just fractured memories and jumbled words. Kaleidoscopes, as Alzbell called them. What didn’t help his inner turmoil was the sudden influx of new Pokemon in front of him. As far as Alzbell told him, it was better to make the first move than to stand around slackjawed, so he made that move.

"Hello. "My name’s Caspian."

As Caspian outstretched his hand, paw, and claw thing towards him, the Treecko grabbed it with no hesitation.

"Costello."

His scales gripped Caspian’s claws. The claw was firm, not in the way to establish dominance, but it was unmoving. His scales were green, though a bit around his head seemed a bit greener, but that wasn’t the focus. The focus was on the eyes. He didn’t look at him as though he were a Pokemon, but more like a set of parts. There was intelligence in his eyes, but only the briefest glimpse of emotion. Ambition, curiosity? The crocodile didn’t know and didn’t want to know. The moment passed and Costello let go of his hand, yet didn’t take his eyes off him as Caspian moved on to the next.

"Freaky,"’ he thought to himself.

The first to introduce themselves was the Scorbunny, someone named Liam. He was friendly and smiley. Kept his eyes on and off him and the rest of the group as he bounced around the conversation. A spiky tuft of hair bounced along with him. In his opinion, Liam wasn’t a bad guy, a bit too extraverted but ultimately ok. Weird accent though.

The next to follow him was the Glaeon. She or they—he didn’t know which they preferred—but everyone kept going with "they" in conversation, so he defaulted to that. Cold to the touch and calm as a winter snow" made sense. As they nodded their heads towards Caspian, the smile on their faces seemed to be unmoving, though their eyes hid something behind the deep blue.

The last one of them that Caspian met was the lizard. Zata, as Liam called her. Neither he nor the others really even got a hello. more of a flick of the tail, and then he and Esme had to hold Sera back from swearing out the arrogant dragon. There was nothing more to think about in Caspian’s book. The rest were fine, but for this one, he would have to be "professional," or at the very least convince Ion and Sera to be.

…

There was nothing of note for Costello to mention about the Totodile. A bit jittery, she got along fine with everyone (barring Zata, but that was to be expected). Yet the burning in his head kept burning, and everything in him kept saying. -

Get Closer.

He would have to file that away for later, right with the breakdown he had scheduled regarding his conflicting identities and getting Liam back for a good night in the A.E. His current plan involved calling in a favor from a psychic type to leave him atop the castle. Yes, that seemed like an appropriate response. In any case, the group began to gather around to discuss what the hell they were trying to do here. As always, the first to start was Liam, who unfurled the map on the ground.

"So according to the map provided, we’re to rummage up some reports from Pokemon affected by these blokes." merchants and the like.

Esme spoke up in turn. "So the idea I have is that we’ll try and make a range and see where they strike most often and where they usually run off too. If I was focused on one thing only, my getaway wouldn’t be as clean as I would want it."

"Of course the little jerks would be messy. It's how they work. We find them, then we bowl over the half pints," roared Sera.

Ion, however, cut short the declaration of violence. "Revenge is nice, but we can’t do that now. With the way Morris described it, if we try and go in there, we’ll be swarmed by them before we can lay a finger on their "queen."

"Whatever finishes this faster, I guess,", Roka yawned.

Esme laid a pincer on the back of the lion. "Well, c'mon, Roka! We can summon a bit more enthusiasm than that!"

"They don’t pay us for enthusiasm, Esme." "Hell, we’re only currently getting paid in shelter."

"Well, of course, we’re only junior members after all."

The Lefeaon nodded in agreement. "Roka has a point. When are we going to get paid in actual poke instead of "experience and exposure"?

"Now you know they didn’t put it like that. Besides, you’re from Mystico Sera; it's better here than there."

"Still, you’d think the ‘ Great Almas Guild ’ wouldn’t be so stingy."

It was Floe that poked into the group huddle this time. "According to what I’ve read, we should be allowed to go on individual missions very soon. Regarding when we will be full-timers, that would be another story." A small smile was directed towards their sister in evolution. "Besides, if we do enough on this job, I’m sure Thea will have some sort of reward for us."

"The ice cube’s right." The dragon addressed the group without leaving her resting spot. "Lumi and the Otter have been doing pretty well under Styles. In a few months, they’ll be up for promotion; they’ve already been on rescue jobs anyway, so it's basically set in stone with how Thea works. Rewards by merit type of system."

"Oh? "And how have you come across this information, Zata?"

The wyrm quickly turned her head upward and away from the group. "Pokemon like to talk, Floe. Find the right ones, and you’ll know where everyone stands."

"Well, let’s not faff about, mates; we have a job to get to."

Following the map, the group ended up following a suspected grouping of the Salandit. As with each of the other groups, it was to be found wherever minor thievery had to be found. As vague as the map was, it led them from small merchant to small merchant, each regaling stories of being assailed by a group of lizards that stole several objects. While the Simisage gave a report of broken stained glass as the thieves accosted him, another Umbreon told of being unwillingly relieved of their perfume (the source from Costello’s guess and Floe’s odd teasing seemed to come from the Umbreon’s sweat, however that worked.) As they exchanged information with other groups and merchants, they were able to get a sense of where these incidents were occurring and where the assailants regularly scampered off to. A small area in the middle of nowhere, miles from Seva.

As the group approached from the outside, the first thing to hit Caspian was the smell. At first, it was the odor of captivation and desperation filling the air, but another scent seemed to infiltrate, even suppress, it. Even as far away as the group was, it left the Totodile lightheaded. As he looked around for confirmation of what he felt, he could only find Costello on a similar wavelength as himself.

For Costello, the site of the structure was enough to label down exactly the status of these things. Large in number but ultimately weaklings. Ramshackle hostels of an abandoned nature barely held together with whatever patchwork they could muster in their claws. Those who crawled in and out of their little houses were aggressive, both toward each other and toward the world in general. Those with any edible in their hands found themselves gazing at it lustfully while walking into one particular structure and walking out with meager pickings yet defending those scraps from all who gazed at it lustfully. It was that one particular hut that stood out from all others due to its well-put-together nature. It wasn’t built well in Costello’s mind. More an effort of love than skill, but the fact that it seemed to be the closest to an actual board-certified dwelling Adorned with jewels and barely damaged silk, it was fit for a queen on a budget. Surrounded by a leper colony of lovesick fools, this must be where the Salazzle resided.

He’s staring at you.

Costello looked over at the Totodile, who quickly looked back towards the encampment. With them being firmly planted in the nearest greenery, this led him to collide face-first with a branch. From there, he looked towards the rest of the group members.

"Big Hut, most likely where we’ll find what we’re looking for."

Ion nodded, "Yeah, we’ll tell the others; come back and ensnare them."

As that plan came to mind, the area seemed to be filled with... loveliness.

Hold your breath. Turn Around. Play Dead.

The sickly-sweet scent infected the air as Caspian was the first to drop. Following the rest until, finally, Costello was the only one still conscious, As he turned around to see the source of the intoxicant, a purple figure towered over him. Her eyes seemed to look at him as prey, a lesser being. Pink stripes outlined her purple chest as the black skin gave her a striking silhouette against the sun. Surrounded on all sides by Salandit women, with a lick of her lips, she only gave a flippant wrist towards them before Costello and the group were set upon by the horde of her loyal followers.