Day Zero - P2MD Mission Zero

    The bustle of the market had reached full swing as the sun shined its light down onto the citizens of Lacasta City, the rush of midday encouraging everyone to be out and active. It was here that many felt at home, and the Panpour who manned the fruits stall near the center of the marketplace was no exception.

    "Thank you, come again!" his gentle voice piped out over the jingle of crystals as a Spoink made her purchase of a particularly fat and juicy Watmel Berry.

    Business had been going well that day - at times when the streets were flooded with as many Pokémon as they were right now, it was almost a guarantee that he'd be able to make some good business here. It made him unhappy with the idea of giving up time and business here in the market for things like adventure and risk.

    And just as that thought had crossed his mind, he noticed a familiar Pichu with a vibrant red lily poking out of her tufted mane approach his stall.

    "I thought I'd find you here!" The girl smiled; the look on her face would have been enough to get even a sour-faced Snivy in a better mood.

    Still, the Panpour could only manage a weak smile. "Hey, Ruth." He tugged at the edges of his vest awkwardly. "Is it that time already?"



    "Well, of course it is!" Ruth lifted a tiny paw to point into the sky. "Gaia did say the guild was meeting at a cycle past noon, right? The sun's in the right place for it. Better get going; we can't be late!"

    He had already set to work packing up what was left of his fresh-picked goods, momentarily mourning the few that probably wouldn't hold enough flavor to be sold tomorrow, as she talked. Once he had finished, he put up the "CLOSED" sign on his stall and locked it shut.

    It took a deft flick of his tail to get the strap of his bag over his shoulder, and then they were off, making their way toward the castle closer to the center of Lacasta City. The towering structure was dwarfed only by the walls that encompassed the whole community, and was a landmark that was hard to miss by any stretch of the imagination.

    "You packed some snacks?" Ruth asked. "What'd you bring for me?"

    With a wince, the water monkey lifted his shoulderbag out toward her, regretting the words "whatever you like" even before they had left his mouth.

    Ruth eagerly tossed open the bag, and with a quick squeal of "Ooh!" she plucked a Lansat Berry - a rare and expensive fruit that he remembered had taken some time to find while he was out picking a selection for sales. The star-shaped fruit, as he recalled, was known for its powerful, mixed flavor: it was a spicy, sour, and sweet thing, and he decided that, knowing her, it made sense that Ruth would go for it first.

    He tore his attention away from Ruth to absorb their surroundings a bit more. They had reached the castle now, and he realized he had almost forgotten how easy it was to access the Guardian's Guild headquarters. Some many years ago, the castle had been handed down from their royal Diancie protector to the first leaders of the guild, and as a result a lot of reconstruction had taken place, starting with tearing down the walls that isolated the castle from the town and citizens around it.

    There had also been a lot of disrepair, apparently. As they walked past what had once been the castle gardens, he noticed that the traps, hoops, and other obstacles that littered the ground were worn out, many even completely broken. The knowledge that the guild they were applying to had so much broken-down equipment right on their front lawn didn't fill him with much confidence...

    "These are the training grounds?" Ruth laughed. "I guess there's nothing to worry about getting hurt over then, is there, Corbin?"

    He glanced back at the Pichu, who was just swallowing the last bite of her Lansat berry and sighing contentedly. "Mmh..." he grunted. "I guess not as far as getting hurt."

    "Then don't be such a sad Sawk! Come on, let's get to that meeting."

    As Ruth hurried forward into the main hall of the castle, Corbin wondered what exactly it was that was driving them. He hadn't known Ruth for long, but he had seen enough to know that she wasn't the nicest Pokémon around, certainly not the type he would have expected to see in public aid work like the guild's.

    And as for himself... he certainly didn't fancy himself the active type. Picking berries from around the whole community did take some footwork, sure, but he rarely ended up having to do as much work as, say, carrying around lumber for repairs or fighting off some poor soul who had gotten themselves poisoned with Mysteriousity. And yet, here he was... no sense in trying to resist what had turned out to be the inevitable. All he could do at this point was put his best foot forward and hope that the work would be over quickly.
At least he was getting paid for the trouble, right?


    "Excuse me!" Ruth instantly had the attention of the Pokémon sitting at a desk at the back end of the hall, a Whismur who couldn't have been any older than she was. She put on her best smile and continued, "Could you tell us where the meeting for today's guild activities is?"

    "Right..." the tiny rabbit's voice came out as quietly as his kind was known for. He paused, clearing his throat, and spoke up again. "The meeting is being held in the auditorium," he started again, his voice coming out much more clearly. "It's just past the doors behind us, here." He turned slightly, pointing to the doors that led into a sprawling courtyard past the desk. "Once you get to the Diancie statue, turn left and follow the path, and the auditorium will be straight ahead."

    "Thank you very much!"

    Corbin came to her side just as she had left the desk, but she was too focused on her thoughts to really acknowledge him. Stepping out of the cooler interior of the castle and out into the warm daylight again, she mused about creatures like that Whismur. Timid things like that didn't make any sense to her. There was nothing she could consider useful about someone who couldn't speak up for themselves, take life by the reins when they needed to. Sure, there were ways of doing that without being totally up-front about it, but even she had standards. Being a pitiful, quiet, shy thing would never get you anywhere.

    Oh well, it wasn't like she was about to give that boy life lessons on standing up for himself. They were here to work, and that was that.

    When they reached the Diancie statue, they turned left and headed inside a large box-shaped brick building laid into the inner wall of the castle. This looked like a meeting hall, all right; there were seats all over the place, most of which were occupied by a variety of characters who couldn't have been much older than she and Corbin were; a Shinx with bows tied to her tails and cheek tufts sat next to a Rockruff with ridiculous sunglasses, while behind them a Flabébé and Cutiefly were just sitting down.

    They walked past the towering figure of a canine Pokémon too big for the seats provided, who was simply sitting back on their haunches, as wordless as the metal mask fitted to their face made them seem to be. If it weren't for the Charmander in green goggles and bandana slapping the behemoth in the shoulder, occasionally getting them to cock their head toward him, someone could have been fooled into thinking it was an odd statue or machine.

    "All right, everyone, please settle down!" a Numel in a tiny jacket called out from the center stage.

    Oh, they were already starting. Ruth glanced around, trying to pick out an opening for her to take a seat, but the auditorium was packed. Ugh, if only they had made it here earlier, this wouldn't be such a problem...

    Corbin quietly tapped her on the shoulder and gestured toward the big dog-thing she had walked past. Upon looking over there, she realized that there were a few empty seats next to them - apparently the stranger's imposing size was enough to make others keep their distance. Cute.

    She followed along after Corbin, taking the chair between him and a Snubbull in a floral hat.

    "Everyone set?" There was a pause as the Numel surveyed the crowd. "All right. Thank you all for coming out here to help us today; I see a lot of new faces and able bodies, so I hope to see great things from all of you moving forward! I'm Maxy Vandel, the official Guild coordinator. If you ever need anything, keep me in mind, because it's my job to make sure that we're able to do our jobs well and without stepping on anybody else's toes, including our own guildmates. Now before I hand over the stage to our leader, I take it you all know what it is we're doing here, right?"

    The room remained quiet, the patrons expecting Maxy to answer his own question.

    It seemed the Numel had other ideas. "Come on now, don't be shy! Show of hands; let's get an answer out for anybody who's curious."

    Ah well, there was no harm in it. Ruth raised her paw into the air along with several other members of the crowd. Maxy seemed to notice her, first. "You there, the young lady with the lily."

    Ruth stood up, taking advantage of the little extra height her seat offered her. "It's service work for the city," she called out. "We're being paid to help make sure Lacasta stays safe in as many ways as we can!"

    The Charmander next to Corbin chuckled. "Only reason to bother here in the first place, eh Cara?"

    His hushed voice didn't carry to the stage, as Maxy moved on. "That's right, and what sort of tasks do we handle here?"

    A Mareep as small as Ruth was hopped up on his own chair. "Ooh! Ooh, I know!" he cried in a tiny voice. "We're fighting off crooks and bad guys who got turned Mysterious!"

    Maxy nodded sagely. "That's one way, yes, and on that note we have one more thing to address. Let's clear up the other possible work we have first. That's one: handling criminal activity and Mysteriousity poisoning from inside the city. What else?"

    "All sorts of things," the Flabébé in the middle seats said. "The ones we're mostly likely to get involved with are city repairs, scouting for supplies, and researching Mysteriousity."

    "That's exactly right." Maxy nodded. "And that leads us to the next point that our Mareep friend there told us about - we all know that Mysteriousity is a dangerous threat. Exposure to it can lead to unstable behavior, and in the worst cases the infected will go wild. The main focus of the Guardians is to protect, to learn, and to heal. Your service to the city is important because you are very likely to deal with risky situations, mainly because of the effects Mysteriousity has on all our lives. Be cautious, and above all make sure to come to your leaders with any concerns you might have. You have your own separate teams, but our Guild is one giant team as well. Everyone here is part of one big group from the moment you're signed on with us, and with as much help as all of you can give, we'll be able to make Lacasta City the best it can be, right?"

    His voice rose in volume as he finished off his announcement, encouraging several members in the audience to cheer. Ruth clapped cheerfully, and even Corbin looked cheered up by the rallying cry.

    "So now that you all have the basics out of the way," Maxy announced, "I'd like you all to welcome our guild leader!"
He retreated toward the back of the stage, while the Nidoqueen who had been standing there stepped up into the limelight.

    “Greetings, new recruits! I am Gaia, the leader of the Guardians guild."

    The woman had something like a motherly voice, although from the way she talked, it was pretty clear that she was straightforward, no-nonsense. "We appreciate the interest that you’ve taken in joining our ranks. The guild has been in service since the founding of Lacasta City and while we’ve grown in size and had many changes in that time, we still follow the creed that has always guided our purpose. Still, the past is the past and the present is what we must focus on for now. With the influx of members and citizens to Lacasta we’re thankful for your desire to help us continue to serve Lacasta City, but of course you will need to prove yourselves before we can accept your application. We want to make sure you’re serious about working for the guild. Complete at least one of the tasks that the division leaders present to you to prove yourselves. Do so and you will receive this.”

    She held up a cluster of crystals that cast a reflection of the lights in the auditorium, different hues of purple and red spreading out over the faces of the Pokémon in the front-row seats.

    “This is a guardian crystal," Gaia explained. "It absorbs the power of guardian cities to create a protective bubble that will defend guild members from Mysteriousity poisoning when on missions outside of the city's walls. These are specially grown for us by Lady Amber, our current Diancie. Unlike other crystals, they’re able to be recharged once they run out of power. These will allow you to travel into dungeons and outside the city on quests for our Lady.

    "Also note that we are currently understaffed at the moment and if any of you would be willing to advertise for the guild, I will give your team one of these.” She raised another crystal, this one a single shard that looked like it had been broken off of the big collection she had just shown them.

    “These are crystal shards. They can’t be recharged like your crystals, however to those of you who have just moved in to Lacasta, these crystals are our city's system of money. With these, you will be able to purchase goods and services. More importantly, they can be used to allow you to travel further into dungeons once the initial power of your guardian crystal is depleted. For now, we will not be sending anyone out into dungeon areas; as Maxy has said, the work we have prepared for you all today is only intorductory. But we will need you to be prepared to travel through areas affected by Mysteriousity in the future.”

    She waved Maxy back to the stage, and he complied, slowly making his way up.

    "All right. You're all dismissed to work now. We have maps posted all over the castle in case anyone gets lost, but the basics you need to know are that our Academics division is in the basement below the foyer, over there you'll be expected to help with researching Mysteriousity. The Scavengers are posted out front where you came in, by the training courses. Lastly, the City Guard is preparing for another patrol soon, so that will be work outside of the guild's HQ. Remember to stay close to your leaders if you're handling patrols."
The auditorium became a swarm of murmurs as the other teams began to discuss their plans to help aid the guild.

    "Let's see what exactly the Academics need help with, first."

    "An obstacle course is a good way to get the blood pumpin' before the real work starts!"

    "Should we meet up someplace later?"

    Ruth quickly tuned out the others as she regarded her partner. "So, what do you think?" she asked, tipping her head back toward their leaders, Gaia and Maxy.

    Corbin glanced at the door, looking uncertain. "Well, the other two groups are meeting in the front of the castle, and the Academics are downstairs... we could go and see what they need help for first before we go out."

    The question hadn't been about where they should start looking for work to do. At the moment, Ruth had been more concerned with the impression the two leaders had left on her partner. But it wasn't all that important anyway, she decided.

    "I like that idea!" she announced. "Let's get down there before the hall gets too crowded."


    "...and so we'll be needing your help to get today's work started." The ghostly doll Pokémon tapped a pen against the clipboard she was carrying as she finished her announcement.

    Corbin cocked his head, regarding the big bear in a plaid vest lying on his back on the cold stone floor. The big guy, whom Buttons had referred to as Paul, was snoring away, clearly not bothered by his surroundings. Although he was a bit thrown off to see someone who was supposed to be in a leadership position being so lax, Corbin couldn't deny that, from what he understood about Snorlax, they had a hard time staying awake to begin with. Maybe the fact that he was working for the guild in spite of that sort of handicap showed just how smart he was.

    Especially if he was capable of building something like that machine. His eyes drifted over to the big capsule with pipes that stretched up to the ceiling and spread all around, cables strewn around the floor to power it up. The crystal sphere suspended in the middle of a glass tank glowed faintly, as if it were waiting to collect more energy.

    "So, how do we get him up?" a Bunnelby asked.

    "That's a tricky question to answer," Buttons replied. "Quite honestly, I don't know. Dear Paulie has different levels of sleep; sometimes it's much easier to get him awake again, and other times not so much. I've been working with him for a long time, and even still I haven't found a foolproof way to bring him back from dreamland every time he goes out like this."

    An Emolga laughed from behind Corbin. "Oh, you just gotta have experience with waking someone up all the time!"

    Corbin glanced back at the speaker to find him nudging an oddly-colored Zorua in the shoulder. She looked mildly annoyed at whatever jab he was making, but accepted it nonetheless. "Well, let's help wake him up then," she stated instead, pacing over toward the wall where the Academics Leader lay.

    Corbin wasn't sure where they should start. Buttons had explained that Paul was the one really in charge of the synthesizer, and that operating it and making sure nothing was damaged in the process was more in his area of expertise. So it figured that waking him up should come first. Now that he thought about it, maybe if they could finish this task quickly, he could collect on that work and head home for the day!

    Ruth looked less than thrilled at the aspect of doing the tasks Buttons had proposed. She was watching Paul skeptically, and then turned her attention to the machine.

    Corbin opened his mouth to address her, but before he could get a sound out, someone bumped into his shoulder.
"Ah, sorry buddy," the Emolga who had piped up earlier said. "Hey, you guys wanna help us out? I bet we'll have the big guy up in no time with a few extra paws!"

    "Well, sure!" Ruth smiled brightly, her demeanor instantly changing from what it had been just a second ago. If it had been the first time something like this had happened, Corbin might have believed she was sincere, but he was pretty sure she was putting on a front.
But, whether she was acting or not, she had made the decision for them, so Corbin followed her and the Emolga over to where Paul and the Zorua were standing. "Great!" said the rodent as he paused by Paul's side. "So, uh... what was it you said I'm worst at when I wake you up, sis?" he prompted the vixen.

    "It's always the loud stuff," she answered, her eyes focused on the Academics Leader. "It's worse when you're opening and closing things. That and sometimes you fall over something."

    "Well that makes sense." the Emolga who was apparently her brother rubbed at his chin. "You've got better lungs than me. Maybe you can give him a wake-up call?"

    Corbin stayed quiet, not really wanting to interrupt their thinking just yet. Ruth hadn't said anything either; he guessed she had the same idea.

    The Zorua moved up next to Paul's head and took a deep breath. Almost involuntarily, Corbin braced himself for the bigger Pokémon to lurch upright and start swatting around, even before any noise had started. But what was probably even more surprising was the sound that escaped the vixen's mouth - it was a snarling roar that he would have sooner believed was coming from a full-grown Luxray than a little thing like her! The deep, bassy noise practically echoed in the enclosed space of the castle's lower levels, and Corbin could practically feel the vibration in his body.

    But Paul offered no response. Corbin gawked at the sight, unsure of what to say - a little thing no older than he was had made a noise like that, and still Paul was sleeping soundly.

    "Nothing?" the Emolga prompted.

    "Not even a twitch," his sister answered. "He's out like the sun at night!"

    The room erupted into screeching the likes of which Corbin had never heard before, and he instinctively covered his ears, trying to shield them from the awful noise. The effort was practically wasted, as the deafening screech continued, and he could have sworn it was even getting louder! It felt like it would go on forever, that earsplitting sound, but after some time that he couldn't begin to guess, it stopped.

    "And we have a fire-type cure!"

    Buttons held up a tiny glass phial of orange liquid, what seemed to be just a few drops, but enough to have her beaming all the same. Meanwhile, a Slugma slumped over behind her, held up by the Geodude wearing a matching headband.

    "The machine did that...?" the Emolga asked.

    Buttons' attention was drawn to them for a moment. "That's right. This synthesizer uses up a lot of energy, so for the moment it's rather noisy."

    Corbin glanced back at Paul. Even through all that noise, he still hadn't budged. "And he's still sleeping?" he asked incredulously.

    "Sorry," Buttons chuckled. "I did warn you he's a heavy sleeper... this isn't all that surprising when you get used to being around him."

    Frowning, Corbin scratched at his head. This was going to be a little harder than he first thought... probably shouldn't have dismissed Buttons's warning about being around him for so long as easily as he did. But even a Snorlax had to work the same as other Pokémon did when they were sleeping, right? Just on a bigger scale.

    "We should try to sit him up first," he called. "Lying down is half of what makes anyone fall asleep, so that's a start."

    The Zorua and Emolga looked at him curiously. "All right," said the girl. "So we just get him sitting up then. Can you help me with that?"

    "Yeah... sure." Corbin stepped forward, joining her as she moved toward Paul's left shoulder. "I think we should start from here and then try to push from his back when we get him up off the ground enough."

    "That's the same as I was thinking," she agreed. "All right. Three... two... one..."

    Corbin grabbed under Paul's shoulder and bent his knees, pushing up as hard as he could. The Snorlax's arm lifted a bit, and the Zorua shifted her grasp, scooting forward just a single step to shove herself further beneath him. The brief movement left Corbin to hold up Paul's arm all on his own for just a second, but it was a second long enough for him to realize this was going to be an exhausting few minutes.

    "You two need some help?"

    "Yeah," the Zorua ground out as she strained along with Corbin against Paul's immense weight. "Gonna need someone on his front side... make sure he doesn't just... fall on his belly!"

    "Got it!" he called back.

    Corbin did his best to focus on breathing while he pressed on with the heavy lifting, trusting that the other two would be able to manage things from their side. A quick thought came to him to try using a little more force than he could manage with his arms... through water pressure. He turned his head up and focused energy around his mouth, building up as much force as he could manage into a Water Gun attack.

    The effects of his idea were not what he had expected - as soon as he let the blast of water loose, the force of it launched him backward until his back collided with the wall, instantly making him lose his focus as the breath was knocked out of him. At the same time, the girl shrieked as Paul fell back on top of her, burying her under his weight.

    "Ah!" her brother gasped, staring blankly at Paul's limp form. "Tali, you okay?"

    Corbin immediately got to his feet and grabbed Paul's shoulder again. "Sorry, sorry!" he cried.

    The Zorua girl grunted, pushing against Paul herself while he tried to help her get out from under him. Rather than falling back, though, she kept pushing from where she was. "How are we doing?" she ground out instead.

    "Not really sure!" her brother called, adding on in an aside, "You think you can tell them?"

    "Looks like you're about halfway!" Ruth called, also putting in her own comment to the other. "I don't suppose you could hold his feet to make sure he doesn't slip, could you?"

    "Sure. Just tell me how to hold him."

    There was a pause, and then Corbin could hear Ruth's giggling clearly. "His foot is right there, silly!"

    "Yeah, I got it. Just need a second..."

    "Can you... not see?"

    Corbin immediately felt Paul's weight double down on him again right as he was beginning to scoot forward and brace himself for another Water Gun - just as well he did, too, or he probably would have been squashed himself!

    He couldn't see Tali clearly from the angle he was standing at, but from what he could see, she had totally frozen.

    Corbin was barely able to hold up Paul at this point. What the heck had gotten her spooked like this? Was it something Ruth said? Her voice had sounded surprised, maybe even a little sad, but he was used to hearing her talk like that - he'd never heard her being snarky, but she certainly had used pitying and surprised tones when dealing with others who most 'mons would have just sassed outright.

    "Maybe I can, maybe I can't," the Emolga grunted. "So what? Even if I'm blind, it doesn't make me weak. What, are you gonna pity me or something?"

    Wait. The other guy really was blind?

    He didn't have time to focus on that for now, as Paul's sleeping bady was very ready to remind him - his knees were already starting to buckle from having to hold the guy up on his own! "Ghkk - hey, help me out here!" he gasped.

    Tali stayed frozen for an agonizing few more seconds, but then visibly shook herself and was back to pushing herself into Paul's weight. "Archie, can we do this later?" she called out.

    Her brother huffed, but nothing more was said between the two of them. Corbin couldn't be sure if that was a good or bad thing... he hated confrontations; they always led to problems like this. And at the worst times...

    He built up another Water Gun and aimed it at Paul's shoulder, and Tali scooted to the opposite side and continued to shove. Corbin wasn't sure, but it looked like he was almost fully sitting up now!

    "You're all done!" Ruth called out.

    Finally! Corbin let the Water Gun die out, the final streams of water dribbling from his mouth, and he wiped his arm over it. Tali, meanwhile, shook herself to free up the droplets that were clinging to her. Corbin grimaced, realizing that he had been spraying her that whole time. "Ah, sorry..." he apologized.


    But Tali ignored him, instead looping around Paul and fixing her eyes on Ruth. "Look," she said in a hushed but firm voice. "My brother may not be able to see as well as the rest of us, but that doesn't make him any different. He's not weak, and he doesn't need help."

    "We can do this later," Archie growled. "That's all we need to say. I don't need pity from anyone, okay?"

    Ruth looked between the two of them, her face a blank slate. Corbin stood still off to the side, not sure if he wanted to rejoin her in the middle of what could be a nasty fight. "If you two are signing on with the guild, then that must mean you know what you're doing," Ruth said at last. "So you're right, there's no reason for me to feel bad about it! Let's do what we're here to do. Paul's not awake yet, so what's our next step?"

    Ruth's silver tongue, at work yet again. Somehow, she seemed to have a knack for this - turning potentially bad situations in her favor. It was what had gotten Corbin wrapped up in this mess, after all. But, whatever the case might be, she seemed to have made Tali and Archie happy.

    "All right," Archie turned in Corbin's direction - apparently, even being blind, he could still tell generally where other Pokémon were. "She's right; what's next... um." He paused. "Sorry, we never introduced ourselves, did we?"

    Ruth smiled warmly. "I guess not!" she said.

    "I'm Archie," said Archie. "...and this is my sister, Talia."

    "Tali for short," said Tali as her brother hugged her shoulder. "We're Team Blind Justice... guess if we'd started with the name, you might have been able to guess how things work with our team."

    "No harm done. And it's nice to meet you!" Ruth pressed her little paws together and beamed even brighter. "My name's Ruth. My partner over there is Corbin."

    Corbin wasn't one for introductions, especially not now that he had brought up the rear of the conversation and had to say something. "Uh, yeah." he mumbled awkwardly. "Nice to meet you."

    Looking for something to break the attention away from him, his eyes quickly settled on the sleeping Paul. "Well, he's up but not awake. What should we do next?"

    The other three pairs of eyes followed his gaze. "Good question," said Tali. "Obviously noise isn't gonna work."

    "Maybe something physical?" Archie suggested. "Not like attacking him or anything, but if we could tickle him awake, or something..."

    Ruth scooted closer to Corbin and gave him a twinkly-eyed gaze of sweetness. "Help me find a glass, won't you?"

    "Ahhhh..." Corbin grinned awkwardly. "Can I ask why?"

    "Simple! You can fill it up with water..." she waved toward the group of Pokémon gathered around the machine, who were all gathered around it as if to make sure nothing was broken (all save for the still-exhausted Slugma and their partner), "...and ask him to warm it up for us! Simple and effective, everyone knows how that trick works."

    Stunned, Corbin quickly looked over at Team Blind Justice to make sure the pair of siblings hadn't heard her. The two were already talking amongst themselves while occasionally facing Paul. "We are not going to make the Academics leader wet himself!" he hissed.
Ruth shook her head. "It's a lot nicer than using force, right? If we can't use attack moves, then there's only so many other things we could do."

    Corbin was at a loss. Ruth had a point; they couldn't use force to wake Paul, and it had already taken enough effort to get him upright. But still, there had to be limits, right?

    The Pichu continued to stare at him patiently, as adamant with her plan as Corbin felt against it. He really didn't want to follow through with her idea...

    "Hey Corbin. You've got a Water Gun, right?" Archie asked.

    Corbin broke his eye contact with Ruth to face him. "Uh, yeah," he mumbled.

    "Maybe you could wake him up with that if you get him in the face. Like, you think you could tone it down a little so it's not full-force? Obviously we can't attack the big guy, but a splash in the face is a good cure for sleep."

    "Yeah!" Corbin agreed quickly, happy just to have any way to wake up Paul that didn't include hurtful pranks. "Yeah, I can... I can do that."

    He glanced at Tali, then to Ruth. "At least, if it sounds like a good idea to you two?" he prompted.

    Tali nodded. "He's got a point. It's a simple plan, but it should work."

    As all eyes fell on Ruth, she shrugged. "It does make sense. Let's try it out!"

    It was settled. With a tug at the hems of his vest, the Panpour tilted his head back to gaze up over Paul's large belly as he focused on building up a small blast of water, staring at Paul's face, mouth half-open as he snored.

    Paul was a big guy, easily six times Corbin's size, and those teeth... did he really want to risk angering someone who could probably tear him in half?

    "Well, no time like the present, huh Corbin?" Ruth's chipper voice piped up as she slapped him on the back, startling him so badly that he leaped a few feet in the air and lost control of the water bubble he had been building up. The compressed water exploded forward all at once, spraying Paul directly in the face and causing him to let out a startled gurgle.

    A split second later Corbin had landed, still shaken out of his wits and even more frantic now as Paul yawned and slowly got to his feet. The little monkey stammered as all his thoughts combined together in his mind - apologies, explanations, attempts at saying "hello", all melded together before they reached his tongue, making him unable to say anything besides garbled gibberish.

    Paul opened his eyes, two small, beady dots below thick eyebrows, and looked down at the four little Pokémon underneath him.
"Odd weather patterns," he rumbled sleepily in a deep baritone voice. With one arm he reached behind himself to rub at the back of his jacket. "More rain lately... I'll have to get this laundered."

    With that, Corbin was rendered completely speechless. Did the Academics leader not even realize where they were?

    "Oh Paul, wonderful! You're awake!" Buttons picked up on the silence immediately, and floated over to her partner. "We need to get the synthesizer up and running again! It seems something came loose after we ran a test with our brave volunteer here." She gestured to the Slugma who seemed only slightly less out of sorts than Paul was. "Would you mind terribly helping us find the problem?"

    Corbin watched the others gathered around the giant of a contraption, only just realizing that it had been completely silent after the first time it was turned on. Apparently, they woke Paul up just in time!

    With another yawn and a pat on his belly, Paul smiled and lumbered over to the great machine, muttering to himself as he surveyed it piece by piece. "Of course... let's see here, the stabilizers seem to be in order... how about the valves on the entry side..."

    "Huh." Archie piped up. "Well, that went better than expected!"

    "I'll say." Tali shivered. "Note to self - Snorlaxes look terrifying when they wake up."

    "Well, what should we do next? Maybe once he gets it up and running again, we should help with getting some cures ready?"

    The machine clunked as Paul tinkered with some part of it from behind the glass tube, where it was difficult to see what he was doing. "...third compression valve on the intake port locked up in response to the heat, that would jam the system instantly," Paul was saying. "We'll need to make a note to recalibrate this to accommodate the heat. As long as fire attacks aren't used, for the time being this should be running properly now."

    "Right!" Buttons scribbled something down in her notes. "All right, do we have out next volunteer?"

    "Me! Me! Me!" shouted someone in the crowd.

    The small exchange between the Pokémon over there made Corbin less than interested in participating with a science experiment. "I don't know," he said. "If that thing wasn't built to handle heat properly, who knows how it'll respond to anything we try?" he paused, giving one final look at the Slugma who seemed to only just be recovering enough to sit up on his own. "Besides, it looks like he's not feeling too good after trying it out."

    "Hmm, good point," said Tali. "Maybe we should find out what the other branches are doing."

    "Yeah. Thanks for the help!" Archie turned away from his sister to offer a paw to the other team, and Corbin and Ruth each shook with him. "We'll keep you two in mind next time the guild's on the move. Hope to see you guys make it through these prelims!"

    Corbin smiled. "Ah, yeah. You too!"

    "Until next time!" Ruth waved to the pair, then moved on without hesitation, grabbing Corbin's paw and hurrying off out of the Academics' room and into the open stone hallway lined with cells.

    "H-hey, where are we going now?" Corbin cried.

    "Let's check out those courses that the Scavengers set up!" she responded, still not slowing down. "You could use the exercise!"