Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Heroes of the Past

Artemis padded her way down the dark hallways of the guild, careful to avoid disturbing the other sleeping Pokémon. That long soak in the bath hall had been just what she needed, and she felt refreshed.

It still didn't get rid of her irritation and confusion, or the mess of thoughts in her head as she tried to figure out her next steps. She'd been tempted to just corner Silvally in their room and get him to talk but realized that wouldn't be a good idea for… several reasons. Namely, riling up a twitchy former criminal who was physically stronger than her in a confined space.

Bad plan all around, honestly.

She'd been having trouble communicating with him today and was almost at the point of taking drastic measures. Despite the free time and play in the afternoon, Silvally still refused to talk to her. He hadn't spoken during the time they played with the kids in Treasure Town, or after Lucario had told the children it was time to go home—and threatened them with extra homework if they didn't listen.

Silvally was silent through dinner too, and ate his meal without a word. It was awkward and annoying to no end because Artemis knew that if she were in his position she'd be trying to figure out everything.

That, and planning an escape.

Artemis did notice how his eyes lingered on her plate again, and he had once again polished off everything on his own. He didn't go back for seconds, even though there were signs that up to three helpings were provided for everyone (this could technically be split throughout the day too; the guild just kept up with the tradition of calling it "dinner"). They were in bright red paint and posted several times throughout the dining hall, and nearly impossible to miss.

There was no way he could have glossed over them, right? Though, with all the colours and sounds and Pokémon in the room, she could see how he could have missed it the first time or two.

But he didn't complain, or even say anything about it. He just sat quietly, watching, observing, taking everything in. Artemis could have sworn he was memorizing everything in the room to exploit it for future use, but as she watched him, she realized something.

He never looked back at the same place twice.

Whenever a new Pokémon entered the hall, Silvally would look at them for a few seconds, and then move on. He didn't fixate on any particular areas like someone would when they planned on escaping.

She'd cornered her fair share of outlaws in other cities who tried to blend into the crowds, and they'd always look for a way out, even with nowhere to go. They'd constantly look over other paths and glance at places they thought they might be able to run.

But, Silvally just… watched.

After dinner, she'd shown him where the bath hall was. She'd been surprised when he chose to return to their room instead of staying, seeing as he probably felt as gross as she did. There was likely still blood in some of his fur. She'd even waited until the optimal time to go, with the fewest Pokémon in the area. But, she allowed him to leave, merely watching him disappear down the hall and into their room.

She figured she'd extend her earlier trust of him not running, and returned to the bath hall to make sure she was properly clean. She'd been unable to properly maintain her fur due to this criminal rehabilitation thing. Still, it was only for three months. She'd survive. Probably.

Now properly cleaned up, floofy, and feeling much more like herself, Artemis turned toward their shared room. She planted a paw on the door and paused, ears perked. With held breath, she listened, but…

Nothing, just silence.

Ignoring the flutter of worry that Silvally might not be in the room, she pressed on the door and opened it just wide enough to avoid where the wood scraped against the stone. Artemis slipped into the room like a ghost-type and looked at the other bed.

Silvally was already asleep and completely relaxed, taking deep, soft breaths. It was eerily similar to his relaxed state when playing ball with the kids. The only difference was that now his ears were perked up and twitching as if he was listening for danger.

Artemis focused her attention on her treasure bag and made her way to the corner where she set it. With practiced dexterity she wriggled her badge free from the pocket on the side and used a tail to sweep in and scoop it up. It was better to avoid having the piece of metal clatter on the stone and risk waking him.

As much as Artemis wanted to collapse into her bed and just pass out, she had work to do. Namely, she had research and information to find, and Leafeon had given her the perfect place to start.

And she really wanted to forget about the whole plan, curl up, and pass out. Darn responsibilities.

With her badge back in her possession, Artemis turned and left the room, silent as she entered. One of her tails moved back to snag the door handle and shut the door soundlessly. Now, for the next part of her brilliant plan.

Her destination was the Guildmaster's office. Room. Thing. Whatever it was they were using the room for at any given point in time. Artemis wasn't sure if Wigglytuff even had a bed in the guild. Or if Chatot did for that matter. Whenever she tried to question them, Wigglytuff would go on about sleepovers and spooky stories, and Chatot would mutter something under his breath and change the topic.

Some mysteries even she couldn't solve.

With a casual tap of a paw against the door just to be polite, Artemis walked into the room, the doors still wide open.

Wigglytuff was facing away from her and seemed to be looking out of the window. Or, he could be sleeping. Honestly, he might even be communicating with some Pokémon of Legend. She could never tell at any one point what the Guildmaster was doing unless he had his Perfect Apple—at that point, he was hyper-fixated on the food.

However, the one she needed for her plan to work was still wide awake, and approaching her.

"Oh! Well, hello, Artemis! Is everything alright? Where is the Outlaw? You already came to deliver your report earlier, did you have something to add?" Chatot asked. He hopped forward and tilted his head.

"Mhm, everything is just fine. I just need to ask a favour," Artemis replied. One of her tails curled around and pressed her badge against her foreleg. She leaned down, and with a quick tug of her teeth, secured her badge to her leg.

It definitely couldn't fall off if she wanted her plan to work…

"Well of course, what can we assist you with? It must be important if you came here for help." Chatot hopped a little closer, concern lacing his features. "I knew bringing the Outlaw was-"

"I need you to babysit and make sure he doesn't leave our room," Artemis interrupted.

Then, she bolted. She darted for the door, paws pounding the floor, her tails already a flurry as she left the Pokémon behind.

"Wh-what!? No! Absolutely not! I have paperwork I need to do, and the Guildmaster-"

"Okaythanksbye!" She skidded sideways, then shoved forward, already running for the stairs. She heard the aggravated squawk from Chatot, as well as the absurdly loud gasp of excitement from Wigglytuff.

"Chatot! This is great! We can have a sleepover and tell scary stories and stay up late and-"

"Absolutely not! Do not encourage her deviant actions!"

Artemis was already long gone. She bounded up the steps and ducked out of the guild entrance, using a short burst of energy to put distance between herself and Chatot.

It was better to ask for forgiveness than permission from him, and she had abused that relentlessly when she was still an apprentice. He always said "no", but he'd also forget why he was mad when someone else did something to annoy him.

Her paws carried her down the stairs and she glanced over her shoulder just to make sure she wasn't being pursued by an angry bird—or an excited and giddy Wigglytuff.

Nothing. She was free to escape.

Artemis bit back a laugh and carried on to her destination, running down the steps so fast that one might think she was falling.

Once at the bottom she slowed to a walk and took a breath, the crisp air of the night filling her lungs. She looked upward, her gaze on the bright moon and the cloudless night sky. A soft breeze rolled in from the ocean, carrying with it the smell of salt water, and a pleasing chill that drifted through her fur. It was a rather pleasant night, and it was more than worth the risk of irritating Chatot to go out.

Artemis continued her way south through the crossroads, glancing left to look at the dark expanse of the wilderness. Briefly, she tried to entertain the idea of what it would be like to live out there like her "companion". No responsibilities, no worries, nothing to be burdened with.

No civilized Pokémon to talk to, the rare opportunity to encounter a trader in the dungeons notwithstanding. There wouldn't be a reliable source of food, and any Pokémon in the wild could choose to attack without warning. No safety at the end of the day except for what someone could carve out for themselves from the world around them.

She huffed and turned away, disliking that idea. She much preferred her old ways of adventure and hunting criminals: wandering from city to city, taking rests between each of them, hunting down the top criminals in an area or exploring new dungeons before continuing on her travels.

That sounded much better. The chance to explore the world and to help out Pokémon. The willingness to visit small towns where no one else would go, just to help them with their problems and then take off once more.

She kind of missed it. Still, she had her own job to do here on the Grass Continent, besides dealing with the bump in the road which was Silvally. Three months? She could have spent that time hunting or trying to gather clues.

Not that she'd had much luck in the last two years anyway. She'd only taken that mission to hunt Silvally down to distract herself briefly. After every team came back defeated, it just raised the risk of other criminals running rampant with the other explorers out of action. So, she'd taken it upon herself to deal with it once and for all, so that she could get back to-

Artemis blinked and jolted to the right, just stepping to the side to avoid running muzzle-first into a tree. She took a sharp left down the path of the dark forest and angled toward her destination, which gleamed brightly between the thick woods.

The police station.

Her eyes flicked up to the heavy metal gate that loomed in the doorway, ready to drop with the pull of a lever. Modern safety sure was a wonder. It was also slightly terrifying.

The guild had one installed too, and had someone keeping watch over the guild at all hours of the day. That had made it so much easier to run missions in the odd hours of the night and let her sleep in.

She hated waking up early.

Due to the late hour, the station was nearly silent. Officer Sandshrew sat at the front desk working through some paperwork, while a Shelgon sat on one of the plush pillows laid out around the waiting area—it looked like it was being consumed by the pillow, and its legs were off the ground. Was it stuck? Should she ask, or would it take offence?

Dragons were hilariously prideful.

"Good evening, Officer Sandshrew," Artemis greeted. She made her way to the front desk, and planted her paw—and badge—on the desk for the officer.

"Oh, good evening, Artemis. What can I do for you?" Officer Sandshrew gave her a polite, if tired smile, and leaned forward. She grabbed the badge, unclasped it, looked it over, and then secured it back to Artemis's foreleg.

"I need to go to records and get a file." Artemis withdrew her paw from the counter. "I need to do a little research."

"Of course. You still remember the way?" Officer Sandshrew hopped down from her platform at the counter, and several moments later, a gate to the side opened up.

"I do, thank you, Sandshrew." Artemis padded forward and stepped through the gate. "Have a good evening." She didn't look back and instead picked up the pace, her paws quiet across the stone floor. Step after step took her further from the Pokémon, and she held her breath, hoping that-

"Oh, Artemis!" Officer Sandshrew called.

Artemis came to a halt, her claws digging into the floor from her sudden stop. Her ears folded back, and her tails dropped. Her chest tightened and her heartbeat picked up with anticipation.

All she wanted was some good news. Please, just a little good news. Say something was found, or that there's a letter, or anything. She didn't need to be reminded again.

"…Yes?"

"We put extra notices out among the smaller islands, and there's more rewards for verifiable information. Every single continent knows," Sandshrew said. Her tone shifted to something soft. Maybe pitying. "We're going to find your parents, I promise. It's the least everyone can do for you, and them."

Artemis clenched her jaw. Her claws tensed and scraped along the stone beneath her paws, leaving little white marks on the surface. With effort, she forced her tails to continue their natural flowing and swaying, relaxing them from their stiff position.

"Thank you." Artemis's voice was quiet, so she repeated it, louder this time. She didn't turn to look at the smaller officer, ignoring her in favour of walking forward.

That had significantly dampened her willingness to do anything else tonight and sucked the energy right out of her. She had planned on staying up to research, and maybe go for a walk to think things over after that. Now though?

She just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. Forever if possible.

Artemis walked down the hallway, keeping to the right to avoid a pair of Magneton that hovered by. Her paws carried her onward, even if she wasn't focused on her destination, her mind a little numb from the unfortunate reminder.

"GOOD EVENING, ARTEMIS." Chief Metagross' voice drilled into her head, snapping her attention upward. She winced at the mental volume and the pressure on her mind but ignored it.

"Good evening," Artemis replied. She looked around and found herself in front of the records room. It looked like Metagross was the one on sorting duty tonight. "I was hoping I could get a copy of Silvally's file. The full version," she explained.

"ACKNOWLEDGED. PLEASE PRESENT YOUR IDENTIFICATION."

Artemis bit back the urge to push against the mental force worming into her mind. Instead, she complied and raised her foreleg. A pink glow surrounded the badge, and it was torn from her leg. The badge floated in front of Metagross and spun around once, before zipping back to her leg and securing itself again in a single fluid movement.

"THANK YOU."

Artemis sat down in the hall and looked around Metagross into the room. Many shelves lined the room and stood in tall rows that reached to the ceiling. These shelves were where the publicly accessible records were kept, and had certain information censored. At the very back of the room stood a thick metal grate, behind which stood the full records.

Metagross hovered forward and several pulses of psychic energy radiated off the metal Pokémon. The two waited for a moment, both staring at the metal grate. Then, a bright flash of pink and blue appeared out of thin air.

It was a Porygon, an odd bird-like Pokémon. In its grasp was a metal tube, which very quickly hurtled toward Metagross. In a single fluid motion, the metal tube was opened up, and multiple sheets of paper were pulled free from the confines. Artemis blinked and watched as the paper cycled in front of Metagross, its eyes twitching from page to page.

In mere seconds, the police chief finished reading the file. A low metallic hum left the Pokémon, and all of the paper was rolled up and shoved back into the tube.

Artemis sat still as the metal tube hurtled toward her face, coming to a stop directly in front of her muzzle. She blinked, unphased, and entirely used to the straight-forward antics of Metagross.

"HERE IS THE CLASSIFIED FILE. PLEASE REMEMBER THESE ARE CONFIDENTIAL AND FOR HIGH-RANKED MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION SOCIETY ONLY. IF A POKÉMON VIOLATES CHAPTER THREE, SECTION G, PARAGRAPH-"

"Don't worry, I have no intention of letting this out of my sight. I'll burn them if there's a threat of it falling into the wrong hands, just like the book says," Artemis interrupted, placating the strict police chief. She didn't have the energy to listen to the chief carry on about the rules. Not tonight.

"ACKNOWLEDGED. HAVE A PLEASANT NIGHT."

Artemis leaned forward and snatched the tube in her jaws. She looked at Metagross and gave the Chief a nod, before turning her attention back toward the front of the building.

With her goal complete, Artemis made her way back out of the police station, giving a nod goodbye to the Sandshrew at the counter. She could have carried the metal tube in her tails, but holding it this way typically let Pokémon know she was busy and she couldn't talk.

It also just allowed her to get away with not talking to people she came across in general. Right now, she was in no mood for casual conversation. She barely cared about the papers in her jaws.

All Artemis wanted right now was to go home and sleep.

But… She couldn't.

She stepped out of the trees and glanced to the left, her eyes following the path down to the beach. After the short conversation earlier, she wanted to go back to Sharpedo Bluff and sleep somewhere familiar and comforting. To relax in her own home, enjoy the familiar smells and sights, and just enjoy one of the only places she could fully relax.

Artemis huffed around the tube between her jaws and turned to the right, beginning her walk back toward the guild.

After everything that happened today, she was drained. Early morning, frustrating mission, confusing afternoon, and draining evening. She was done.

Along the path she went, through the crossroads, and then up the agonizingly long staircase up to the top of the guild. She was tempted to use the little secret entrance/exit into the guild's storage and then up through the kitchen storage to get back into the guild, but she'd already upset Chatot once today. She'd rather not risk it further.

Sooner than Artemis realized, she had made it to the bottom floor of the guild. The Guildmaster's room was empty, and the reason for that was soon clear. Chatot and Wigglytuff were standing in the hallway and watching the door to her room.

Well, Chatot was watching. Wigglytuff was completely focused on Chatot and appeared to be telling scary stories, while he was repeatedly hushed by the bird.

"…so then Dusknoir grabbed the two of them and dragged them through the portal, kicking and-"

"Guildmaster. We were both there. Please, lower your voice." Chatot sounded like he was already close to losing his mind. "We've had three Pokémon look out around the corner to see what all the racket is."

"Our friends wanted to hear the spooky stories too!"

Artemis weaved her way between the pair, mumbling thanks around the metal tube. One of her tails waved by to ruffle up Chatot's head feathers, much to his ire and aggravated protests.

"Have a good night, friendly friend," Wigglytuff hummed. "Sleep well, there's plenty of adventures tomorrow."

And just like that, Artemis was free to go. Not because she had escaped Chatot's ire, but because Wigglytuff grabbed the poor bird and started dragging him back toward the office.

"Wh-what? Guildmaster, we need to- Ack! No! I need to tell that deviant that she cannot-"

"Come on, Chatot! We're gonna keep telling scary stories, and make a fire, and-"

"No! No campfires in your office! Guildmaster, we talked about this, you cannot-"

"Oh, and marshmallows! There are marshmallows, Chatot—let's go have fun!"

"Artemis! You haven't gotten away with this! I'll make sure that you-"

The Guildmaster's doors shut with a resounding thud, the sound of Chatot's protests and Wigglytuff's excited ramblings cutting off in an instant.

Artemis blinked and stared down the hallway where the two had vanished. Her tails gave a hesitant flick, and she waited for something, anything, to happen.

…

Nope, nothing.

She still didn't get their partnership, or the reasons behind their antics. Not even after all these years of knowing them.

Artemis wheeled around and walked back toward her room, using her paw to gently work the door open. The door was just wide enough to let her slip through without making any grinding noise against the stone.

Once again, she looked around the room as she habitually did. The window was still closed, her corner was undisturbed, and Silvally was awake.

Artemis jolted a little, not expecting to see those bright silver eyes staring at her out of the darkness. She swore she'd been silent. Though, Chatot and Wigglytuff's antics could have woken him up, now that she thought about it.

Seeing as he was awake, a twist of her head and opening of her jaws had the metal tube soar across the room, bounce off the wall, and land on the grass beside her bag, not at all silent. A moment later, she loosened the band of her badge and flicked her foreleg, causing the metal to fall in almost the same spot.

Artemis turned around, and without any hesitation flopped onto her bed, displaying none of the grace her species was known for. She huffed, and shifted around, wriggling a little bit to get comfortable. Her eyes flicked to the right, catching Silvally staring at her.

"What?" she snapped.

Silvally winced from the tone, and his ears flicked backward. Still, he persevered, and his eyes flicked toward the badge and tube, before looking back at her once again.

"Oh." She blinked. "I had to go get something for research. Nothing you need to worry about, it's just something I need to study," she explained.

Silvally blinked at her once, twice, then nodded his head the slightest amount.

"Why do you do that?" Artemis asked, annoyance lacing her voice.

Silvally tilted his head to the side, and his ears perked forward, curious. Artemis didn't miss how his talons started to brush and knead the bedding, tearing at the straw and other materials without even realizing it.

"You just nod or point, you don't say anything. I know you can talk; you told me not to touch you, and you said you needed your helmet. And, you spoke to Mew without any prompting. Why?"

"It hurts," Silvally explained. He winced a little and huffed, his jaw clenching.

Artemis heard his deep, scratchy voice and thought through his words. It hurt. Talking to her? Talking in general? Did it hurt him emotionally or physically to talk to her? Maybe trauma from a younger age, or something else affecting him?

"…What does?" She finally asked. "Talking? Just in general?"

Silvally nodded.

"Oh." Artemis blinked and tried to put that all together. Her ears twitched backward, guilt scratching at her chest for the first time in a while, getting frustrated with a Pokémon that couldn't talk without pain. Why didn't she pick up on that sooner?

The two looked at one another in silence, silver and red eyes meeting. Silvally's gaze shifted away after a moment, as if unable to meet her eye for longer than a few seconds. Artemis looked him over, head to tail, trying to find all those fights and battles with that violent criminal in the Pokémon currently laying there, who just hours ago had been playing ball with kids.

"…Sorry if I woke you up," Artemis managed. Even if he wasn't willing to apologize for waking her up early in the morning, she might as well show she wasn't being malicious and hadn't meant to wake him.

Silvally just nodded, his eyes flicking back to her for a moment, and then slipping away again.

Well, that was awkward. Still, it was the most willing conversation the two had since they met. Artemis wasn't taunting him into making a mistake in battle. He wasn't asking her not to touch him and wasn't protesting anything. She wasn't trying to aggravate him.

Artemis didn't have the energy to try and be aggressive toward him to get him to slip up even if she wanted to. Not that she did. She was too curious now and had to learn more about what happened. She didn't believe Mew completely. Not that she didn't trust her, but it was too unbelievable.

How could he have just lost all memories up until two years ago? How did he manage to fend off exploration teams trying to bring him in time and time again? How did he learn to avoid everyone and how to scavenge for food in the wild? Why did he use dirty tricks when fighting, and only chose to run? Why was he so tense around her, and gentle with the kids?

No, now she was invested. If nothing else, it would distract her from the knowledge that she couldn't continue her search because she was stuck with him. Might as well turn her thoughts to something productive in the meantime.

Once this was over, she could get back to her hunt.

"I…" Artemis bit her tongue. Not now. Too many questions would feel like an interrogation. She needed to read that file to get the full understanding before she could dig for answers. "… Goodnight."

Artemis turned away and laid her head on her paws, facing the door. It was a habit of hers to face the doors or open areas wherever she slept. She knew who was behind her, but had no idea who could be behind the door if it opened—better safe than sorry.

Artemis closed her eyes, content to let her thoughts wander.

"Goodnight," Silvally managed to say, followed by a small cough.

Artemis cracked open an eye and turned her gaze back to the large Pokémon. He was already settled in though, eyes closed, curled in on himself with his back to the wall.

She wasn't expecting that. Not in the slightest. Maybe she'd be able to get some answers out of him willingly after all.

Artemis closed her eyes and took a breath. Darkness washed over her, pulling her into a deep, comforting sleep.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

Silvally glanced to the side, lingering on the sleeping form of Artemis, before he returned to his idle drawings. He dragged his talons through the dirt and rock beside his bed, doing his best to stay quiet while he waited.

He'd been up for a while now and he really didn't want to upset Artemis more than necessary. She'd complained about lack of sleep yesterday, and then she was out late last night. He might as well let her rest.

Besides, a late start to the day meant he could rest his joints and not have to worry about dealing with everything outside of that door. No aggressive Pokémon in Treasure Town, no weird looks from the guild members or townsfolk, and no tiptoeing around Artemis to make sure he didn't upset her.

It was weird. He thought he'd been relatively lonely out in the wilderness without someone to talk to, but found he was just as isolated here. Other than the exploration teams trying to bring him in, the only others he'd met in the wilderness who spoke tended to be cruel.

That, or ran away screaming.

There'd been a few unsavoury sorts out there. Some of them would hunt down wild Pokémon and laugh about it. Others would run into him and look surprised, before trying to take him down as well.

That never tended to end well for them, and they learned to avoid him after that.

There was one dragon-like Pokémon who didn't walk away from that fight, despite Silvally giving him plenty of opportunities to flee. It seemed as if it hadn't expected him to know how to change his typing, and had no backup plan other than bathing him in an absurd amount of fire.

This was before Silvally had met Artemis, and gained an aversion to fire. He wasn't scared of it! He just would prefer not to be near it if he could help it. A healthy distance between himself and hungry flames was always the best course of action.

Silvally looked down at the dirt he was scratching up and realized he had drawn out that Pokémon he had fought about half a year back. Big wings, a rounded torso with large scars across it, and a tail ending with blazing fire. That, and those hateful eyes that glared back at him.

He let out a quiet huff and shifted himself to the side, moving to a clean patch of dirt and stone to draw in. Now, what should he draw? Something simple, ideally. He didn't want to move too much to get it looking halfway decent, so something easy like a landscape should do it.

A mountain should be a good enough start. Yes, a mountain in the far distance, with two other ones behind it, poking up into the sky. Then… Water. At the front, near the point of view of the image stood a small body of water with…

Trees! Yes, small trees that spread out to the sides, and grew higher the further back they went, creeping toward the mountain. He brushed his talons over the lake, creating little waves that lapped at the shore.

Silvally stared at the scene, and narrowed his eyes. Something was missing from it; he was sure of it. There should be something there, right in the middle. But there was just an empty space in the center of the drawing instead.

He drummed his talons and brushed them through the middle, just letting his mind wander. There was an itch in his mind, telling him that something belonged there. But what? A statue perhaps? A small building? Maybe some kind of structure sitting in the middle of the water that-

Artemis shifted and let out a loud huff. The noise startled Silvally, who'd been incredibly focused on letting something take shape. His talon jerked forward in surprise and carved three deep gouges into the scenery he'd drawn.

Well… There went that idea. His train of thought slipped from his clutches like water, leaving without a trace.

Silvally took a breath, and looked over toward the sleeping fox. Her breathing was still deep, and her body still, save the rise and fall of her chest.

His eyes flicked to the sunbeam that had managed to creep its way up her body and finally hit her eyelids. That was likely what'd caused her to move. It was annoying to be sure, and he knew he'd probably have woken up if-

Red eyes snapped open and locked onto Silvally.

He jolted and his gaze jerked to the side, settling on Artemis's bag in the corner, and the metal tube she'd brought in last night.

The fox sat up, and looked around the room with a squint, blinking heavily. She let out a loud, sharp yawn that raised in pitch at the end, then shook her head, as if trying to force herself awake. After several long moments, and a rather large stretch, she returned her gaze to Silvally. Then, her eyes dropped to the drawings scratched into the floor around his bed.

"You've been up for a while," Artemis observed.

Silvally looked to the spot the sunlight had been on the wall when he first woke up, and followed the distance, all the way to Artemis. With some quick math and a rough estimate of time, he replied.

"Three hours," Silvally said.

"Oh." Artemis blinked and stepped from her bed.

She sent a glance at her bag, and a pink glow enveloped it. Her badge zipped into a side pocket, and the metal tube slipped into the main pouch. With a single fluid move of her tail, her bag was secured once again.

Silvally moved to follow, pushing himself up with a soft grunt, ignoring the small twinges of pain in his legs. He grabbed his bag, and when he heard no protest from Artemis, moved a step closer.

His paws and talons trampled over the drawings he made earlier on, but that didn't matter—he could always make more. Talons raked through the dirt and over the stone to mess it all up and leave him a blank canvas to mess with later on when they returned.

A pink glow enveloped the door handle, and Artemis stepped forward. Suddenly, she stopped and turned back to face Silvally, a conflicted expression on her face.

"…Thank you," she managed, "for letting me sleep."

Silvally met her eyes for only a second, and nodded. His eyes shifted away soon after, unable to hold her gaze for long.

"We're going to have a late start now," Artemis huffed, and let out a soft laugh. "Come on, let's go figure out what we're doing today. Hopefully, nothing to do with Amp Plains."

With that, Artemis stepped from their room and into the guild hallways. Silvally followed behind, flicking his gaze down the hallways as soon as he was out.

There were nearly a dozen Pokémon within his line of sight, and all of them looked over toward them when they heard their room door close with a thud. He was used to the glares and conflicted looks sent toward him—he was more than certain he'd fought off a number of them at one point in time.

What he wasn't used to was the smile that was sent his way, or someone else throwing him a wave when he looked at them. That kind of positive reaction was entirely unexpected.

How was he supposed to respond? Did he wave? Were they just trying to trick him into thinking they were nice? Maybe they were nice and he was overthinking things? Were they expecting him to say something?

Instead of doing any of those things, he just pushed it from his mind and followed Artemis. She, for some reason, darted by the Guildmaster's office.

When Silvally looked through the door to see why, all he managed to spot was an angry Chatot quickly approaching. Not wanting to interact with the unusually aggressive bird, Silvally also surged forward, quickly following Artemis up the stairs.

The two came to a stop in the mission room once again, the layout more than familiar to Silvally by this point. He sat down in front of the boards—with a healthy distance between himself and Artemis.

"Alright, go ahead and pick something. Make sure it's not too tedious," Artemis instructed.

Silver eyes trailed over the multitude of pages on the board, halfway down the room and further. The writing was in an odd mix of letters and pawprint shapes that had no discernable pattern to them. He had no idea what they said, and couldn't even begin to attempt to figure it out.

That was more than a little frustrating. He glanced to the side and found Artemis's attention not on the mission board, but on him. She was watching his movements closely as if waiting for something.

Finally, he pointed to a rather blank-looking page and figured that one should be relatively simple.

"What? You want to take down a whole crime gang set up inside Inferno Cave?" Artemis asked.

Silvally recoiled at that and shook his head vehemently—he didn't want to be anywhere near a place called Inferno Cave.

His talons immediately shifted to some other space on the board, far from what he had originally pointed at. Confusion and panic filled his mind. He could have sworn the criminal boards were on the other side of the room.

"I knew it! You can't read, can you?" Artemis asked. She wheeled around to face him properly, seemingly unaware of the attention she drew from her outburst. "That's not what that one says at all."

"I can read," Silvally protested. Still, he winced, not at all enjoying being called out, or being tricked like that. "I don't know-" he coughed, and moved a talon up to rub his throat. "…Don't know these."

Without being prompted, Silvally stood up and took several steps back, limping only a little bit—his back leg was almost healed. He pressed a singular talon into the compacted dirt and rock of the floor and started dragging his talon through it.

Long lines formed, and sweeping curves carved themselves into the rock. He ignored the loud screech of metallic talons scraping stone and continued. A space. More curves, combinations of short and long lines, and all the letters he needed to finish his writing.

"I can read," Silvally said. He gestured to the carved-up floor and pointed to the words. 'I can read.' was written on the ground, clear as day.

…

"What is that?" Artemis asked. "I have no idea what that is. It looks like scribbles." She squinted and stepped forward, inspecting the lines closely.

Silvally backed away from her, his crest flattening and his ears folding back. He knew he wasn't making it up. That's what it said! He was so certain of it…

Artemis's reaction had him worried though, and a pit formed in his stomach. An odd feeling settled inside him. Was it anger? Shame? Embarrassment perhaps? He couldn't tell what he was feeling, but it felt wrong.

"I… But that's-" Silvally coughed, and grimaced. "That's what it says."

If Artemis was as worldly as he'd heard about her, and she hadn't seen this… why did he know it? Silvally knew this was right and he was confident about what he'd written out. But the way she looked at it, and then to him, as if he was some blatant liar…

"For all I know, you could be making it up," Artemis said with narrowed eyes.

Frantically, Silvally threw his Treasure Bag to the ground and tore open the top, moving the contents around to get at what he needed.

He wasn't crazy. None of this made sense. Maybe this was just a thing in this part of the world. Maybe other continents had different writing styles. That made sense, right? It sounded like it was possible.

Silvally's talons grasped the edges of his helmet and he pulled, heaving the heavy object out. He set it down on the floor with a thud, and worked his talons over it, looking for the word etched into the bottom, close to where it sat on his neck.

"There, see?" Silvally pointed to a spot on the helmet and stepped back. "Silvally," he said.

Artemis glanced up at him with a skeptical gaze and looked at him for an uncomfortable few seconds as if searching him for answers. Then, she leaned in, and narrowed her eyes, looking at the small text on the helmet.

Silvally watched Artemis with bated breath. He wasn't crazy. He wasn't sure how he knew this, but he knew. It felt right. This whole situation was wrong and weird and didn't make any sense.

"…That doesn't mean anything." She tilted her head and squinted as if trying to get a new angle on it. "Maybe there's a pattern there? Whatever it is, it's not something I've seen."

The idea that he was stuck with only talking as a method of communication bothered him. What if his voice just gave out one day because of his weird body? What would he do then? He couldn't just rely on having someone around who could read his mind all the time—that sounded awful and inconvenient and invasive and-

Did this mean he couldn't read anything that was written here? Why did he understand everyone fine, but now he couldn't read the same words he was speaking? Why did this even bother him? It's not like he'd put much thought into reading while out in the wilderness anyway. There was too much running and fighting and surviving and hiding and-

"-you listening? You zoned out." Artemis broke him from his thoughts, one of her tails waving up and down in front of him, still leaving a healthy distance between the two.

Silvally looked up again, meeting her red eyes, and took a breath, trying to relax. It's not the end of the world. He'd learn. He was good at that. Or, he thought he was. What was he good at? Other than running and fighting and adapting to new places, what could he claim?

Building shelters? Bushes and sticks barely counted.

Learning what the seeds, orbs, and berries did? Trial and error, no skill involved.

Swimming? Fighting? Surviving? Necessities.

He could barely claim half of the things he did were his own though. His body just did things sometimes. He didn't understand how he gathered power in his claws, or how he changed the kind of energy flowing through him. None of it made sense, and though he could do it, he understood none of it.

"Hey, you're doing it again," Artemis huffed. She backed away and sat down across from Silvally, looking over him intently. "I swear this is getting more annoying and complicated each day…" She muttered to herself, trailing off, mumbling something for a few seconds more.

Silvally did what he always did when he was thinking too hard or panicking: balled up those thoughts and shoved them into an empty corner of his mind to explore when he had time. Now was not the time to be having some kind of crisis. Now he had to navigate mission selection and figure out some way to learn how to read these odd paw-prints and awkward symbols.

The problem was figuring out how to do that when his every step was meant to be either alongside Artemis or only to specific spots in the guild. Maybe the guild had a library? But then how would he-

"Okay. Well, I think we have a new plan now." Artemis interrupted his thinking once again.

He needed to stop doing that.

"We're going to take the mission you picked. It's in Oran Forest, the hospital needs more berries for medical paste. After that, we're going to the library in town, and I'm going to figure out how I'm going to teach you to read. Er, read Modern Print, not whatever… whatever that was." Artemis rolled her eyes, and her tails gave an annoyed ripple. "I'm supposed to make sure you can fit in properly, which means you need to be able to read. Then later on you can learn the laws most civilized Pokémon follow, and then…" Artemis tilted her head and raised a foreleg in some kind of shrugging motion. "I guess we'll figure it out."

Silvally nodded in response—he wasn't sure what to say, or if he should say anything at all. It made sense, he needed to be able to read this new language. Old language? Variation of the language he could already understand?

Wait, why did he need to? He was leaving town and heading back into the wilderness after all this was over anyway. There wasn't any reason for him to stick around. He just needed to finish up his service so he wouldn't be hunted down again, and then he'd be free to live in peace.

Silvally leaned down and snatched up his helmet in his jaws, hefting the heavy object up. Using his talons, he adjusted his Treasure Bag and shuffled the contents out onto the floor. Moments later he lowered his head and worked the bag over the helmet, causing it to lose half its weight in an instant.

These things were weird. He'd have to ask about that as well if the opportunity ever came up.

Silvally glanced up once again, catching Artemis just watching him, as if she wanted to ask him something. However, she remained silent and seated with a fair amount of space between them.

He was quite appreciative that she didn't invade his personal space after he asked her to not touch him. He'd noticed her being careful to avoid contact. He also noticed the confusion whenever she did though, or the frustrated little frown, as if she wanted to try, just to see what would happen.

"Alright, let's make this quick. We've still got more to do when we get back to town," Artemis told him. Her tone of voice made it seem like she didn't want to come back to town anytime soon, however.

Honestly, Silvally didn't want to come back soon either. As much as he disliked being alone in the wilderness with Artemis, he was infinitely more worried about the upcoming challenge.

Artemis teaching him this new written language? She was impatient enough as it was, and there was no way he'd be able to read aloud with how little he could speak without pain.

This was going to be a whole other mountain to climb. Forget fighting off exploration teams and fending for himself in the wild—this would be his deadliest challenge; he was sure of it.