"Alright, my name is Roger. What are all your names."

"Well I'm Tamao, the Vulpix is Inari and the Zorua is Ayla."

"Alright good... As you can see we've made some progress already putting up the first row of Oriented Strand Board, but we have a few more to go then we can put up the Underlayment and the leaf shingles. So Tamao, I'll send you up there with Gary the Shinx who'll nail the boards in. Here... if you give me your bag I can put some H-Clips in it so you can put them on as you go. Then Inari and Ayla you can lift the boards up to Tamao."

"How am I gonna lift them up the last of the way though?"

"Well, you can stand on two legs right?"

"Well, yeah a little..."

"Well then go to the edge of the roof, grab it with your front paws, and swing it up."

"But what if I'm not strong enough? I haven't really done this in a while."

"It's all about momentum and leverage, trust me I've seen some very small mons' so what you're about to do."

"Alright, well... here goes..."

"You got this Tamao, don't worry."

Taking a deep breath he went up the ladder to the roof where he saw a Shinx waiting patiently.

"Well howdy there! You must be my helper today! The name's Gary, it's a pleasure to meet ya!"

"I'm Tamao, it's nice to meet you, Gary."

"Well, what are we waitin' for? Let's get this done so we can all go home and rest!"

Nodding Tamao walked over to the edge of the roof where Inari and Ayla were waiting for his signal that he was ready. After steadying himself he nodded towards them and pulled the board about halfway up before taking a deep breath. You got this Tamao!

Without even realizing Tamao successfully got the board onto the roof where Gary grabbed onto the other end and helped him put it into place.

"There ya go! Simple as that, now come on! This should only take us roughly two hours. Then we got the underlayment which'll probably take two hours if nothing goes wrong. Then the shingles which should go quick."

Nodded Tamao got the next H-Clips set and grabbed the next board, then the next board, then the next board, then the next board. Finally, the end of the row was reached.

"I'm impressed," Gary said to Tamao with a smile, sweat dripping from his face due to the humidity of the swamp.

"So am I haha."

They continued until they finally finished laying all the OSB down. As Gary nailed the last board Tamao couldn't help but ask hima  question that had been on his mind the whole day.

"Hey Gary, how does that nail gun work? Normally they need a battery right?"

"Actually this is a newer nail gun made for us electric types. It senses the natural electricity from our bodies and uses that as a substitute for a battery that needs to be recharged every ten minutes."

"That's pretty cool."

"Ya. Oh there they are with the underlayment, finally. So the way we're gonna do this is you take this hammer here, and you'll nail it down and I'll make sure it stays straight and correct. You're gonna be nailing every other dot on the bottom only for now, don't worry about being fast, just be accurate. Now here's some cap nails for ya."

"Alright, sounds easy enough."

"That's cause it is."

Easy it was indeed as they got the first strip done and nailed on. They only spent roughly thirty minutes doing the underlayment and finally it was time for the shingles.

"Well, this is the not-so-fun part. I hope ya'll got time to waste. Here's how we're gonna do this. I'm gonna do the starter strip while you go ahead and open that bundle and spread the shingles out. Then from there, your team can call it a day and ya can go do whatever."

"Are you sure Gary?"

"Yeah, I'll get this done in a jiffy."

Nodding Tamao went down the ladder and brought up several bundles of shingles. It was not fun to carry them up but he managed to do so successfully. Then it was time to separate and spread them all out which was easy, just time-consuming.

Once he was done he bid Gary farewell and got down from the roof to meet up with Ayla and Inari.

As they left he couldn't help but see a smile on Roger's face.

"So what's the plan for the rest of the day Tamao?" Inari asked as they walked back towards town.

"I actually want to go back to that cave, I think I have an idea on how to solve Taviki's problem with rain."

"Really? Well then let's get going!"

With a new pep in their step, the three made their way back towards the cave in the hopes of finally being able to leave the swamp and go rest.

After the fairly short walk, they arrived at the mouth of the cave and entered. As they followed the tunnel down into the cavern once more Tamao was brought back to just yesterday when he got his tail whooped by that Charizard, he could feel the dull ache he had forgotten about while working on the roof.

I can't wait to get out of here. He thought to himself as they finally arrived at their destination.

Glancing around Tamao noticed a way down deeper into the cavern and began walking over to it. Much to the confusion of Ayla and Inari.

"Tamao, where are you going?"

"There's something I need to make sure of really quick."

"We're coming with you then."

"Alright, well let's get going."

As they went down the dampness of the tunnel became more obvious as Tamao could feel the water in his fur without it actually being there. It was as close to torture as he could experience but it showed that they were going in the right direction. At least in theory, they were, truthfully Tamao wasn't sure he trusted whoever was in his dreams. But he also had no better idea of how to fix this situation.

They descended for what felt like hours in the dark tunnel until there was a small light in the distance giving them enough motivation to speed up. Once they finally reached the light Tamao quickly realized this was indeed where they needed to go.

In this newly discovered cavern sat a large pool that filled it entirely except for a small ledge going all the way around said pool. As Tamao surveyed it he noticed what appeared to be loose rocks blocking an exit for the water.

That must be it, that's preventing the pool from draining and some kind of magic is causing it to rain. This is extremely weird.

"Inari, Ayla. You two stay here I want to check something out."

"Be careful Tamao," Inari responded having flashbacks to when she found Tamao.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on going for a swim."

"This water looks funny... Doesn't it?" Ayla asked as she glanced at the water.

Only then did Tamao notice the strange mix of light green and the deep blue of the water. "You're right Ayla, it does look a bit odd."

Eventually Tamao reached the blockage and checked how loose the rocks were, unfortunately for him they were packed in pretty tight barely moving a quarter of an inch. This is not gonna be fun . Tamao thought to himself.

Doing a quick glance around the vicinity he noticed a wooden plank that he could possibly use for leverage. Working quickly he grabbed it with his mouth and walked over to the rocks once more before sticking it under the rock at the top of the hole.

Doing his best to weigh it down Tamao felt it slowly shifting before finally feeling all the opposing weight be lifted off the plank and into the water with a loud Splash. But before he could celebrate he had to focus on keeping his footing and not falling into the powerful river that had now taken the place of the blockage.

Unfortunately for Tamao, his feet decided to stop working at that exact moment as he started falling over the ledge. As he began falling over he fet something grab him by the fur around his neck and pull him back up.

When he was on safe ground he rolled onto his back with a sigh of relief.

"Why did I know that was going to happen?" Inari's voice cut in as she looked down at him.

With a nervous chuckle, Tamao tried to give an answer that wouldn't make her strangle him. "Uhh... Because you know that stupidity and bad luck equals me?"

With an eye roll, she grabbed his scruff and started dragging him out of the cavern and back above ground while Ayla fought a laugh that was threatening to escape her.

When they finally reached the forest once more Inari finally let go of Tamao allowing him to get back up onto his paws.

"Well... I am ninety percent sure that fixed the issue."

"Good, 'cause you're gonna be the one writing the report with all the information I've been tracking since we got here."

"That's fair," Tamao responded flopping back down to the ground before shaking himself back awake mentally.

"Come on you loaf, we need to go see the mayor."

"Alright, let's go then." Tamao had a noticeable lack of enthusiasm in his responses and Inari took notice.

"Are you okay Tamao?" Inari asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine you don't need to worry. I'm just tired."

"Well, we can rest for a few days after this."

With a smile, Tamao nuzzled Inari. "You always know what to say to make me feel better."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"THAT'S GREAT NEWS!"

Flinching Tamao covered his ears and noticed Inari and Ayla doing the same.

"Yes, it is. Me and Tamao have already informed our ride to pick us up tomorrow morning. Hopefully, Taviki won't have to deal with anything like this ever again."

"Yes, I hope so too."

As Lako waved goodbye to them with a smile Tamao felt a flicker of happiness inside him as they walked back to their hotel.

"As they entered they saw Nick at his desk swaying back and forth to music until he saw them and stopped immediately.

"Hello, you three! How did today go?"

"It went well. We think we've solved the rain issue so we're leaving in the morning."

"Well that's good, but I'll miss seeing you three. I hope to see you again someday.":

"It's been wonderful staying here Nick. This is a nice hotel." Inari said to him

"Well, I appreciate that, stay safe out there you two."

As they entered their room Tamao pulled out some paper to write the report for their mission.

Taviki Rain Mystery Report:

The extreme rain situation has been resolved in the village of Taviki. Taviki had been experiencing nearly three times the average annual rainfall, more specifically they had been experiencing over two hundred and fifty inches of rainfall putting them on pace for records.

The cause of such heavy rainfall was discovered to be some other-worldly power from a blocked river beneath a cavern. One incident occurred on the mission which will be listed in the next paragraph.

An ancient tablet was stolen from a cavern above the river. The thief was a Charizard who easily bested Tamao in a one-on-one fight.

One mon was added to the team, Ayla the Zorua.

Smiling Tamao put the report in their bag and got into his and Inari's bed before nuzzling her and closing his eyes ready for whatever tomorrow would bring the trio.

I need to look into getting adoption papers when we get back to the guild. Tamao thought happily glancing over at Ayla who was sleeping peacefully in the other bed.

Tomorrow's a new day, and I need to make the most of it.