The cafeteria was bustling with Pokemon of all shapes and sizes, from a Charizard to a Shroomish. And they all ate a variety of meals.

Tamao loved to cook, there wasn't a reason, he just did. Maybe it was seeing people happily enjoying what he made, or maybe there was no reason and he didn't need one. He wasn't one to eat meat so he would come up with all kinds of recipes that he loved to try and build upon.

Perhaps on days off, he could work in the kitchen here? That sounded nice, I should ask about that, but how can I do that? I can't straight up ask and if I write out my question no one will be able to understand it.

While Tamao was having an internal battle with himself on ways to ask if he could work in the kitchen Inari noticed he wasn't next to her anymore. Turning around she saw him looking around with what she could only describe as a look of content, but mixed with disdain.

"Everything okay Tamao?"

Tamao nodded in response before catching up to Inari as she walked to the back of the line to choose meals. As the line went along Tamao was given strange look after strange look, it was a little unnerving for the Eevee but he held his head high as he continued getting food. And by continued he meant get an apple and call it a day.

"Is that all you're getting?" Inari asked confused from beside him.

Tamao simply nodded and walked over to an empty table and waited for Inari. As he was waiting most of the weird looks went away and he was left in peace. Until a Riolu walked over to his table giving him a side eye. Behind the Riolu was a Ralts that appeared very exhausted by the looks of it.

"So you're the newbie that 'fell out of the sky?' Yeah right, looks to me you're perfectly fine." The Riolu taunted while Tamao just sat there staring at him.

"What, not gonna say anything to defend yourself? So I take it that was all fabricated because you want attention? Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Sam come off it, if he ain't gonna speak then there's no point interrogating the poor fella." The Ralts finally spoke up.

As Tamao rolled his eyes he saw Inari walk up to the group with a confused look on her face.

"Uh, what's going on? Who-"

"Oh, so you're gonna have your friend fight your battles for you? Ha, pathetic."

"Uhhh... Tamao can't speak..." Inari said giving a confused look to Tamao who shrugged

"What are you talking about? He looks perfectly fine to me." Sam continued fighting.

"Tamao... physically can't speak... As in his vocal cords are damaged, and he writes in a different language from Footprint Runes..."

"Huh?"

"Show them Tamao."

Nodding Tamao wrote a simple sentence in his journal. Hello I am Tamao, you are annoying and snobbish, good day. Laughing inside he turned it around to show the Riolu and Ralts. Tamao smiled as he saw the color drain from Riolu's face while his partner just shook their head in disappointment watching the situation.

By now several other people in the cafeteria turned to watch the scene unfolding in front of them.

"I'm sorry about Sam, he's a big conspiracy theorist here and he interrogates anyone new to the guild. He's the paranoid type."

Tamao just waved his paw in response as he went back to eating his apple in peace. Meanwhile, Inari kept glancing at the Ralts and Riolu before following suit and sitting next to him.

"YOU KNOW WHAT! I'M DONE COOKING ALL THESE WEIRD RECIPES FOR POKEMON THAT DON'T EAT MEAT! I SIGNED UP TO COOK MEAT, NOT A BUNCH OF BERRIES THAT TASTE LIKE WATER!"

Tamao turned his head in the direction the shout came from to see a large Incineroar walking out of the kitchen while a Heliolisk followed behind looking panicked.

"But, you said you'd be willing to cook vegetarian options seeing as fewer mon are eating meat these days! We even asked you during the interview what you preferred cooking and you said berries!"

"WELL, MAYBE I LIED TO GET THE JOB? WHO KNOWS!" And with that, the Incineroar was gone.

"Oh great, now who is gonna be my co-chef?"

"Wow, quite the jam he's in huh? Hey Tamao, what's with that look?"

Before Tamao could answer a familiar Ninetales walked through the entryway with a confused look on her face as she walked over to Inari and Tamao.

"Was wondering when that guy would quit, I knew he wasn't cut out for the guild kitchen."

An idea finally struck Tamao as he quickly wrote some words down. I know how to cook, and I enjoy cooking. Sure his handwriting was a bit messy but he hoped he got his point across.

"Tamao... are you offering to work in the kitchen here when you have days off?" Neesha asked as she looked him in the eyes. Tamao simply nodded in response before beckoning Neesha over with him to the Heliolisk that was still trying to understand what had just occurred.

"Hey there, my friend over here said he'd be willing to work in the kitchen," Neesha said before pointing at Tamao.

"Is he willing to cook berries?"

That's my specialty. Tamao wrote while Neesha translated.

"Oh Thank Arceus! You're hired, I need a break. All the drawers and stuff are labeled, there are recipes on the walls and berries in the fridge. Good luck kid, you're gonna need it."

Saying that was an understatement would be an understatement in itself. But Tamao enjoyed the hecticness. From cutting up Oran berries to make a bowl out of and then filling it with Sitrus berry juice was an experience Tamao never expected to have but here he was, making his last order of the day Tamao was proud to say he survived working in the kitchen, around thirty minutes into working the Heliolisk came back into the kitchen to continue working and introduced himself as Jester.

As Tamao left the kitchen he saw Inari and Neesha waiting for him and he ran over to meet them.

"Ah, there you are Tamao. Come along, you and I are going to teach Inari some Zocar."

The walk to Inari and Tamao's room was pretty quiet with a few comments about how they liked it at the guild. But when they got back to the room tamao noticed something lying on the table in the center of the room with a note.

What Tamao saw made his jaw drop as he saw a pair of earrings lying on the table. But not just any earrings, his earrings. Tamao looked over the earrings to take in all of its features, the earrings had a torch in the center that was wrapped in vines. There was a slight bit of brown showing for the torch's handle but otherwise, the entire torch was covered in green vines, except for the flame.

Tamao wore one as a symbol that no matter the situation there is a light to shine the way. Glancing at the note beside he saw that it was from Cotton, Tamao put his earring back on before reading the note. Hello Tamao, I found these earrings while I was treating your wounds and decided to clean them up for ya, hope you enjoy having it back.

Tamao couldn't stop a smile from forming on his face as he nodded his head side to side in happiness before he saw Neesha and Inari giving him a weird look. Blushing realizing how he must look he sat down with a smile still on his face.

"Well, why don't we get started then," Neesha said trying to break the awkward silence.

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Tamao was walking through a market alongside an Umbreon and Flareon, he felt a sense of calmness beside these two figures. Eventually, they reached a stall that had an assortment of jewelry, as Tamao looked up at the earrings in particular the Umbreon smiled down at him.

"Well Tamao, pick whatever you want."

Tamao smiled as he grabbed a pair of earrings, the torch and vines had that shine of newly made metals. Slowly he put them on before turning to the two Eeveelutions beside him.

"Thanks M... thanks D..."

Tamao looked up to see a shadowy figure smiling down at him. "That's a good choice kid, take care of those now."

As they walked deeper into the market Tamao heard a strange voice calling from a crate that was turned upside down.

"Arceus has foretold of a destiny for this world. One shrouded in darkness, believe me, dear brothers and sisters, I can lead us to the promised land where nothing bad happens. Just hear my words as I speak the truth, one day an evil force will arrive on this planet and speak lies to gain your trust. A hero will emerge with their friends to stop the evil, but without help, they will fail. And with their failure our planet will be destroyed."

What followed the ending of the shadowy figure's speech was lots of laughter from the onlookers as they heckled the mon who had been speaking.

"You laugh now, but one day it will be too late to accept the truth."

"Well, another nutcase has arisen. I swear this planet attracts them more than it attracts anyone that's sane."

"You got that painfully right."

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Tamao awoke the next morning feeling somewhat refreshed, last night had been long and exhausting trying to teach Inari how to speak Zocar. At least she got some simple phrases down.

Looking to his side he realized that Inari was lying next to him while having her tales covering him like a blanket. Only then did Tamao realize that it was extremely cold in the room.

Did it snow again? Tamao wondered as he looked out the window. Well what should have been a window, instead it was completely whited out from snow falling on the ledge and getting pushed against the window by the wind.

As Tamao carefully got up he looked over at the table that had his earrings lying on it. Grabbing one he put it on before glancing at the other one, I only ever wear one... so what should I do with this one? I could give it to Inari, but I don't know if she likes jewelry. It could be a way of thanking her for saving me, I'll ask her if she wants it when she wakes up.

Tamao spent the next half hour looking at the earring until he heard Inari walk towards him.

"Morning Tamao, how'd you sleep?"

Tamao simply smiled and nodded his head, grabbing his journal in the process. Tamao had also learned a little bit of footprint runes last night so that Inari wouldn't have to always translate for him.

Though he didn't know many words he knew enough to ask if she wanted his other earring, hopefully she would understand his terrible grammar.

Inari, as thank you for saving me I would like to give you other earring. Once Tamao finished writing he turned the journal towards Inari who was looking at the snow-covered window, tapping his paw on the ground for her attention she saw what he had written and her eyes grew wide.

"Are you sure Tamao?"

A nod was all he responded with before handing her the earring.

"Thank you, Tamao... no one's ever given me anything, so thank you. You really are an extraordinary mon, huh." Inari said with a smile.

Tamao smiled at the comment before exiting the room to get breakfast. The walk there was quiet, but it was a good kind of quiet. The quiet where no one wanted to talk, they just wanted to enjoy their surroundings. Nonetheless, the walk to the cafeteria was peaceful and enjoyable.

And as they entered they both quickly grabbed an apple each and sat at the same table they had the day prior. But while they were eating Jester walked over to him with a smile.

"Hey there Tamao, the big boss wanted me to let you know that he needs to discuss some things with you and your teammate once you're done eating. I'll hold down the kitchen today but I think it's about some kind of training for your team. So good luck."

Tamao nodded before turning to Inari and motioning toward the exit.

"Yeah, I'm done too. Let's go."

The walk didn't take long but Tamao's mind was wandering trying to figure out what Ignis could have for them. But there was no point wondering when he and Inari were about to find that out as they entered his office.

"Ah, good to see you again Team Heuristic. I just finalized some more forms for you two to get specialty training. Now you'll be training for several weeks before you actually go out into the field, but don't worry. The training won't be too bad, mostly just to make sure you don't get yourselves killed. Now first you'll be doing first aid training for two weeks with Cotton, this is so that you can administer help to those injured in any events that happen, including you. Then you'll spend three weeks learning about different technology you'll get to use, now most of it is experimental but it'll help you do research on the different disasters you'll encounter. Our two head engineers will teach you all about how they work and how to operate them, they are Mikaye the Gardevoir, and Ednue the Kirlia. Then you'll have three weeks of strength training just to ensure you can free others from any wreckage. Any questions?"

Tamao and Inari glanced at each other before they both shook their heads no.

"Good, nice earrings by the way."

"Oh, uh thanks. They're Tamao's but he let me have one of them."

"Really? You know Tamao you never struck me as one to wear any kind of jewelry, what a pleasant surprise. Well I shouldn't keep you two waiting, you probably want to go enjoy your day. I'll have your training schedule sent to your room later, until then though. Go enjoy yourselves, and if you get the chance ask Neesha how she's doing. She's been quite paranoid and that makes me worried."

"Will do sir, come on Tamao. I want to go look through the market, and we can visit my Mom. Is there anything you want to do today?"

That's a good question... I kind of want to see what's around here, that sounds nice. But Tamao just shrugged since he would likely see some things while they were about.

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If there was one word Tamao could use to describe the village situation it would be confusing, he hadn't realized it before but half the village was situated on a mountain. This does explain the extreme amount of snowfall, but the other half was at the bottom of the mountain and just had a little bit of snow.

Come to find out later that the village used to be bigger until an avalanche wiped out a third of it and they've been too afraid of causing another one to build any new houses high up.

Now at the bottom of the mountain, it was bustling, different mons were shopping and chatting while the sun was high in the sky. Tamao was looking around when his eyes locked on a jewelry stall in the market.

Fighting his urge to browse their wares he followed Inari as they exited the village and went down a small dirt path before taking a left at a crossroads and eventually finding a house. And based on the smile on Inari's face this was her home.

As they entered they both saw Neesha sitting in the corner with her eyes closed peacefully sitting. If it weren't for the quiet humming coming from her Tamao would think she was asleep.

Though one of them must have made a noise as she opened her eyes and smiled at them.

"I was wondering when you would finally bring Tamao here, though that does beg the question. Why did you drag him here today?"

"We both have some free time and I thought I would show him around some."

"Do you have enough free time to have lunch with a lonely old Ninetales?" Neesha asked laughing.

"I think we have enough time."

Tamao enjoyed the scenery he got to witness as they looked for somewhere to eat, though Neesha seemed to notice that Inari was wearing one of Tamao's earrings. He only realized this when he glanced at Neesha who gave the two of them a look of intrigue.

"Is there something going on between you two that I'm unaware of?" Neesha asked with a teasing tone.

Inari reacted as you might have expected, being completely embarrassed and flustered. Tamao however didn't hear the question, he actually couldn't hear anything at the moment. He didn't know why, but after everything he's been through he couldn't care less.

Meanwhile, Inari was trying to compose herself while facing her mother. "N-no! Nothing is going on... H-he j-just gave it t-to me as a t-th-thank you for me s-saving him!"

"In my experience, a male usually only gives someone jewelry when they want to impress them. Though he is very extraordinary."

"Yeah, what do you think he's looking at though? He's staring off into space."

"Who knows what goes through that Eevee's mind."

What was going through Tamao's mind was quite a lot of random images that he could not remember. There was one in particular that kept catching his attention, it was a mountain emblem on a bag with a skull and crossbones. This emblem brought him a sense of dread and for whatever reason a feeling of disappointment, specifically in himself.

He couldn't explain it, but maybe he'd remember why eventually. For now his hearing was returning to him as he could hear Inari calling his name. This was gonna be a long meal wasn't it?