That night Tamao was enjoying his dreams, they were about him and his friends. They were about when they didn't have to worry about saving the world when they just went on odd jobs to have fun, or in Tamao's case. Escaping the reality that was his life.

"Come on Neko, Olly. We can do one more job today. "

"Tamao, no offense but you can't put off seeing Mel. He wants to help you and you need to accept his help. Working yourself half to death won't help anyone." Olly said looking down at the Eevee.

"Olly's right Tamao, go see him."

"Well, I don't want to. He's always so prying."

"That's kind of his job Tamao... he's trying to get you out of your comfort zone to help you."

"I don't know guys..."

"If you won't do it for yourself, do it for us."

"Fine... I'll see you guys later then..."

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"Okay Tamao, today we'll try a breathing exercise for whenever you feel overwhelmed. Take a deep breath in, close your eyes. Then let it all out, repeat that several times when you feel overwhelmed." Mel spoke softly to Tamao, Mel was a Mewostic but he never went into anyone's mind. He was also a therapist and refused to look into his patient's minds, he relied on building trust with his patients so that they could share their emotions naturally.

Tamao was very closed off whenever he met with Mel, not because he didn't trust him. No, it was because he preferred to be closed off, his issues weren't others to deal with but Mel had his ways of getting through Tamao's barrier

"Now, today I hope that you are finally willing to speak about your parents and what happened to them all those years ago."

"Well, it was a normal day. I was playing with my father and everything seemed fine, but then they came. I didn't have any time to think before I saw both my parents pinned to the ground and I was grabbed by my scruff. The last thing I heard before I was knocked out was my parent's blood-curdling screams, and I heard someone whisper in my ear. 'You shall work for us Abaddon.' That's all I remember about that day."

"I'm very sorry you experienced that, but they can't harm you anymore."

"I hope so," Tamao responded feeling a weight lift from his chest.

Everything around him faded away slowly as a void slowly enveloped Tamao's surroundings. Mel appeared unphased like he didn't notice it.

"Why don't we start talking about your time with... I'm sure it was ter... But I think that talking about... Will alleviate some pain that I can see in your eyes."

Shaking his head Tamao saw the office disappear and he was now in a graveyard. In the corner by one of the many headstones sat a cloaked figure. Seeming to sense Tamao's presence it stood up and walked towards Tamao, he couldn't make out any features as it appeared as an empty cloak. But as it turned to look at him he heard a chilling voice.

"Dies iterum me occurres erit ultimus in plano mortali."

Tamao suddenly felt fear, like his life was in danger as the being seemed to touch him. Panicking tamao ran as fast as he could out of the graveyard. He entered a tunnel that sat adjacent to the graveyard and sat down to catch his breath. Looking around he felt his heart slow to a crawl as he saw the cloaked figure sitting next to him.

"Omnem gradum, quem cepisti, cepi tecum." The figure seemed to be looking at the wall before glancing down at Tamao. "Te elegit."

The figure then faded out of existence it seemed as memories started flooding Tamao's mind. They were all painful, the first one that broke through was the day he was kidnapped was also the day he was forced into a life of crime. Never being given the choice between committing crime and being killed felt easy at the time, little did he know just how painful that decision would turn out to be.

Tamao never got to meet the boss of the organization, but he had heard it was a Blaziken from other members. They all spoke of this aura he seemed to carry, one that brought fear.

Tamao was also a low-level thug for the organization, he hated hurting others but if it was to keep himself alive what else was he supposed to do? The only time he felt justified in harming others was when he would be sent to deal with other criminal organizations.

You see, what the history books don't tell you about Zocarive is that it was filled with criminals. Sure there were a few cities that had low crime rates but that was because all the criminals stayed in the capital. When they would leave the capital though, that is when things would get bloody.

Caravan after caravan was attacked and robbed, several had no survivors of the attacks. When the leaders of Zocarive got desperate they turned to other planets for help with their crime issues.

The other worlds were hesitant to help, but th desperation and cash offers from Zocarive officials made the decisions easier. They came in bunches as organization after organization was taken down, one by one. Until it was just the Bonecrushers and the Fivetines left, they were the biggest and the strongest. Tamao was a member of the Fivetines but was captured during a failed raid on the Bonecrushers base. When the base was raided again it was captured by the Fivetines.

This meant bad news for Tamao as the Fivetines had a strict policy for anyone captured by an enemy, immediate execution. By some stroke of luck though Tamao was saved by a Meowth and Shinx that were passing by. The Shinx paralyzed the members of the Fivetines and they made a run for it. Tamao was malnourished and exhausted but he got to live another day, so he wasn't about to complain.

Of course, he had to go through a lot of legal proceedings and helped the law capture and terminate the remaining members of the Fivetines. But at the end of it all Tamao made two friends and got to live his life peacefully, for one whole year.

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Blinking his eyes open Tamao glanced around and saw that Inari was sitting by the window with her earring in her paws examining it. She seemed to sense his awakening and glanced over towards him with a smile.

"Morning Tamao, sorry I didn't wake you. You looked so tired last night that I thought I'd let you sleep in a little. But now that you're awake we need to go do our first day of training with Cotton, come on!"

As they were walking towards the infirmary Tamao felt like he was being watched, though it felt weirdly comforting. Until about halfway down a hall Tamao fell backwards and felt a pressure on his chest. Then the voice of the creature in his dream from last night sounded off in his head.

"Loqui." Once the word was uttered Tamao started coughing violently and the weight was lifted from his chest.

"That hurt..." Tamao stopped immediately when he realized what he just did.

"Tamao... did you just speak?"

"I did..." Hearing his voice felt weird, it was deeper than he remembered and was a lot more rough.

"That's awesome Tamao!" Inari exclaimed beaming as she walked over to him.

"I can't believe I can speak again. Oh, I'm so relieved! This makes life so much easier!"

"It was that hard without a voice huh?"

"Arceus yes! Having to try and communicate with no way of saying it is a lot harder than I thought it was, HAHA! Though I sound different than I remember."

"You definitely sound different than I expected you to."

"Well, let's get to Cotton's and share the good news!"

The rest of the short walk was filled with talking between Tamao and Inari. This was the happiest Inari had ever seen Tamao and this was the happiest he'd felt in a long time. Though he was prepared for some questions from Cotton he wasn't sure he could answer them.

But his worries would have to take a backseat as Inari suddenly asked him a question.

"Hey Tamao, how old are you?"

"Well, I think we'll have to look at it two ways. First what year is it?"

"twenty-two eighty-seven."

Tamao's jaw might as well have hit the floor. "Well, if we want to get technical, I would be about one thousand years old roughly. But based on my means of transportation here and seeing that physically and mentally I am nineteen I would like to consider myself still nineteen."

"I'm just going to pretend that all made sense."

"Good idea, but while we're on the topic how old are you?"

"Eighteen, so you're older than me, but also what do you mean by your 'means of transportation here'?"

"Ah, that... Well, you know how I'm from Zocarive right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, have you heard the story of how it was destroyed?"

"Not really, there were no survivors to tell it. Well... I guess you're technically a survivor."

"Only by the skin of my teeth. Ya see my friends and I had known that the end of the world would be coming, so we searched for an escape out. That is when we discovered a legend about a strange obelisk that could transport you to another world and time period. Unfortunately, they didn't make it and I escaped at the last second, I can only hope they found peace."

"That sounds horrible."

"It was, but can't change the past now. There's only pushing on and helping whoever I can. That's why I wanted to join this guild, it's a chance to honor my friends by saving anyone I can. Though it's quite poetic to save those who are caught in disasters, though these disasters are less extreme thankfully."

"Are you gonna be okay doing what we're doing?"

"Well, it depends. Do you know any therapists?"

"Umm... I don't, Cotton might. Why do you ask?"

"I had a therapist I saw regularly on Zocarive, he was a good fella. Helped me through some tough times, he left Zocarive a few months before everything happened. Wonder what ever happened to him. But enough about me, what's your story?"

"It's a lot less eventful than yours. You sure you want to hear it?"

"A story is a story, no matter how epic or mundane.?"

"You're surprisingly well-spoken for someone our age."

"I found myself around some wealthy mon in my youth, I just picked up a style of speaking that sounds smart. Truthfully I'm probably about as smart as a box of rocks. There's something up there but I like to keep it closed and go with the flow." Tamao said motioning towards his skull.

"Give yourself a little credit at least. But like I said, my life's been pretty boring. My mother is a famous warrior and my father is a map maker, he's actually on a job right now mapping out the world with some other mon, said his name was Shade or something. Dad never told us what species he was though."

"Huh, well what was your childhood like?"

"Boring, never really made any friends though. Everyone thought I was weird or just ignored me, that's why I was so surprised when you offered me one of your earrings."

"Really? I just thought you didn't like jewelry that much."

"Oh no, I love jewelry. I've just never gotten any, most mons I grew up with thought jewelry was a sign of weakness. And no matter how dumb that mindset is it stopped me from getting any."

"Huh, guess that's the difference between here and Zocarive. You couldn't find anyone without some kind of jewelry, it was a sign of originality and a way for one to express themselves. These earrings were a birthday gift from my parents, I only ever wore one because I wanted to save the other one for someone who was kind and would have my back. You've saved me twice and it was the only way I could think to repay you, no one's ever treated me kindly that wasn't my parents or one of my few friends. Honestly, you've treated me the best out of anyone I've ever known. You're quite the mon Inari."

"Wow... I don't know what to say tamao, thank you feels like it isn't enough."

"You don't need to say thanks, that earring is a gift from me because I can't express my gratitude enough for what you've done for me. Saving a complete stranger who's just fallen from the sky, then digging me out of the snow and keeping me warm. If I didn't know better I'd say you're my guardian angel."

"Maybe I am." Inari joked as they neared the entrance to the infirmary.

"Well, best not keep Cotton waiting any longer