Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Breeding Frenzy [Firehead]

[Lazy Kitsune]

"What? Why would you say that?" Sandy asks, less teasing now and more genuinely taken aback, though she lets it slide as the conversation moves forward. "Fun? Between scavenging for supplies and trying to get in touch with the other villages we don't really do a whole lot of that here. I mean, we aren't exactly a military camp, you can do what you want, but there isn't a whole lot to do."

"I've tried to organise some activities to keep spirits up." Happy chips in. "Though we'd need more people... and more room too, honestly. Until then, I run some yoga sessions... and there's a few boxes of board games and card games about..."

"You can play I spy from the top of the tower. Or exercise in the training room." Sandy adds as her and Happy start to go back and forth about what mundane activities can be done around here.

"I'm going to join a rescue team." Mary-Jane's words make both Sandy and Happy pause and turn their attention to her. "I... I mean... I'm going to sign up to join a rescue team. I guess it'll be up to Trix and the others if I'm good enough, but that's what I'm going to do. Not for fun... but, well... actually I'd be lying if I said I didn't think it would be fun. Its kind of what I wanted to do growing up, so... I'm going to do it and see what I can make of myself."

[Firehead]

I listened in a little saddened to learn there was so little to do but try to survive. I wasn't much for Yoga, and board and card games could get old fast. The training room would be good if I wanted to be able to stat holding my own in a fight, but that wasn't something everyone could get into. We either needed to find something that could be done around here, or we needed to get the town cleaned out as soon as possible. Only, we needed more people to actually occupy the town and keep it secure.

I was a bit surprised to hear that Mary-Jane also had long wanted to join a rescue team. Given this area had a guild, it probably wasn't that unusual to want to join a team, but it would have made sense if the guys turning into rapists thing had put a damper on people wanting to go out and take the risk. "Huh, and here I thought I'd be the only one who had an interest. I actually asked Trix about it last night, and she said they could definitely use the help. I was actually going to ask Trix or her team for some training or tips later on. I'm not exactly much of a fighter myself, but it really seems like something needs to be done, and no matter how good they are, I doubt Trix, Danger, and Piper can do it all on their own with all the wild Mon out there."

[Lazy Kitsune]

Mary-Jane visibly perks up when you admit to also having an interest in joining a rescue team. "Its true things are tough now, but that's because there's not enough people stepping up. Trix, Danger and Piper are doing everything they can to keep what we have together. If they had more people helping out on the more dangerous tasks then we might actually start to make some progress towards recovery." She shifts in her seat, seeming to get a bit hyper as she leans a little closer to you.

"We should form a rescue team of our own! I mean, if you want to of course. But don't you think that we should? If we want things to improve around here! And people might stop staring at you like 'Ohmygod, there's a scary male. I've got to throw my slipper at him or he'll come after me!' and might instead stare at you like 'Ohmygod, there's Chet! He's like so heroic and dreamy and has a pretty nice cock and I'm kind of jelly of his big dumpy.' ... Uhh, hypothetically they might say that. And they might look at me and be like 'Wow, cool, Mary-Jane, she gets stuff done and is totally someone I wouldn't forget to invite to my birthday party that I invited everyone else to. Its fine, she was probably busy that night anyway and didn't want to go to Fang's stupid party anyway, so what.' ...Hypothetically. Look, my point is... Teamsies?" she asks, and holds out her hand for you to shake... assuming you were able to follow any of what she said.

[Firehead]

I was taken aback by just how gung-ho she was to find someone else interested in joining a team. I hadn't really thought about it yet, but it wouldn't be much of a team if I was just by myself. Though if I recalled from the games I'd played, it was odd that my partner wasn't practically the first Mon I'd met, which would have been Sandy, but I guess I couldn't expect everything to be like the games. I had to chuckle a little. I was surprised about the specifics of how she expected other girls to view me.

"I don't know, I don't think anyone else has thought to throw a shoe at me yet. I think that's just you." Since the first part was pretty clearly her own thoughts, that made the second part pretty interesting. If it was also her thoughts, it meant she was impressed even by the very slight flash I'd 'accidentally' given her in the baths though the 'big dumpy' was a little more concerning. Was she saying she was jealous of my butt? I really did need to find some pants with a more relaxed fit. Having an ass that girls would be jealous of wasn't exactly something I wanted to hear(6). With how little control she seemed to have over her mouth, she wasn't certainly the kind of partner I would expect to have, but I probably wouldn't get too far wandering around on my own. "You know what, sure. Let's do it."

[Lazy Kitsune]

Mary-Jane seems even more surprised to see you agree and for a moment you're worried she just might burst as her eyes shoot wide open and her mouth presses closed but lets out a noise that can only be described as a kettle going off. "Awesome!" she finally yells out, releasing the pressure she had built up inside her. She leaps over from her cushion and wraps her arms around you, tackling you with a quick hug that almost knocks you over. "Oh, we need to come up with a team name! Something unique to us, but will also be something other people will be like 'Ooh, that's a team I want to sign up with.' Got any ideas?" She ruffles the fur on the top of your head as if that would somehow help you think better.

Sandy leans over to whisper in your ear while Mary-Jane keeps making excited noises that she tries to muffle. "Are you sure you're ready to join a team? I mean, I know you said you wanted to help out and all, but... you're not really a fighter. Not yet, at least." She leans back and sighs as she seems to be thinking something over before shrugging her shoulders. "Okay, if you're doing this, then I'm in too. I usually try to help out while avoiding trouble, but you saw how well that was working out for me. So I might as well stick with people I can trust and try to pick up some fighting skill along the way."

Happy claps her hands together. "Oh, this is very exciting! I'm sure Trix will love to hear about this. With another team operating around here, this place might finally start to feel like a guild again."

[Firehead]

I was caught off guard when she mentioned needing a team name. Yeah, we would kind of need one of those. I'd never considered myself great at naming things, but she seemed to leave it to me. I froze when Sandy mentioned my lack of fighting prowess. "Yeah, we'll definitely need to do some training before we start getting into fights, but I figure we can still do that between deciding we're a team and taking our first mission together," I smirked and nodded when Sandy decided to join our team as well. At the very least three of us would be safer wandering out there than just one or two of us. Still, I needed to figure out a name since neither of them really offered one. Doing something type based wouldn't work very well since I didn't even know what I would evolve into. Probably better to watch for an opportunity on that front.

My next thought was for a name of what we stood for. I figured a future of peace would work, but maybe something that sounded just a bit less corny. I wasn't sure how well it would work, but I figured it was the best I would come up with on my own. "How about this for a name: Dreams of Serenity?" I shrugged my shoulders not feeling fully confident, but maybe they would have some input for improvement.

[Firehead]

I was caught off guard when she mentioned needing a team name. Yeah, we would kind of need one of those. I'd never considered myself great at naming things, but she seemed to leave it to me. I froze when Sandy mentioned my lack of fighting prowess. "Yeah, we'll definitely need to do some training before we start getting into fights, but I figure we can still do that between deciding we're a team and taking our first mission together," I smirked and nodded when Sandy decided to join our team as well. At the very least three of us would be safer wandering out there than just one or two of us. Still, I needed to figure out a name since neither of them really offered one. Doing something type based wouldn't work very well since I didn't even know what I would evolve into. Probably better to watch for an opportunity on that front.

My next thought was for a name of what we stood for. I figured a future of peace would work, but maybe something that sounded just a bit less corny. I wasn't sure how well it would work, but I figured it was the best I would come up with on my own. "How about this for a name: Dreams of Serenity?" I shrugged my shoulders not feeling fully confident, but maybe they would have some input for improvement.

[Lazy Kitsune]

A moment of silence falls across the table after you offer up your name suggestion. For a moment, you're worried about how they'll take it, but then Mary-Jane is quick to put your nerves at ease. "I love it! I think! It certainly stands out and it makes me feel all calm and floaty which is generally a feeling I quite like." she nods, tapping her finger against her chin. "Yeah, Dreams of Serenity. Kind of sounds like it could be a band name."

Sandy shrugs. "I've... got no better suggestions, so sure. We can always workshop it later if we need to. Dreams of Serenity... You know, now that I've said it out loud it feels kind of... special. I guess this is what it feels like to be a part of something important. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself a bit by saying that, but I feel like we can do some real good. If we train up first a bit at least. Do you want to go bring this up with Trix once we're done here, or do you think we should train on our own first?"

[Firehead]

The moment of silence made me almost pull back from the suggestion, but it turned out they were actually into it. Well, Sandy seemed hesitant. It still sounded a bit on the cheesy side to me, but I figured they would be better judges of how other people from this world would think about the name, so I decided to trust them on that. "I was thinking we should talk to Trix sooner rather than later. There's no harm in letting her know we need some time to shape up, but we want to help out once we're ready. Plus, I figure she or her team might be able to give us some pointers. We can do strength training, endurance training, or agility training, but when it comes to actual fighting, all we could really do is spar. Kind of a blind leading the blind kind of thing. If someone with combat experience has the time to watch us spar they could share some insight we might take weeks to figure out just the three of us."

I was starting to feel a bit fired up as I came up with a plan. "Even if they don't have time, it doesn't hurt to ask, and they might be able to make some time for it later if they know we could use the help." I began digging into my food with a little more gusto excited to see this taking off now.

[Lazy Kitsune]

Mary-Jane joins you in chomping through the morning's meal as quickly as she could, filled with a similar zeal with diving into the adventuring lifestyle. Happy gives a few words of soft caution to you both not to eat too quickly to avoid upsetting your stomachs, but is mostly just enjoying the positive atmosphere that has taken over the table. "Trix grabs her breakfast pretty early." Sandy says, glancing around. "She's probably already eaten. We'd probably find her down in the training room at this time anyway."

"She'll be wanting to speak to Chet this morning, anyway." Happy says. "She'll be pleased to see he's no worse for ware today than he was last night. Why don't you three head on down as soon as you're ready. I can clean up after you once you're done."

[Firehead]

I nodded as Happy explained that Trix had already eaten and would probably have wanted to see me this morning even if I didn't have any news for her. "Well, if that's how early a rescue team gets up, we should probably shape up ourselves." I nodded as Happy offered to take care of our plates. She'd really been doing a lot. She'd even offered to do the sheets for me even though I didn't take her up on that particular offer. "Thanks for all your help Happy. You've been very accommodating." I suddenly remembered Mary-Jane's suspicion about me and Happy and realized how what I just said might have sounded to her. I'd need to set that girl straight, but I'd need a moment alone with her first.

With breakfast complete, I waited anxiously for my new team to finish before we rushed off to tell Trix of our new fledgling team ready to start training to help out around here. The idea of rescuing a few gals and getting thing lively enough that we could clear out and occupy the town seemed like a very promising first goal.

[Lazy Kitsune]

The others finish almost as quickly as you do, leaving Happy to gather your bowls and plates as you make your way to find Trix. Sandy leads the way, guiding you towards the entrance to the training room so that you could find it yourself in the future. The door was on the opposite end of the main lounge to the entrance, and led to a set of stairs leading beneath the fort, just as the door to the artificial hot spring had. This area however looked constructed more like an actual basement, rather than an artificial cave. Wooden beams supported the stone walls and ceiling in an otherwise wide open space. Training dummies and targets were arranged along the walls or swinging from ropes strung across the ceiling. Squared off patches of sand provided an equivalent to soft matts in several spaces. Shelves of round and bell shaped weights were on display for use.

Sure enough Trix was down here, along with the other members of her team. Danger was running through some moves on a training dummy that spun from the force of her blows so as to deliver a counter attack that she had to deflect. Piper seemed to be lifting weights of the ground with her psychic abilities. Trix was in the middle of a serious of push ups, panting heavily to indicate she was deep into her set. Noticing you come in, she pushed herself up and sprang into a standing position and beckoned you and your new team mates over. "Chet, its good to see you up and well. Is there something I can help you with?" She asks as she catches her breath.

[Firehead]

I was glad to see that Sandy knew her way to the training area. Considering she had been trying to make her way out to find other settlements that could work with this one, it made sense that she had done some training to run if nothing else. I made sure to memorize the way here. If I was going to be working on a rescue team, I would probably need to visit this place regularly to train. Seeing the veteran team already doing some of their own training, I wasn't quite certain how to approach concerned I might be interrupting, but it seemed they were ready to greet me as soon as I arrived.

I stepped forward ready to let her know why I was there. "Well, I'm here for three reasons. One, I was told you wanted to see me today to make sure things were okay, so I'm doing fine so far. Second and third, the three of us were hoping to get some pointers or training for fighting because we've..decided to form a rescue team together to help out." I looked back and forth between the three veterans curious as to how each of the three would react to the announcement. I think I had mentioned my interest last night, but today I was not only making it official but had two others to join me.

[Lazy Kitsune]

"Wow, you've got a whole team together already? You work fast, Chet, I like the initiative." Trix says. She steps up closer to you, looking over you, Sandy and Mary-Jane with some appreciative nods. "I've seen greener looking recruits before. And we're not going to turn down the offer of help. Have you got a name for yourselves yet?"

"Dreams of Serenity!" Mary-Jane blurts out, throwing her fist in the air.

Danger snorts, stopping her training by catching the swinging log fist of her dummy and setting it back in place. She starts to make her way over to Trix's side. "Well that's dumb. The name, not the idea. Why not just go with Team Serenity?"

"Don't mind her." Trix interrupts. "She's still upset we didn't go with Team Shadowclaw for our name."

Danger kicks around some of the sand in the training square she stands in. "Shadowclaw would have been an awesome team name..." she murmurs, before turning her attention back to you. "We can probably train you up. It'll be tough though. Can't afford to take it slow with you, we need help out there as soon as yesterday, so we'll be pushing you to do some actual field work faster than we normally would."

"If you feel up for it, of course." Trix adds on. "In an ideal world, we'd put you to a job right away - one on the more safe side of course, but we understand if you don't feel like you want that kind of responsibility just yet."

Piper had been quiet up until now, but sets her weights down to come on over, joining her team members on the opposite side of Trix to Danger. "We're doing small missions later today, aren't we? Why don't they pick which one of us they want to come with to see how its done. That way they can get some real experience, we can look after them, and they're on a relatively straight forward mission."

Trix thinks this over for a few moments. "Not a bad idea. It'll let us assess what they're good at as well. What do you three think? I'll be on patrol, keeping the immediate area clear of any threats. Piper will be scouting for survivors, people held up in places that aren't too dangerous to get to to see if we can find signs of anyone else. Danger will be recovering resources, which could involve scrounging from abandoned homes or stealing from small dens of wild Pokémon. None of us will be extending too far out, so its possible you won't see any action, but it'll give you a chance to see how things are done. You can go as a group, or seeing as there is three of you you can each shadow one of us individually. What do you like the sound of?"

[Firehead]

I blushed as she mentioned how quickly I had gotten myself a team. "I think I just got kinda lucky. Mary-Jane told me how she'd always wanted to join a team and the rest kinda feel in line like dominos. I wasn't too surprised at Danger's reaction, it might have even been a little reassuring that someone thought it a bit corny, but her apparent suggestion for their team sounded a bit edgy too, so it was a bit of a draw anyway. "Did you tell me your team's name last night cause I might have forgotten."

While I had been ready to be cautious about taking on missions too soon, the idea of shadowing an experienced person sounded like a good way to get some extra experience without too much danger. "So we'd kind of be doing an apprentice master sort of thing. Yeah, that sounds like it could work." Then came the questions of whether would we shadow one person or split up, and whom would we shadow. "While it might delay working on our teamwork with each other, I kinda think we should split up on this. That way, each of us has some experience in a different kind of job. That way when we take a job in the future, the one that did that sort of work now can take the lead and share what they learned with the others instead of us all having learned the same thing."

As for the selection of mission and who we'd be following, rescuing people was certainly more the kind of thing I wanted to be doing, and it meant I would be following Piper who I'd gotten less of a read on with our interactions, but as an evolution of my own species, I wondered if she might have any pointers for me. "I think I want to help Piper look for people to rescue." Plus, if I helped bring someone out of the clutches of a wild male, it might help to break the ice with the others more than keeping other males away or bringing in more supplies.

[Lazy Kitsune]

Piper's reaction was hard to read, though you sensed some apprehension on her part at being paired up with you. She didn't object to your decision however, and nodded to confirm on her head. "There are others that are more comfortable holding out on there own, so our job may begin and end at making contact. But if we do find someone in trouble, let me handle the initial confrontation. We will then escort them back to safety here."

"I'd like to scout for supplies." Sandy says. "I was already working as a runner, so its not too different from what I've been doing so far. Hopefully that'll make it easier for me to pick up all this rescue team stuff."

"Yes!" Mary-Jane says, bouncing up in front of Trix. "That means I get to fight! I won't lie... I'm kind of scared, but I was hoping I'd get to do this one. Its exactly what I need to work at and what I want to be able to do!"

Trix chuckles and waves her hand in the air. "Hopefully we won't have to do any fighting. Maybe chase off a few stray wild Pokémon. And if we do do any fighting, I'll be the one doing it, you need to keep yourself safe first until you're on your own missions. Though it seems like we've got all this sorted. Feel free to ask your mission lead for more questions. You can take some time to prepare here, we'll start heading out in not too long."

[Firehead]

The other two seemed to wear their heart more on their sleeve, so I was still having some trouble reading Piper. Perhaps it was just something about psychic types, but I did notice something like concern. Still, she didn't turn me down at least. Maybe I'd ask her about it once we were alone. Though perhaps prying might only put her more on guard. "Right, I understand. Hopefully, I'll be a bit of a fighter myself soon enough." I was also going to need to be careful how I approach any women we meet out there. Even if they're not currently in some guys clutches, they've probably been trying to keep out of that situation, so they'll be suspicious of me until Piper has a chance to calm them down.

I nod as Trix informs us that we have some though not much time before we have to head out. I had hoped to have a little time to train before this, but they probably had a schedule to keep, and it wouldn't be good to impose any more than we needed to. Thinking a moment, I turned to Piper. "So where will we be searching today? I've only been from the beech to here, so I'm not really familiar with the terrain. Are there any things, in particular, I should be on the lookout for?"

[Lazy Kitsune]

"Oh, and one more thing." Trix says, turning to you specifically. "We're team Shooting Star. A bit flashy and cheesy, but what good team name isn't a little corny?" She pats you on the shoulder before turning to lead Mary-Jane off and discuss things with her further.

Piper has a very reserved demeanour to her body language. She wasn't being completely stand-offish, but was definitely refraining from opening up completely. She stepped away from the others to give you and her a bubble of space to have your own conversation in. "We're by the coast, so you might be seeing a lot of beaches when on missions around here. There's a particular cove that I know some Pokémon found quite pleasant to stay in before the males started to change. There are some caves there that people may be drawn to hide in if they find themselves in the area while on the run from males. Melody noticed some disturbances in the woods in that direction over the past couple of days. Nothing major, but it could have been caused by one or more women fleeing pursuing men. When we get there, keep an eye on the water. Wild water Pokémon like to try and lie in wait under the water until their prey is close enough for them to ambush."

[Firehead]

I nodded as Trix told me her team's name even commenting about its own corniness though I kept any combat about edginess as an alternative to myself. Soon, I found myself following Piper to get the rundown on our mission. I noticed that she was again a little anxious or something. Was this just how she was normally, more something to do with strangers, or me specifically? I couldn't help but wonder.

I nodded, "Sounds like a plan." I'd been assured we weren't exactly expected to run into trouble, so I figured this area must have been patrolled recently, but it would still be good if we stayed on alert especially if someone was hiding just off-shore in the water. I was already not that great at fighting, so if a water-type dragged me out to sea, I would definitely be in big trouble for certain. "Umm, I don't want to pry, so feel free to not answer this, but..is everything okay? You seem just a tad uncomfortable to me."

[Lazy Kitsune]

Piper raised her brow at you and held your gaze for a moment. "It shouldn't be hard for you to figure that one out." she says, coldly. "You're a male, and everyone's acting like that's not reason enough right now to keep you in a cage until we're absolutely sure we can trust you. I wasn't too pleased with letting you sleep in a patients bed with only Happy to keep an eye on you and I'm not too pleased with how quick Trix has decided its okay to start trusting you. I'm going to go along with it, but that doesn't mean I have to open up to you. If you have a problem with that you can take it up with Trix. Now, if you have any less stupid questions, I can answer those for you. Or we can try some training and see what you can do and what can be improved."

It seemed like Piper might be a little trickier in terms of getting her to warm up to you than everyone else. She may have been very rude about the way she said it, but she does have a point. Everyone so far has been taking to you quite quickly considering their circumstances. Sure, there was a bumpy start with most of them in one way or another, but they all seemed to come around relatively quickly. Piper might be trickier, but hopefully this mission could provide an opportunity to win her over.