Spice of Life: Chapter 4: Inspection
 
"So, let me get this straight... you requested how many Reviver seeds?"
 
Cyn gulped, then cleared her throat as she sat up at her desk, trying to keep a calm expression, "...fifty."
 
"Per year?" The Farfetch'd replied, looking up at the shiny Liepard increduously.
 
"...Per month." Cyn corrected him, staring down at the little bird. It was amazing how much power such a little pokemon held over her, she couldn't taunt or threaten him, she actually had to kiss up to him. Sometimes she wondered whether it'd have been easier just to steal the Reviver seeds.
 
"Are you aware how hard it is to grow Reviver seeds, Ms Cynda?" The Farfetch'd replied, looking down at his clipboard briefly, "Do you really think a team of four requires fifty seeds a month? Most teams survive on less than 2 a week."
 
"We aren't most teams, sir." Cyn noted, leaning on the desk as she loomed over him, her sickle-like tail twitching curiously behind her, "I'm sure you've heard, but we were the ones who freed Clearspring from Guzzler's reign."
 
"Oh yes, of course. The ones who willingly fed one of their members to it," the Farfetch'd rolled his eyes, "Most other teams would have just used a fire-type to defeat him. From the outside, I might add."
 
"We did, sir." The Liepard began, trying to hold her temper as her claws dug into the surface of the desk, "But he was protected from Spice's flamethrower by a coat of fire-resistant berry juice. Attacking from the inside was the only way."
 
"And where was the rest of the team when Spice, whom by the way was not a registered member of the team until after the battle, was fighting Guzzler?" The Farfetch'd replied, twirling his leek between his wingtips as he waited for the answer.
 
"...Watching?" Cyn replied unsurely. As the leek came down on the desk with a hard slap she tucked her ears back and leaned back with a cringe... wrong answer.
 
"Let's be frank, Ms. Cynda." The Farfetch'd said, bringing his leek to rest over his shoulder once more as he looked over his clipboard, reading over the notes he had made, "So far you've requested more supplies than you could possibly need, you've admitted to being under prepared for a battle that held the fate of a town in the balance... and then you topped it off by saying you 'watched' as one of your team members was devoured."
 
The Liepard fell silent, her heart pounding in her chest as the little bird scolded her. After a long pause to choose her words, she avoided eye-contact with him. "...I mean, technically he wasn't a member of a team until after the-"
 
"And speaking of which," The bird interrupted her, pointing to the clock on the wall with his leek, "Where IS the rest of your team? You'll never get any work done if you spend all day waiting for them to arrive, you know."
 
"I know," The Liepard replied, trying to hold her tone as it broke under the pressure. "It's just that Typh is still sleeping off Guzzler, and I've given the Doctor some time off, after all the work he's done for us." ...she wondered if he had even reformed yet, she just hoped the Leafeon would play along if the Farfetch'd went asking around, "As for Spice, today's his first day. I'm sure he'll be here any moment."
 
The door behind the desk opened as if on queue and the Ninetales stepped out, dressed in a long, crimson cloak that covered his many tails. He flicked his mane, letting it sway in the breeze as he stepped closer to Cyn.
 
'Is that one of the curtains from the Den?' she thought as she stared at him, her mind racing in a panic at his dramatic entrance. She stood up to greet him, the whole time internally screaming to him. 'Spice, please, please, please don't make an ass of yourself today. Just for -one day-!'
 
"Behold, the Hero of Clearspring... has arrived." Spice spoke dramatically, his head held high as he looked down his nose at the bird on the other side of the desk. Cyn's heart sunk as she bit her lip, watching as the Ninetales addressed the pokemon, "Who comes to us for aid? A simple Farfetch'd seeking the greatest hero in all the pokemon world?"
 
"Oh good, you're renting the basement to an amateur theatre group." The Farfetch'd noted with a smirk. It was the most expression Cyn had seen from him during his entire visit. "I hope I'll be getting a ticket to 'Knightales: Quest for Hammyness', he certainly seems to have gotten the part down"
 
"Oh, I'll show YOU hammy!" Spice exclaimed in outrage, backing up and raising his tails as he prepared to pounce across the desk. The Liepard quickly intercepted, pulling the cloak off of him and tossing it to one side. He reached out a paw to retrieve it, but she quickly moved up one of her own paws to hold him back.
 
"Stick with your scarf, okay Spice?" Cyn told him under her breath, trying to keep herself calm infront of the Farfetch'd, "So, umm.. new recruit Spice who-has-just-started-today-and-is-not-yet-valid-enough-a-member-to-be-used-to-judge-the-rest-of-the-team..." she beamed her best fake smile, "This is Marswick, he's here to deliver your badge and adventurer's bag."
 
"Actually, I'm not." Marswick replied, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Cyn, "The United Pokemon Adventurers Guild has noticed a lack of reports from your team... Most pokemon teams send one a day, you seem to struggle sending one a month. I've been set to ensure that you really are a pokemon adventuring team and aren't just scroungers, living off the good will of our guild."
 
"We're not scroungers, I assure you." Cyn replied, quickly taking her seat at the desk once more, "We're just honest pokemon trying to make the world a better place by going through dungeons, solving problems and generally just being there to help."
 
"What's the name of your adventuring team, Cyn?" The Farfetch'd asked, having clearly not paid attention to the Liepard's speech at all.
 
"My-" Cyn paused. Damn! What had they agreed on again? Her eyes darted about the room, searching for any sign... 'Adventuring Team', 'Pokemon for Hire'... 'Employees only'. Well, she had checked all three signs in the room and none of them had the answer. "We... are called... the...." she replied slowly, stalling as her tail tapped the Ninetales' leg rapidly.
 
"'The Winners', of course." The Ninetales replied for her, puffing out his chest proudly and holding his head back, "After all, there's nothing we do better than win."
 
"..The Winners." The bird repeated increduously, his wings tucking over themselves as he leaned back on his chair, "...That's not what it says in your report. Dated 4 weeks back, I might add."
 
"We've been busy overthrowing Guzzler," The Liepard explained, her tail giving the Ninetales a squeeze on one of his tails that could either have been a 'thank you' or an 'I'll get you for that later, dumbass'. Either way, the Ninetales winced at the tightness of her grip. Cyn leaned on the desk, giving nothing away as Spice writhed behind her, "And aren't we allowed to change our name if we want to? 'Shadowcats' just doesn't have the spark it used to."
 
"Actually, it used to be 'Guilty Pleasure'," Marswick replied matter-of-factly before tuckng the clipboard under his wing, "Either way, this is your final warning. Shape up, or we're going to shut you down, and that includes the supply benefits."
 
"Well, what do you expect us to do?" Cyn asked, finally allowing her tail to return to her side as the Ninetales nursed the sore spot it had left on his third favourite tail, "The town is just getting back to it's feet, no one is going to come here looking for an adventurer."
 
"I thought you might say that, that's why I arranged something in advance." The bird replied, his beak spreading into a grin, "A simple escort mission with a tourist from the city. Just protect him until he's taken all the pictures he wants." he explained, leaning back and bending his leek with both wingtips, "If you do well, I might just give you another chance. I'll be expecting weekly reports though."
 
"You're the boss, Marswick," Spice replied, shooting a glare at the Liepard as he got to his feet, "I'm sure we'll be able to handle it."
 
"Just don't get eaten this time, 'Oh Hero of Clearspring'." Marswick said as he got up from his seat, making his way towards the door, "I'll leave you two to prepare. Meet me at the entry to the Dark Woods when you're ready."
 
Spice watched as the Farfetch'd made his way out of the room, holding the clipboard under one wing and spinning the leek with the other. He glanced over at Cyn, who continued to stare daggers at him even as the footsteps faded into the bustle of the town. "...What?"
 
"'The Winners'?" Cyn flicked her ears back, slapping the back of the Ninetales' head with her paw, "That's got to be the dumbest team name I've ever heard, and Typh suggested we call ourselves 'The Brosperience'."
 
"Ah, I see now you remember team names, where was -that- when I had to save you from humiliating yourself?" the Ninetales shook his head, brushing his paws through his flowing mane to get it straight again, "Honestly, if you're going to twist my tail purple every time I make a mistake, I might just go back to the city early."
 
"Oh no you don't," Cyn growled, moving around him to block his way to the door, "Don't forget that you're the one who got us into this mess. If you hadn't made us lose all our Reviver seeds, I wouldn't have had to write to the guild for more and this wouldn't have happened."
 
"There's no need to be overdramatic about it, it's just one little adventure." The Ninetales laughed, leaning against the desk with a grin, "And if you don't think it'll go well, send Typh and the doctor. They can handle it." he paused, "Well, Typh could. Leaf was a bit shaky when I left him."
 
"Oh, good. The doctor's in one piece then." The Liepard breathed out a sigh of relief, "But he deserves a break, and after seeing Typh today... I don't think he's going to be moving for a while." she admitted, recalling having to carefully scale up his stomach just to speak with him face-to-face.
 
"So it's just you and me?" Spice asked, perking his ears. A sly smile crossed over his muzzle and he chuckled behind his paw. He picked up the cloak and tied it about his shoulders again, his tails flapping it dramatically, "Oh, what a 'happy coincidence'. You get the spend the whole day with your new boyfriend."
 
"I'd remind you that the kiss was only to get you to eat the Reviver seed if I thought it would get through your thick skull, Spice." Cyn shook her head before making her way towards the door, "Come on, the Dark Woods are waiting."
 
"We're not going to have breakfast?" Spice gasped, following after her and catching the door just before it would have closed in his face. He slipped through the doorway and closed it behind before, turning the sign from 'open' to 'closed' with one of his tails. He then went back to chasing the Liepard, "Could we at least stop at the cafe on the way? I'm famished!"
 
* * *
 
The Dark Woods were, fortunately, not named for the lighting situation within them. They were named the Dark Woods because the trees in the forest had bark which was usually either dark brown or sometimes even black in colour. It made for the perfect place for a pokemon to hide at night, if they could navigate their way through the forest without walking into a tree.
 
Spice didn't care much either way, he didn't feel comfortable being so far from Clearspring without a Reviver seed. They hadn't managed to find any in Guzzler's pile of accessories, not without being called out for 'stealing from the departed' anyway. Last night he had eaten the last one to allow the doctor to awake that morning, he began to wonder whether it was worth risking his own life for another pokemon. Why in the world would he agree to it? After all, he was the most important Ninetales of all.
 
"Just keep the wild pokemon off the tourist until he's taken all the pictures he wants, how hard can it be?" Cyn repeated to herself, looking over at Spice, "This forest isn't known for having particularly strong pokemon anyway, so it's kind of a rookie mission."
 
"I'm sure I can convince our client to shoot his load on me anyway." Spice replied proudly. Cyn glanced over at him, her jaw dropping at the suggestion. The Ninetales rolled his eyes, "His film load. Shooting pictures of me."
 
"Sure Spice, whatever you say." Cyn snickered in response, her long tail swishing back and forth. Her smile faded as Marswick came into view, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. Just beyond the Farfetch'd she could see a stripy blur running around, it's camera rapidly snapping. She cringed, "Oh no."
 
The zigzagoon zipped back to the Farfetch'd's side, the camera hung from his neck as he beamed proudly, scrolling through his pictures at such a pace he might have well been attacking the camera, "Okay, that's enough pictures of the entrance. What's next?"
 
"'The Winners' are going to take us further in," Marswick replied with a grin before turning his attention to the two approaching adventurers, his grin faded into the scowl that Cyn had come to expect from him. "You're late."
 
"Well, you didn't really specify a time, so..." Spice began, only to get elbowed in the chest by Cyn. He winced and pouted, but the Liepard just continued forward towards the two, leaving the fox limping along behind her.
 
"I didn't realize you were coming with us, sir." Cyn began with an agonized chuckle, her eyes drifting to the frantic zigzagoon at his side, "I thought we were just showing the client around."
 
"And how exactly would I grade your performance without seeing it, Cynda?" Marswick raised an eyebrow at her, turning away from the Liepard and strutting ahead, his leek held high to announce their departure, "Come, before we run out of sunlight!"
 
"It's still morning, we've got a whole day ahead of us." Spice noted before making his way over to the Zigzagoon, walking beside him with a charming smile.
 
"Don't remind me," Cyn glowered, letting out a sigh of frustration as she followed along after the two. She could feel her stomach growling as she watched the Farfetch'd, but some pokemon weren't for eating... unfortunately.
 
Spice continued to get in the way of the Zigzagoon's shots for the entire walk. Every time the raccoon raised his camera the fox would leap in the way and pose, leaving him bounding up into trees, bursting out of lakes and generally doing a lot of jumping around during their walk. By the time they had reached their first clearing, the fox was exhausted and Marswick had taken a -lot- of notes, most of them while glaring at Cyn.
 
"Oh, and I want to get a picture of the statue at the center of the forest!" The zigzagoon gasped, raising his camera again... but as he tried to take a picture, only a dull click remained. Cyn's ears perked up at the glorious sound.
 
"You're out of film already?" Spice whined, making his way over to look at the Zigzagoon's camera. "But we hadn't even gotten any headshots!"
 
"Well, there's nothing we can do now but go home. I mean, it's not as though he can take anymore pictures, right?" Cyn noted, trying to hold herself back from jumping for joy at the revelation. The end was in sight, they just had to come back the way they came-
 
Click, Whirrrrr... the Zigzagoon slid a new roll of film into the camera. Cyn stared at him, her eye twitching. The raccoon held up his camera to her to take a picture of the face she was pulling... and Spice managed to photobomb once again by diving into the background at the last moment.
 
"Look alive, Winners. We've got a choice to make," Marswick noted, gesturing around the clearing. Despite the expanse forest around them there were only three obvious exits from where they currently were, and they had already come through one. "Two paths to choose from, unless you want to quit the mission and hand in your badges."
 
"Of course not... after all, we're here to help pokemon," Cyn replied, growling under her breath as she marched onwards. Spice followed after her, leaving Marswick and the client following up the back as he tried to resist leaping into any more photos... it was a shame too, he was so good at it.
 
"How do you think it's going?" Spice whispered, making his way to her side, "Do you think we're impressing him?"
 
"Maybe if he were talent scouting for a model." Cyn whispered back, her eyes narrowing on the fox. She could feel the stress building up, and Spice hadn't exactly helped to make a good impression on Marswick.
 
"Oh, do you think he is? Because I was actually thinking this adventuring business might not be for me." Spice replied, adjusting his cloak to ensure it looked its best, "I mean, it's been fun getting out of the town, but I'm getting awfully dirty with all this wandering around. Tired too, actually, Could we take a break?"
 
"Would it kill you to not be so self-obsessed, just for once?" Cyn snapped, flicking her ears back as she glared at him, "One. Single. Time when everything is on the line, could you just focus on the goal?"
 
"Cyn, if this relationship is going to work-" Spice began.
 
"There is NO RELATIONSHIP." Cyn snapped back at him. The fox stopped in his tracks as the Liepard moved around in front of him, glaring straight into his purple eyes. "Listen to me, Spice. I. Am Not. In Love. With. You. It was one stupid kiss, I thought someone as vain as you might understand that!"
 
Spice stared wide-eyed, his ears drooping as he took a step back. Cyn rolled her eyes at the response, "Oh for the love of Arceus, are you going to run away and cry about it? Well fine. I don't need you. In fact, I think I was doing a lot better without you."
 
"That's... not the reason I'm about to start running." Spice gulped, pointing a shaky paw slightly above Cyn. The Liepard turned and found herself staring into a furry brown gut surrounded by a pale yellow ring. Her eyes trailed up it's body as she carefully backed away, the Ursaring glared down at her.
 
She held her breath... no sudden movements, they hate it when you do that, just stay as still as possible. Or wait, was it 'make yourself look big and make a lot of noise'? Damn, why couldn't she remember when she needed to?! She could feel its growl rumbling through her fur... the zigzagoon's camera flashed brightly from behind her, leaving the bear snarling with rage.
 
The Ursaring roared, swiping it's claws at the cat in a frenzy. Cyn leapt back nimbly, landing against the Ninetales. She shoved him forward, almost knocking him onto Marswick as she bolted back the way they came, "RUN!"
 
The group fled through the forest as the Ursaring chased them, smashing whatever got in it's path as it raced after them. The Zigzagoon leapt up onto Spice's tails, resting on them as he took pictures of the rampaging bear coming towards them, which only made it angrier and more willful to catch up.
 
"Throw something at it!" Cyn yelled back at the others, finding Marswick jumping up onto her back to avoid being left behind. Her eyes snapped to the tourist, more specifically the tool of the Ursaring's aggravation, "Quick, the camera! Throw the camera!"
 
"Are you crazy? The pictures on there are worth a fortune!" Spice called forward, breathing heavily as he found himself already getting tired. The clearing was in sight, but he could feel his chest beginning to burn, "Wh-when we get back to Clearspring I can sign them! Autographed photos of the-*pant* hero of-*pant*" his eyes snapped shut as his second wind hit him, "Y-you get the idea!"
 
"Then throw something else, fuzzbrain!" Cyn yelled back at him. Spice glanced back at the Ursaring, then at the camera, he could feel the weight of his cloak as it began to get dangerously close to tripping him. He reached to the clasp with his teeth, biting it free and sending it soaring through the air behind him.
 
The cloak landed on the Ursaring's face, sending it into a confused panic of muffled roars as it staggered about, its claws ripping the sides of the cloak to shreds as it tried to pull it off its head. The group reached the clearing and stopped to look back at it, just in time to see the bear trip off the path and fall into the bushes in a series of growls and roars.
 
Cyn panted as she tried to catch her breath, she turned to look at the Ninetales, though she didn't have the willpower nor the breath to say anything to him. Spice collapsed on the grass, whining as he rolled onto his side, "I really liked that cloak too."
 
"It was a curtain. I'm sure you can just rip down another one." Cyn reminded him, only to get a whack across the back of her head from the Farfetch'd's leek, "Ow! What was that for?"
 
"Your teammate may have just saved all of us, give credit where credit is due." Marswick replied simply before nodding to Spice, cooing to him gently as he waved his leek approvingly, "Good boy, Spice."
 
"Oh... thanks." Spice blinked, it was a little weird getting called 'boy' by another pokemon, usually that phrase was reserved for trainers. He slowly got back to his feet and dusted himself off, his gaze turned back the way they had come, "Well, that's one path we're not going down. What about the other?"
 
"Sounds like it'd be worth a try," Cyn replied with an indifferent shrug, continuing to growl under her breath as she took a few steps. She paused, glancing about the clearing, "Hey, has anyone see the zigzagoon?"
 
Spice took a quick glance around, beginning to worry he had stayed behind to take more pictures of the Ursaring. He finally saw him in one corner of the clearing, walking over to a series of yellow flowers to take a picture of them up close. A click filled the clearing, Spice and Cyn both watched as the Zigzagoon looked down at it's feet, noticing the stone button beneath his paws. He turned to them, holding up his camera to take a picture only to disappear in a flash of blue light.
 
"Oh my god, we incinerated the client." Spice cried, hugging his tails in fright, "And all the pictures too! Oh, it'll take weeks to find another camera out in the wild!"
 
"He wasn't incinerated, that was a warp trap." Cyn replied, making her way over to the Ninetales side. She stared down at the swirling symbol on the stone platform, even with all the grass and dirt covering it, she didn't think it was -that- unnoticable. She sighed, shaking her head, "I guess we'll have to look for him."
 
"It shouldn't be too hard. All we have to do is step on it and it'll take us right to him," Spice replied gleefully, taking his first step onto the platform.
 
"Wait, Spice! It doesn't always send you to the same-!"
 
*Fwoooooshwwwwwwweeeeeeee!!!*
 
"...Place." Cyn finished, slapping her paw against her face as she sat down, the platform's chime faded as the Ninetales vanished into the light. Now she had to look for two pokemon, neither of which she could trust to stay in one place for long. The feeling of the Farfetch'd's leek tapping against the back of her head scoldingly left her fur standing on end in aggravation.
 
"You call THAT leadership? I've seen recently-hatched pichus with more leadership than you!" Marswick scolded, continuing to beat her with the leek as he talked, "Oh, this will look bad on your report, Cynda. Very bad. I think we may have to resort to plan B, and I had hoped you'd manage to impress me but-!"
 
Before he could finish the sentence, he found himself coiled in the vice-like grip of the cat's tail. She brought him around to his front as she sat back, giving him a couple of seconds to take in her look of pure rage before putting on a calm, if not malicious, smile. "Well, well, Marswick... now that it's just the two of us, I think we should reopen negotiations."
 
"Hmph! As if I would negotiate with a pokemon like you. I think I've seen quite enough to give my verdict, Cynda." The Farfetch'd replied oblivious to the cat's intentions, "Now, put me down."
 
"Yeah... no." Cyn said, rolling her eyes with a carefree smile, "It's just that if I put you down, you'd start writing up your report again... and if you did that, I might lose my team, my business, and my reputation."
 
"Well, perhaps if you had trained your team better you wouldn't have failed the mission so hard," Marswick replied, though as he noticed the glimmer in the Liepard's green gaze and the tail tightened around him, he began to understand his situation, "...What are you planning?"
 
"To show you how good a leader I am when I don't have some paper-pusher looking over my shoulder," The Liepard replied as her tail slowly lifted the bird upwards. She watched him with a curious purr, licking her lips in anticipation before opening her mouth to give him a good look at the dark abyss that was her throat, "Last chance to give me those Reviver seeds, Marsy~"
 
"Absolutely not! I will not be intimidated by a bully!" Marswick shouted defiantly. Cyn raised an eyebrow, though of course she knew why he was so brave in the face of a hungry predator. The tip of her tail flicked the bird's beak playfully before sneaking behind the coils of the rest of her tail, reaching around as it searched... finally it came back, dropping the Reviver seed to the floor as it returned... -Now- the bird was frightened.
 
"Drop something, inspector?" Cyn purred teasingly, rolling the Reviver seed with her paw before slipping it into her own adventuring bag, "I was wondering when we'd come across our first item. I'm glad too, I need a lot more of these... and from how you're sweating, so do you."
 
"Give that back at once, you fiend! That is guild property, and as far as I'm concerned your adventuring team is VOID!" the Farfetch'd shouted as he struggled futily. The words struck the cat, her ears folded back as she finally got her answer. Her stomach rumbled approvingly of her decision as her tongue polished her fangs.
 
"Oh really? ...then you're just prey to me," Cyn grinned before opening her mouth wide, her gleaming white fangs reflecting the Farfetch'd as he came closer to them. His front half was shoved into her soft maw as Cyn purred around him, petting her tail with a paw as it fed her the bird.
 
She took her first gulp and allowed her tail to loosen to avoid it joining her meal on his trip into her. She could hear him shouting as he flapped about, seemingly desperate to nag her until the bitter end. She shoved the rest of him into her mouth and took another gulp, only to find some resistance in closing her jaw. It slowly began to open again as the Farfetch'd wedged his leek between her bottom and upper jaw, gasping for breath as he held onto it, his legs halfway into her throat.
 
"N-Now, Cyn. You haven't even heard about Plan B yet! I'm willing to agree to a 'mentorship' program." the bird offered nervously, cringing as the cat's drool splashed over his face, "It would mean that you would have a member from a more experienced team take over yours, j-just until you learned how to lead it yourself, I might add!"
 
'Not good enough.' thought the cat, taking a firm gulp to bring him in up to his waist. She tilted her head back, taking another hard gulp as she tried to get him to let go of the leek that continued to hold her mouth open, despite her attempts to snap it half by biting down on it. Her tongue licked under the Farfetch'd's wings, she could hear his chuckling and feel his grip slipping.
 
"St-stop it, stop tickling me- hahahah-!" Marswick laughed against his will, first one wing slipped, then the other. Cyn jerked her head back, feeling the leek get wet enough with her saliva that it slipped from its place and fell down on the Farfetch'd, hitting him on the head in revenge for all the times he had used it on her.
 
Cyn purred deeply as she took another gulp, his tongue running over Marswick's face and leek one last time before dragging him into her throat. She held them there for a moment, feeling the bulge in her neck with her paw as she purred gluttonously, "Look alive, Marsy. Two paths to choose from, and I think I know which one you'd prefer~"
 
"You won't get away with this, y-you fiendish feline!" The bird yelled back, muffled by the throat wall. The throat tightened around him, keeping him from even struggling more than a wiggle of his shoulders or tail feathers, "You're acting like a spoilt brat!"
 
Cyn pushed her paw more firmly on the bulge, licking her lips as drool ran down over the Farfetch'd, dampening his feathers and leaving him more likely to slip from her hold, "What's that? You want to give me access to the guild storage~?"
 
"That wasn't what I said at all-!" Marswick shouted, Cyn responded with a little gulp to jerk him downwards towards her waiting stomach, which growled in anticipation as it prepared for it's next meal.
 
"Oh really? You know, it's funny. I've never taken leadership advice from poke-chow before," The Liepard teased, wiggling her shoulders as her paw stroked along the bulge, "Come on, Marswick. Give me something to work with. Let's call it twenty seeds a month and split the difference, alright? Surely that's better than the alternative~"
 
"Th-those seeds are for real adventurers, not fools who can't even get a simple escort mission done without losing the client!" The Farfetch'd replied, though as he felt his tail feathers slip into the throat he pushed against the walls, "Wh-what if I let you pick the mentor? Would that be any better?"
 
"Hmmm..." Cyn muttered, thinking of the offer as her stomach growled impatiently. After a pause just long enough to give the bird some hope, she took her final swallow to bring him into her gut, "Nah~"
 
"You're just proving my point, you know!" Marswick called, managing to get the words out before the throat muffled him into a series of 'Gllrk's and muffled shouts. Cyn laid back as his weight slipped from her throat and into her stomach, where he made cute little bulges with his beak and wings.
 
"I'm the only one who's going to lead my team, Marswick." Cyn replied, letting out a belch of little brown feathers, her breath smelling strongly of leek after her meal. She gagged at the scent. The bird hadn't been particularly pleasant to eat, but the Liepard didn't always eat for the taste of her meal. She laid back, closing her eyes and purring as she felt the sun wash down over her fur, her stomach continuing to kick up a fuss even as she stroked a paw over it to quieten it down.
 
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." Cyn told her prey with a purr, opening her eyes just enough to see the sunlight through the treetops, "I'm going to find Spice and the client, and show you I'm not as terrible a leader as I look. Then? We'll reopen negotiations. I'm sure you'll be a lot more willing to talk business after the experience~"
 
Her stomach gurgled in response, she took it as a sign that Marswick agreed with the plan. Of course, now she had a timer, if she didn't finish the mission before the bird was digested, she wouldn't be proving anything to anyone. Her ears perked as she heard footsteps coming towards her and she quickly brushed the feathers off her mouth and chest.
 
"Excuse me, Have you seen a Farfetch'd walking around here?" The Lucario asked, a set of iron plates resting on each of his shoulders, "I was told to meet him here, apparently I've been reassigned to watch over another team of adventurers."
 
"Oh?" Cyn asked, looking up at the Lucario curiously. So, this was Marswick's plan B? Not bad, he wasn't as terrible as she had imagined her 'leadership mentor' would be. Strong, determined, and clearly prepared given the size of the bag he carried on his back. She sat up with a purr, "Oh, that'd be us then... he decided to head back to Clearspring early, said he wasn't feeling too well."
 
"I see..." The Lucario replied, his eyes narrowing on the cat's squirming gut and the brown feathers nearby. Cyn noticed his gaze and quickly shuffled to one side, blocking his view of the feathers behind her. The Lucario shook his head, "...Who's 'us', anyway? Where's the rest of your team?"
 
"Lost somewhere in this forest," Cyn said, gesturing back to the warp trap before turning to head up the path they hadn't checked yet, "Come on, we'll walk and talk. I'm on the clock."
 
Cyn hoped that the Lucario would pick up on what clock she was talking about, given the size of her meal and the strength of her stomach she doubted Marswick would last longer than a couple of hours. But still, she always worked better on a full stomach.