Spice of Life: Chapter 7: New Members
 
“So, you needed the Reviver seeds for...” Auric began, raising a curious eyebrow as he rested against the desk.
 
“Yes, for the Den.” Cyn finished his sentence with a nod. The 'Adventurer's HQ' part of the building had gotten more use in the past week than it had in months, she actually needed to ask the pokemon who walked through the door which business they were here for. She cleared her throat, looking the Lucario over once more as she continued, “I thought it would be best I was honest with you, given that this 'mentorship' thing is going ahead.”
 
“I'll admit that Marswick wasn't quite as impressed as I thought he would be, he insisted I was reassigned to watch over 'The Winners' until you proved you were true pokemon adventurers.” Auric explained, adjusting his shoulder guards as he looked down at the shiny Liepard, “I must admit though, this wasn't what I was expecting. I thought you might have just all been lazy, or at the most you were part of a smuggling ring.”
 
“A fetish club is worse then?” Cyn asked curiously, her ears perking as her eyes narrowed on him.
 
“No, it's better. It's not illegal. Well, provided none of your customers are killed in their... experiences,” Auric insisted as he rested back on the desk again, “I can't say I understand it myself, but so long as you want to be adventurers too, I'm inclined to help you.”
 
Cyn fell silent at the remark. Her ears flicked back as she evaded his eyes, the sickle-tip of her tail cut through the air as it swished back and forth. After a pause she nodded simply, “...Right.”
 
“...You -are- serious about being the leader of an adventuring team, aren't you, Cyn?” the Lucario asked. He didn't need to be able to see the cat's aura to note her discomfort at the question, but it certainly helped him to confirm his suspicions, “If not, I'm sure there are other ways of getting Reviver seeds.”
 
“Growing them ourselves is near impossible. Only a few pokemon know the techniques used, and they're all in the guild's pocket.” Cyn sighed as she leaned back on the chair, “This is the only way, Auric. No Reviver seeds means no vore, and no vore means no business... and no business means we won't be able to pay our rent, and we're back to being wild pokemon out in the forest.”
 
“I understand the guild is preparing to send a sizeable bounty for your efforts in capturing the Shadow,” The jackal replied as he stood up. He moved over to the job board and rested his hands behind his back formally as he browsed it, “There is a pokemon the guild has not yet recruited, one who is said to know everything that has happened or will ever happen.”
 
“A pokemon who knows everything?” Cyn glanced up at the news, only to scoff and shake her paw dismissively. “He's probably just blowing his own horn. I've heard Spice call himself,” she put on a little effeminate voice in an attempt to mimic the fox, “'The most dazzlingly divine pokemon to ever grace Clearspring with his fluffy butt',” she then snapped back to her regular voice, “But it doesn't make it true.”
 
“The guild seems to believe otherwise... Xatu once predicted earthquakes, and days later the surrouding areas were wracked with them.” The Lucario replied, crossing his arms over his slim chest, “We lost track of his wherabouts after that, but one of our adventuring teams said that they saw him in the canyon south of Clearspring. I want us to go and see if we can talk him into joining the guild as an advisor.”
 
“Sounds like a great plan. For you.” Cyn replied, feigning enthusiasm as she got out of her chair and walked around the desk to stand next to the Lucario, “So, what do me and mine get out of this adventure? Is there a reward?”
 
“If the reward of knowing you have helped advance the guild's efforts is not enough, I suppose I could offer the reward of knowledge.” Auric replied, glancing down to the cat briefly before returning his gaze to the board, “You could ask him anything, and he would likely know the answer.”
 
“Anything? ...Oh, I see where you're going with this.” Cyn chuckled dryly, her tail stroking along the Lucario's lower leg as she purred, “I'd have rather you offered me a favour or something, I'm kind of curious to see how you'd fair in the Den. I can see you getting a lot of work down there.”
 
“I'm not going to be another member of -that- team, I'm afraid. Though I'll take your words as a compliment, Cyn.” the Lucario replied with a little smile as he turned, “Shall we meet at the Canyon then? I trust you'll bring your best.”
 
“Oh, sure.” Cyn replied, perking her ears as she watched the Lucario's back, only to find her eyes drifting down to his blue tail. She grinned as she watched it sway back and forth, whether he admitted it or not, she was onto how he really felt about the idea of working in the Den, “I'll bring along the whole team.”
 
“I'm afraid the pokemon adventuring team size is four, Cyn. Given that I'll be going, that limits you to a choice of two,” Auric explained, looking over one of his metal-clad shoulders at the Liepard, “And I may have forgot to mention there is an.. ulterior motive to this mission as well.”
 
“An ulterior motive? From the guild? Say it isn't so!” Cyn gasped, pretending to swoon against the desk, “And I thought they only wanted to help Pokemon! Oh, the confusion~! Next you'll tell me they're hoarding valuable supplies for their members and selling them at extortionate prices to everyone else.”
 
“The guild does good work, Cyn... and this isn't about profits, this is to benefit your team.” Auric replied, his tail swishing a little as he made his way to the door. He pressed one paw to it before turning to look over his shoulder once more, “I've found another recruit for your group, you need to make sure you keep expanding your team in case something happens. You don't want to be a pokemon short going into a dungeon, do you?”
 
“A new recruit? Don't I have any say in this?” Cyn asked, following after the Lucario, “It's -my- team.”
 
“It is, and you may make your decision after you meet him,” Auric replied with a nod, “You still need to choose who you'll bring with you, of course. If it helps your choice, the Canyon isn't particularly dangerous. You'd be better of bringing someone who you think could use some more training.”
 
“Spice.” Cyn replied bluntly before sighing. It seemed like some invisible hand of face was forcing the fox into her life. Of course, it was just a suggestion... and before the Lucario could give any others, the rest of her team walked in to greet her.
 
“Morning, Sis.” Typh grinned as he pushed the door open, allowing Spice and Doc Leaf to walk by first before following after them. He paused for a moment to look over at the Lucario before grinning, “Customer looking for me?” he asked Cyn as he licked his lips.
 
“Not exactly,” Auric replied, shuffling his feet against the floor to put a little more distance between the two of them. Cyn watched on curiously, her ears perking at the jackal's half-answer.
 
“We just had breakfast, Typh. No snacking.” Doc Leaf reminded the Swampert before glancing up at the confused, though suprisingly unoffended Lucario. He smiled politely as his ears perked up, “Ah, you must be from the guild, given the shoulder armour. I'm Doctor Leaf.”
 
“Doctor Leaf, a pleasure to finally meet you. You're quite well known around the guild,” Auric replied as he crouched down to shake the Leafeon's paw, “I'm actually here on guild business, I've been assigned to watch over your team and ensure your continued growth as pokemon adventurers.”
 
“By which he means 'Cyn is unfit to lead you, and I'm here to show her how it's done.',” The Ninetales chuckled, only to get a firm slap across the back of his head from Cyn. He quickly moved his hands to his mane, running them through it, “A-ah, please tell me you washed your paws this time!”
 
“Oh, brush it out, you big baby.” Cyn muttered, her ears flicking back as she looked from one team member to the other, “Auric seems to think he might be able to get us information about growing our own Reviver seeds, but to get it we'll need to track down Xatu.”
 
“Xatu? Oh, I've heard of him,” The Leafeon gasped, “I can't believe I didn't think of it before. If anyone knows how to grow a Reviver seed sapling, it would be him.” he grinned, his leaf-like tail wagging back and forth, “This is very exciting... would you consider bringing me along?”
 
Cyn cringed, a wave of awkwardness hit her as her heart decided to hide itself in her stomach until this whole mess was over, “Actually...” she began.
 
“Oh, please tell me you're not bringing -me- again.” Spice sighed dramatically, his tails flicking back and forth as he brushed both his paws through them vainly, “Honestly, I've only just gotten the last of the Zoroark saliva off of my fur, and now you're expecting me to go and get Xatu saliva on it?”
 
“Spice, do you even know what a Xatu is? I'm sure he'd be more afraid of you eating him.” the Swampert glowered before turning his attention back to Cyn, “Listen, Sis. You're going to need someone tough on this one, who knows what you're going to encounter out there?” he rested his hand on his chest, “Come on, Cyn. It's pretty obvious who you should bring.”
 
Crap. The pokemon she had in mind didn't want to go, and the two she didn't have in mind did. Her eyes drifted from the Swampert to the Leafeon, but by the time she went to get Auric's suggestion she only caught a glimpse of his tail as the door closed behind it with a 'thud'. She bit her lip as she looked from one to the other, and then back to Spice, “...Spice, you need more experience in the field.”
 
“What I need is some time alone with that camera. Have you even managed to find a pokemon to repair it yet?” Spice pouted, having finally finished re-styling his mane with his paws, “Honestly, the only worthwhile loot from that entire mission, and the lens cracks when it lands. Just our luck, I suppose.”
 
“Just our luck,” Cyn echoed dryly, rolling her eyes as she looked between the doctor and her adopted brother once more. Flicking her ears back she closed her eyes and made her way to the door, “Alright, come on.”
 
“You mean it?”
 
“Sure, let's just get this over with, alright?” Cyn replied, glancing back at the pokemon, “And try to keep up. No getting distracted by anything along the way, alright?”
 
“Of course,” Doc Leaf replied with a grin, moving to the Liepard's side and grabbing his adventurer's bag from its spot by the door, “I won't let you down, Cyn!”
 
Before long the two were out and on their way to the canyon. The Swampert moved to the window to watch the two walk away, breathing out an aggravated 'hmph' as he crossed his bulking arms over his chest, resting them on his flabby gut, “Can you believe that?”
 
“That she thought the Doctor was going to be more help than you?” Spice chuckled behind his paw, “You were certain she was going to choose you too! Oh, the look on your face.”
 
“At least she left me breakfast this time,” Typh grinned in amusement, his stomach rumbling loudly as he eyed up the Ninetales. Before the fire-type could argue the Swampert scooped him up in his arms and carried him over his shoulder, kicking the back door open and making his way down the stairs with the whimpering fox. “C'mon, let's head down to the Den and see what you've learned about being a good prey...”
 
* * *
 
The canyon was another place that Cyn had never been to, but of course she had never had a reason to consider going there. It was big, rocky and dirty, hardly a place for a day out. Thinking back on it she was glad that Spice hadn't come, he'd have done nothing but complain constantly about his precious tails getting the least bit of dust on them.
 
The Leafeon hadn't been much of a better partner, however. It seemed that the Doctor was fascinated by everything they came across, to the point that he would have to keep stopping to take out his little notebook and write about 'the local flora', whatever that meant.
 
Thinking back on it, she wondered if she'd have been any happier bringing Typh along, she would have left with no new recruits and Typh would've left with a squirming gut and belching out Auric's shoulder plates.
 
Then there was her, the leader who had been assigned a 'special mentor' from the guild just to make sure she didn't feed her teammates to another pokemon... was everyone on her team just terrible at their jobs?
 
She shook the thoughts from her head as she looked down to the road towards the meeting spot, marked by a large wooden gate with a sign that read '”Crazy Canyon” Mystery Dungeon Entrance!'. She stopped beneath the gate and looked up at the sign, raising a paw to shield her eyes from the sun.
 
“Who names these places anyway?” Cyn asked, looking back at the Leafeon as he trailed along a few feet behind her, “Crazy Canyon? What, are we going to run into a hall of mirrors or something?”
 
“I believe they're named by the pokemon who discovers them, so it's really all dependant on how they describe the dungeon upon finding it.” the Leafeon replied with a little smile, “I did some research on this area before, but I hadn't expected it to be so fascinating. I wonder what new berries we'll find out here.”
 
“Remember we're on a mission, Doc. We've got to find Xatu first and foremost,” Cyn replied as she began to look around for Auric, somehow she and Doc Leaf had arrived before him, it made her wonder whether the guild was just toying with her.
 
The doubts left her mind in an instant as she heard a cry from behind her. She turned and found herself looking at the back end of a Persian with her Leafeon companion pinned beneath his heavy paws, drool splattered down over the doctor's face as he struggled to get his vines free, “Oh hey, breakfast~”
 
“Hey!” Cyn snapped, charging over at the cat and tackling him off of the doctor. The two rolled briefly as Cyn swiped her claws at him and the Persian nimbly dodged her. Finally she leaped off of him, taking an aggressive stance, “Just who do you think you are, asshole? Don't you know that wild pokemon are supposed to be -inside- the dungeon?”
 
“I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were keeping him for later,” The Persian replied with a snarky smirk, Cyn's eyes widened as he responded, and her face dropped into a mixture of confusion and annoyance. The Persian dusted himself off with a purr, “Jeez, Cyn. Don't get so defensive about your lunch, it's not like there aren't a hundred more out there.”
 
“Oh Arceus, not you.” Cyn breathed out a heavy sigh as she heard the voice, the cat looked a lot more familiar now that she wasn't trying to claw the gem off his forehead, “What are you doing here, Malus? Shouldn't you be at the guild?”
 
“I should be, but I thought I might take a break from all that. Move somewhere rustic where a pokemon is still allowed to hunt his prey like a true predator.” the cat replied as he ran his tongue over his perfect fangs, his eyes returning to the Leafeon, “Speaking of which, is it customary to give them a head start, or can I just go ahead and chow down?”
 
“It's actually customary -not- to eat pokemon... well, at least pokemon that aren't wild.” The Leafeon informed him as he adjusted his labcoat, trying to regain some of his dignity in the eyes of the bigger cat, “I take it you know Cyn?”
 
“We were mates for a while, Summer lovebirds~” Malus replied romantically, grinning broadly over at the other cat as he cooed to her, “Though that's all behind us. Now we're just adventurers who sometimes end up going for the same jobs.”
 
“You're here to find Xatu too then?” Leaf asked before Cyn had a chance to. It was probably for the best, she needed time to fume silently from the aggravation the Persian had caused her.
 
“Yeah, Auric said I could use a new team.” Malus shook his head, “Heh, as if my old one wasn't good enough for me. So we made a couple of mistakes, at least we got the job done.”
 
“I wouldn't call repeatedly eating your escort clients 'mistakes', Malus.” Auric noted as he approached the group, his arms crossed as he shook his head, “I saw everything, by the way. I didn't bring you here to let out your wild side, Malus.”
 
“Thanks for stepping in, by the way.” Leaf muttered to Auric, glancing over at Cyn. The cat just shrugged back at him before turning her attention back to the conversation. It seemed the Lucario was willing to ignore the remark too.
 
“They got to their location fine, we always made sure of that~” Malus teased in response, swishing his tail to accentuate his point before turning towards the gate, “Besides, those guys were making us work for apples and Blast seeds. Maybe if they gave better rewards they wouldn't find themselves taking the 'less scenic route'.”
 
“Either way, Marswick was very clear about the details of this mission. If you don't succeed, you're out of the guild.” Auric reminded him as he moved to stand next to Cyn, “'The Mercs' are disbanded, and you have nowhere else to go... if you don't join the Winners-”
 
“I get the idea, Auric. No need to keep rubbing it in.” Malus interrupted him boredly, adding a quiet 'spiky blue asshole' under his breath as he walked past Cyn and the doctor, making sure he was the first to make his way through the gate. “So, we just go in and find Xatu, then all go back to Clearspring for some 'Cruelty-free pokebread'.” the cat sneered and stuck out his tongue at the thought of having to eat prey food.
 
Cyn watched the Persian as he walked on ahead with the Leafeon following shortly behind him. She waited until the cat was out of earshot before glaring up at Auric, “So, I've made my verdict on 'fang-face' joining my team.”
 
“You haven't even seen him in action yet,” Auric replied, walking slightly slower to ensure himself and Cyn were at the back of the group, “I think you two would get along splendidly.”
 
“We did, before he cheated on me with seven different pokemon, all of whom he ate as a way of 'apologizing' to me,” Cyn cringed, her tail twitching in aggravation as she thought back on his smug grin as he shook his stomach at her, making it apologize in his place. “You think Shadow was bad? Malus is a disaster waiting to happen. Letting him into my team would be begging for pain.”
 
“I would have thought the owner of a fetish dungeon would be no stranger to such a concept,” the Lucario replied, though as the Liepard glared up at him he shook his head and returned his eyes to the rocky path ahead, “Pokemon have the power to change, Cynda. Even the ones we don't expect to.”
 
“Malus won't change. Trust me.” Cyn sighed lowly before twitching her ears, glancing back and forth. The canyon was quiet, even as her other teammates went about picking up items she couldn't help but feel like something was watching them. “Keep your aura up, we might run into wild pokemon out here.”
 
“It's up to you whether he joins in the end, of course.” The Lucario noted as he followed after the shiny Liepard, “You're in charge here, Cynda. I'll trust your judgement whatever you decide, I'm sure your team will as well.”
 
“I find things go better when my team trusts my judgement too, Auric.” She replied, her tail lashing at the air as she watched the Persian, her ears perked in an attempt to hear his discussion with the doctor as the Leafeon took out his notepad again to draw the map as they walked, “...It's a shame so few pokemon agree with me.”