Mission 1: My Badge: Mission 1: My Badge

Within the Stellar central courthouse, a little Blipbug by the name of Chirrup stands in front of a wooden door, peering up at its metallic placard. “Wrightest, Defense Attorney,” he reads. “Hm, yes. This is the place.”

He turns towards his partner, a young, scrappy Munchlax who’s standing a little further away with her arms crossed. “Well, Dusty? This was your idea,” Chirrup says to her.

Dusty lets out a long exhale, uncrossing her arms and placing her hands on her hips. “When I joined the guild I thought we’d be delving deep into unexplored dungeons! Finding ancient relics! Not… recovering someone’s lost property,” she huffs. “This is boring.”

Chirrup gives her an unamused look. “Did you really think that they’d let a couple of new initiates start with those kinds of missions?”

“Well, no,” she sighs. “But they could’ve given us something more exciting!”

“Sure. Someday.” 

Chirrup, for one, is glad that they’re tasked with a safe, inconsequential mission. It’s certainly not what Dusty imagined when she joined the guild, but if she had things her way, it would end up in disaster for the both of them. Maybe this will make her lose interest in this guild business, much like her many other exploits. Then, Chirrup can go back to his uneventful but relaxing lifestyle.

He’s not even sure why Dusty decided to take him along for the ride. “I’m gonna join the Stellar Guild, and you’re coming with me!” is what she declared one day. He’s not sure what joining the guild has anything to do with him, but he was dragged along despite his protests, and ended up here.

I could be at home, snacking on some berries right now, he thinks to himself.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Dusty says, and marches towards the door. Clattering noises emanate from behind it, followed by thumping footsteps and panicked muttering. Dusty glances at Chirrup, and pushes the door open with a little more force than necessary, revealing an incredibly messy office full of overturned furniture and stacks of important-looking documents haphazardly placed about. In the middle of it all is a dishevelled Luxray, repeatedly opening and closing drawers, scattering its contents everywhere as they frantically searched for something.

Several moments pass before the Luxray finally notices them. “Oh, hello there!” They hastily gather up the spilled contents and cram them back into the drawer, closing it with a slam. “Sorry, I’m a little busy right now. You wouldn’t happen to have seen a little golden badge lying about, would you? It’s brand new, I just got it yesterday!” they desperately plead, tail whipping about. 

“Nope,” Dusty replies as she enters the room, pushing aside several empty boxes blocking her path. “But that’s what we’re sent here for. I guess.”

“You’re here to help? Oh, thank you, thank you!” The Luxray enthusiastically claps their paws together, eyes sparkling with hope. “I desperately need it, I have a court case tomorrow!”

“Right. So when was the last time you saw your badge?”

“Hm…” Wrightest ponders for a moment. “I definitely had it with me when I came into my office this morning. And I was showing it to some Pokemon during my lunch break. After that I’m not sure…” 

“And where were you during your lunch break?”

“Just by the fountain in the courtyard.”

“Alright, the courtyard fountain. We’ll start looking there.”

—

The pair arrive at the aforementioned courtyard, bustling with activity. Many Pokemon are milling about, some alone, others with their friends and families. There’s a Sudowoodo dressed up in a neat suit and talking frantically on their phone, their voice growing increasingly in volume, several bird Pokemon roosting on the rooftops, enjoying the sun, and a pair of young Oshawott running in circles around a large fountain as their mother watches over them. 

“Ugh… there’s no way we’re finding anything here. Anyone could’ve taken it,” Dusty says, half-heartedly scanning the area, hoping that by some miracle she’ll spot the lost badge. 

“Let’s just take a quick look around and tell the Luxray if we don’t find anything. Then we can go home.”

“Fine,” she grumbles. 

They split up and walk around the courtyard, watching out for anything resembling a badge lying around. Chirrup looks underneath the benches scattered around the courtyard, through the many bushes and greenery planted around, but he finds nothing. Dusty asks around about the badge but even that yields no valuable information. Giving up, they meet at the courtyard fountain.

“Any luck?” Dusty asks. 

“Nope, nothing,” the Blipbug replies. “Well, I guess we’ll have to go back and–” 

A small splash of water hits Chirrup, startling him. Beside him is a Murkrow splashing into the water and coming back out with a coin in their beak. They take a moment to examine it, cocks their head, then drops it back into the fountain. They do this several more times with different coins, before finding an especially shiny one in which they pick up with glee, and flies off. 

“Hm…” Dusty thinks for a moment. “Chirrup. We’re following that Murkrow.” She takes off running without waiting for a reply. 

“What? Wait!” Chirrup chases after her as best as he can, but his little stubby legs certainly aren’t made for running. 

The Murkrow leisurely glides through the air, undisturbed as the other two struggle to not lose track of the bird. Dusty races through the streets, weaving through the crowd, narrowly avoiding bumping into the other Pokemon. “Yes! This is more like an adventure now!” Dusty shouts, jubilant. 

Chirrup, meanwhile, is not having it. “W-wait up! I can’t run that fast…!” He wheezes as he does his best not to fall too far behind, nearly getting stepped on multiple times by the larger Pokemon. But, he manages to catch up to Dusty, who’s now standing in place and looking upwards. 

Chirrup gives himself a moment to catch his breath, then follows the Munchlax’s gaze upwards and spots the Murkrow perched high above on a roof. They drop the coin into a nest filled with sparkling trinkets with a happy bob of the head. After spending some time rearranging the items in the nest, they fly off again, leaving behind a few dark feathers that gently drift downwards onto the ground. 

“That Murkrow seems to have an affinity for shiny objects,” Dusty explains. “My instinct is telling me that that nest is where we’ll find the badge.”

“And let me guess, you want me to climb up there,” Chirrup says. “Alright, alright, I’ll go get it.” He doesn’t bother arguing, knowing that it’ll take a considerable amount of effort to change her mind once she’s set on something. But before he could start climbing the wall, Dusty stops him.

“I don’t want to wait that long for you to climb up there. Come here.”

Chirrup gives her a confused tilt of the head, but goes back to her side. That’s when Dusty grabs him by the back of the neck and picks him up. 

He immediately starts struggling, but fails to get out of her grip. “What are you!? Wait, no, don’t–” 

Dusty puts one foot forward, takes careful aim, and flings the little bug in a well-practised overarm throw containing more power than one would expect from a young Munchlax. Chirrup lets out a high-pitched wail as he travels in a perfect arc towards the nest, ending in an “oof!” when he lands. 

He shakes his head, reorienting himself, and takes a look around. Chirrup had landed right in the middle of the nest, the leaves and feathers that pad the insides softening his landing. He crawls out of it and looks at the streets below, his partner staring upwards at him expectantly.

“You don’t use Fling with Pokemon!” He shouts, fuming. 

“Well, I just did. And look, you’re perfectly fine!” Dusty gives a shrug. “So? Is the badge up there?”

He turns back towards the nest, giving it a proper inspection. It’s quite sizable for a Murkrow nest, and very decorated. Ribbons of many colours line the sides and various trinkets such as pennies, rings, bells, and a few other small objects that Chirrup doesn’t recognise are spread throughout it, all lustrous and polished. 

And there it is! A tiny golden badge with a symbol depicting the scales of justice, sitting right next to an intricate necklace, gleaming in the sunlight. 

“It’s here!” Chirrup grabs it and shows it off to Dusty. 

“Nice work!” She jumps in excitement. “Come on, let’s get it back to Wrightest!” 

He carefully crawls his way downwards, holding the badge in one hand, and feeling quite excited. It’s a nice feeling, this sense of accomplishment. Maybe joining the guild wasn’t such a bad idea.