ToT Chapter 1-1: Helping Paws

It was a lovely sunny, cloudless day in Tabira with a gentle breeze of air passing through the leaves of the trees. The village was quite busy this day, as the adults were clearly enjoying the weather outside their natural build houses while the children were running around in laughter playing tag, that's unless the Pokémon belonged to a guild that was working during this time. Nox, who just became a resident of the village two days ago, decided that it was a good time today to visit the Guilds of the Keepers and Scholars.

The grey furred Eevee grabbed his black cloak from the little checkroom of his to cover his rather unusual fur from curious looks, soon heading out of his little home after preparations were finished. As soon as he was outside was he getting a soft smile onto his face to see such a delighted mood today. "Ahh... another beautiful day~" did he mumbled to himself as he had a clear schedule for today, to visit the guilds in Tabira. Little did he know what was coming towards him as he was heading out to the center of the village.

After some walking time was he near the guild board, only to notice a box that had the sign "Donations" written on it. Nox blinked a moment as he was noticing the female Lucario that was wearing leaves onto her wrists and around her neck. 'That might be one of the guild' was he thinking as he was approaching her quite timidly. His ears leaned softly onto his head as the Eevee asks "U-Umm... e-excuse me? I-is this the Keepers guild?" Her head turned towards Nox to see him for the first time in her life, but instantly can tell that he's an Eevee.

"Ah, pardon me Eevee. Yes, this is the keepers guild. Were you looking for an audience with my mo-" as she quickly noticed that she was about to say mother before correcting herself "Errr... Lady Sela?" which made her face palming herself mentally *That was close*. Nox noticed what happened as he sweatdropped from it "Err... I-I assume she's not here right now, r-right?" She responded to that with "Well, uh... yes you're right with that. But! I am her proxy, Gemma, so thanks to my Aura can I relay any vital message you have for her!"

Nox nodded in a formal bow as she told him her name before responding "M-my name is Nox, and I don't have any vital messages for Lady Sela." "Oh? And uhh.... what may be your business with us then?" was Gemma asking him as he pointed straight towards the donation box "Actually did I wanted to donate some things for the less fortunate Pokemon." A soft smile formed on the Proxy’s face as she heard that kind of respond, which made her less shy towards him "Sure thing, what do you want to donate?" "Umm..." was the Eevee starting as he thought of something useful.

*I hope they won't be shocked to see something like this...* was Nox thinking worried about his unusual fur color as he started to take off the cloak from his body "Umm... please don't freak out Miss Gemma..." The Lucario blinked a moment to hear that "Why should I freak-" as soon as she was about to finish the sentence was the cloak off the body from Nox, revealing his grey, short fur and the worn-out blue scarf that was folded twice around his neck as Gemma ended with "-out... wow... that's quite..." "Unusual, right?" was he finishing her sentence as he placed the cloak into the donation box.

Because of his unusual fur was Nox gaining some attention trough that. "I saw a bunch of unique looking Pokémon before but never did I saw a grey furred Eevee in front of me until now." was the Proxy saying quite surprised "I thought so." was he saying with a nod to it as his overall appearance was catching Madras interest, who was just getting out of the guild entrance. "Oh right! Thanks for the donation uhh… Nox was it, right?" "Yes, that's my name Miss Gemma." "Oh, and you just passed the first Trial of the Keepers guild too through that."

Nox eyes blinked a moment until he realized what Gemma just said and got a quite confused look on his face as he raised his white paw "Wait what?" "Here, take this as a token of gratitude." as she handed him an ankh-like tool right on his raised paw as token for the donation. "Uhh thanks? But... ya know... I didn't want to get something in return for the donation." as he wanted to give the ankh-like tool back to her, which made the Lucario shakes her head no to that "I insist that you keep it." "Umm... all right." as he placed the ankh into the black pouch before the voice of Madras rang towards the two of them "Hey-ho Gemma! How's the donation going?!"

"Ah, Madras! It's going quite well, we just got a donation from a new member called Nox" Madras eyes were focusing onto Nox as he backed a bit away, his ears leaning onto his head from oddness. "U-uhhh...." Gemma noticed that the Eevee was startled as she said in a soothing voice "Hey, its okay. Madras is the archivist of the keepers guild." which she nodded to "Yep, that's us!" "U-us?!" was the Eevee asking quite shocked from that as Madras responded to that "Ah, my bad. I forgot to mention that I'm a skilled diviner." His reaction to that very important information was a delighted sight.

"Anyway, We've never seen your face here before so can you please take part into a small survey?" His eyes looked a moment towards the Proxy before looking back towards the archiving diviner. "Umm... not in public please." "Understood, just follow us then!" and with that did the shiny Mawile started to walk towards the guild again. The Eevee was looking towards the Lucario quite uneasy as she responded to that with "Don't worry, we're not harming any innocent Pokémon, nor do we harm someone who just joined our guild now. Madras just wants to get to know you because you're not from Taberia."

"I-I see." was his respond before he followed Madras. After a moment of walking though the rather impressive structure of the keepers guild were they near the archive as she led him to a small table that had a pen and some papers ready. "Relax and take a seat Eevee." which Nox nodded to as he took the seat that was at the opposite of Madras. Before the divining archivist could ask the first question was Nox already responding to it "My name is Nox, I'm 20 years old and born in winter, the 5th December." The shiny Mawile blinked a bit surprised "How did you know what we were going to ask you?"

Nox only shrugged to that "I think that was just my instincts since I got asked that a lot." "We see we see" was Madras responding to that as she started to take notes about his said words. "Do you want to tell us something about your birthplace?" The grey furred Eevee frowned a moment as he got that question asked "Err... as you noticed am I not from Taberia... I was born in a village overseas that was similar to this place yet much smaller..." "Ohhh that's nice to hear~ Can you please tell us more about it, like the name?" as the Eevee was feeling very uncomfortable from that and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I just can't." Before the shiny Mawile could say something was Nox leaving the place in a dash that was boosted with a quick attack, which made her feel quite bad now "Oh... I didn't know that it was that sensible for him to talk about himself." Nox was rushing in a blurry motion towards a much more calmer place, but didn't got unnoticed by a Lanturn that just had taken a nice swim from the nearby pool of the schoolars *Ah... was that... a grey furred Eevee? How fascinating... I hope I'll get to see him in person soon.* Little did she know that her wish was coming true faster than the expected.

As soon as Nox felt that he gained a lot of distance from the keepers guild did he started to slow down while trying to suppress the tears that were blurring his vision with the black eyes. "Mother... Father..." he was clutching the worn-out blue scarf to take some deep breaths. Little did he know that a shiny Ralts with odd, curly hair was walking close by. She did felt his sadness, but she was too lost in her own thoughts to even deal with his troubles in return. It took some time until the grey furred Eevee was calm enough again, sighting a moment because of the unwanted shock.

Nox looked into the sky for a moment to see that the sun was after its peak. "Ah... it's afternoon... all right..." as he was standing up onto his rear paws to dust himself off before being on his fours again "Time to visit the scholars... hopefully won't it be the same way with Madras." and with that did he headed back to the schoolars building that he did passed by during his rush. After some time of walking did he saw the big nature building of the schoolars as a rather calm chuckle escaped him "Wow... now that's a big laboratory." as he can see that they were all present and working hard.

The grey furred Eevee entered the main hall where he was instantly greeted by the Lanturn that just happened to pass by "Greetings young Eevee. My name is Chandra, head professor of the Scholars Guild. I was expecting your visit but not this early." which made his ears twitch a moment. Nox bowed down in polite way as he responds "Greetings Lady Chandra, it's a pleasure to meet you too, even if it surprises me that you expected my arriving. I wanted to see the guild with my own eyes." A pleasured smile formed onto the head professor face "I am honored to hear such interest from such a polite young man like yours."

A rather soft blush formed onto Nox's cheeks from that surprising compliment "U-um thanks." as she now explained "You're very lucky today. We Scholars are usualy busy and often out doing field work, so don't be surprised if you find the public labs empty!" The ears of Nox twitched a moment as he couldn't help it but smile brightly. "And it looks like you understand that quite well too Nox." which he quietly nodded to. "Ah that's lovely. In fact, may you-" as the Eevee quickly responded to that with "Showcase my abilities because I'm an unusual, grey furred Eevee? Sure, I can do that Miss Chandra."

Nox took a defensive stance as he looked towards Lady Chandra, focusing onto her like he was in a combat situation to activate his ability "Your strongest move is Brine that even haves a nasty surprise." Chandra blinked a moment *Did he just...* before he continued with "And I can tell where it'll be aimed too. In most case will you use it to knock out opponents that already took a good amount of damage before." That extra information that Nox told her confirmed her about what she thought "Interesting, not many Eevee's are able to anticipate an opponent’s attack as precisely as this. You got a quite rare ability for an Eevee Nox."

Before they both could continue to speak with each other was the chuckle of an old Pokémon hearable as he did witnessed the conversation between Nox and Chandra. "Ah, Mister Graham, what a good timing." was Chandra speaking as the Kricketot responded to that "Dohohohoho, now that's one interesting student here." "Nox, this is Mister Graham. Despite his age is he the most knowledgeable to teach moves that can't be learned naturally." as Nox bowed to the old Kricketot in formality before saying "A pleasure to meet you Sir." as the Eevee was thinking at the same time *How in the world did he learned Tri Attack?!*

"Chandra dear, I need to borrow your new student for an important task." as Nox instantly nodded his head to that before Chandra could even ask him "Well, it seems that Nox already responded to that." "Dohohoho! Now that's what I call determination!" was the Move Tutor saying as he was looking towards the Eevee. "All right, I need your help to clean up the study rooms with Ginger and Alice." Nox nodded to that request "Understood, the study rooms are essential for learning after all." "Doho! I really look forward to teach you an unusual move one day!" which only made Nox smile even more.

He soon darted over to the study room as Chandra only commented on that with "This Eevee will bring a lot of flexibility into this guild." as Graham responded to that with "Yes, it's quite refreshing indeed." The Eevee entered the room right as Ginger was picking up some books from the bookshelf that was near the entrance, making some dust fall down right onto the Eevee as he started to cough from that, which caught the attention of both the Bunary and the shiny Zorua "A-ah! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" was the young male asking as Alice said "H-Hold still please, we'll get the dust off your fur." as they both started to dust him off.

After the coughing stopped could the Eevee finally respond "...yeah I'm fine it's just dust after all... but don't touch the scarf please." as they both kept trying to dust him off, but they didn't know that his fur that was grey to begin with. Nox blinked a moment before telling them calmly "Uhh... you two can stop now..." as Ginger responded to that with "But your fur is still covered in dust!" as Alice blinked a moment "H-huh? I-if you're dusted off and still look like that... does that mean that's your actual fur color?" which made the Eevee nod to that "Yeah I'm a grey furred Eevee, but thank you both for trying to dust me off without knowing that."

They both nodded calmly to that that before the youngest spoke up first "My name is Ginger, and the shiny Zorua over here is my best friend Alice." as she only nodded to that before the little Bunary continued with "And your name is?" "My name is Nox, and I'm here to help you both out in cleaning up the study rooms." "A-All right, but be careful, there are some items that break easily if not handled with care." was the Alice saying to the Eevee as he nods to that. They started to clean up the place from dust first before noticing some books on the top shelf that both the youngsters can't reach.

"Umm Nox, are you able to get to the higher places where some books are? I don't want to risk it because of my parents." was Ginger asking him as Nox looked around for a moment to find a good spot for what he had to do in order to get on top of a bookshelf to gather the books up there. "I want you both to stay at the spots you are right now?" "H-huh?" was the shiny Zorua asking a bit confused before continuing with "W-whatever you do, be careful, okay?" which the Eevee nodded calmly to "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

And with that was he running towards a wall with Quick Attack, which made her say "W-what're you doing?!" "Getting the books!" was Nox responding to that as he had enough speed to jump off the ground towards a wall. With the build up speed, the strength into his paws and the right timing was he using the wall to bounce from it towards a bookshelf, which made him look like a little grey arrow through that. "D-did he just...?!" was Alice asking shocked as Ginger responded to that with "Yeah, he just did bounced from a wall with Quick Attack!" They were even amazed how natural it looked despite that it took a lot of training to get the timing right.

"There, I'm up here now! Oh wow, there are some quite old books up here..." but before he could continue did the Eevee sneezed from the dust that he whirled up "And a lot of dust too!" and with that did he continued to help them cleaning up the study rooms. Nox insisted to do the heaviest work and the dangerous ones too, much to the concern of Alice because she was worried about his health but the Eevee told her that he knows what he can do and what he can't do with his body. It took a good amount of time that the sun was starting to settle down from it.

Once they were finished did Nox finally started to pant "Phew... we finally finished." "Thanks for the hard work!" was Ginger saying with a smile on his face as Alice nodded in agreement to Ginger, but said after him "Please don't overdo it Nox, your health is much more important than the study places." "Ah... thank you for your concern Alice, but I'll be fine so no worries, okay?" she sighted from that as Nox looks over to the little Bunery now "Should I accompany you home Ginger?" "Thank you for the offer, but my mother will pick me up today with my little brother."

"All right then. I wish you both a good night and a good sleep." "Thanks Nox, you too!" were both responding in unison to him as the Eevee was the first to head towards his home. But before he could go was he meeting Chandra near the exit of the scholar as her lights were glowing softly from the evening sky "In the name for the scholars am I thanking you for your hard work Nox." "Ah... It's not a big deal Lady Chandra, I just love to help out wherever I can." The Lanturn nodded to that "You're always welcome to return to the laboratory Nox. Have a good rest, you deserve it." "Thank you Lady Chandra, have a good rest as well." and with that did he headed back home.