ToT Chapter 3 - Sudden Changes Pt1

Sonya looks around to the teams gathered around, including the guild leaders who are conversing and appear to get ready to leave for their own tasks.

Her eyes narrow briefly when she spots Pier a ways away. The idea that he was actually helping a witch secretly makes him the top of her list to avoid. For both her and Yang.

And speaking of who to avoid, her eyes continue to scan and soon land on the distant figure of Nox. Her ears lower on her head as she watches him, glancing to Yang to see if she's notice him yet.

Yang looking out to where Chandra is at with the voice stone.

Sonya glances back to Nox, a frown and uncertainty on her face.

Yang really sees him as her friend now. Heck she even sometimes teases Sonya a bit on the fact she gave him a piggyback out of that new friendship. Sonya blushing in embarrassment each time her friend brings it up.

Of course Sonya can't stay mad at Yang for long. Something Yang uses against her a lot. Though she can see how happy Yang is when she talks of her new friendship and doesn't want to deter her from that new happiness.

She's not even afraid that their friendship will overlap hers since she knows Yang well enough that she'll value all her friendships.

It's just her own uneasiness of considering Yangs suggestion of giving Nox a chance as a friend that makes her upset and confused.

She can't shake the fact Nox is a witch hunter and that makes her hesitant. Both because of the reason he now knows she was once a huntress when she never wanted others to find out and because if he is one then she wants to avoid anything to do with witch hunting again.

She left that life behind and doesn't want to deal with anything to bring her back. That's why she's hesitant.

Yet going on her friends request and the fact Nox doesn't seem to have much knowledge on hunters or appear to have the corruption she's seen in hunters, makes her indecisive on trying or not to consider him at least a comrade.

She can feel a headache coming as her thoughts get all jumbled and she starts to think too hard on too many things at once.

She tears her eyes away with a small groan in irritation.

Yang hears this as she looks to her teammate. She notices her frown and that her aura seems to ooze out confusion and irritation.

She looks concerned, figuring it's about Nox and their situation since that seems to be all that's bugging her now.

Yang was about to talk a bit to her to try to reassure her but suddenly a voice sounds out stopping her.

"Alright!" Vander tells out stepping forward with Kassi and Sibyl. "Those of you who will be helping with infiltration of Don Kapons water reserve will follow us. Start to get yourself prep up and ready to go."

Sonya's eyes narrow as Yang looks nervous but also ready, fiddling with the Warding Charm around her neck. They turn to each other as they do as Vander suggested and start planning.

"S-So all we need to do for now is take water from the reserve. R-Right?" Yang asks nervously.

Sonya nodding. "They want us to try to avoid a fight and take as much water as we can. Or more like make sure none of that Dons goons can go back and warn him that were stealing his water while the others are trying to negotiate with him. If he finds out what we're doing then that can be bad for those doing the negotiations." Sonya explains based on the info they were given.

Yang looking nervous tapping her paws together. "I-Is this really a good thing? S-Stealing water from a Pokemon who mostly controls this whole town?"

Sonya's eyes narrow. "He's nothing but a tyrant. Taking advantage of the fact something is wrong with the water to benefit for his own good."

She smirks to Yang playfully. "Think of us as modern day Robin Hood. Steal from the rich give to the poor. And in this case, steal back what the Don is keeping for selfish reasons."

Yang takes a deep breath then looks to Sonya with a small determined nod. "Y-Your right. H-He's nothing but a bully."

Sonya nods back, happy that Yang agrees and is determined to make this work.

"Just focus on getting as much water as you can Yang." Sonya instructs. "These guys were facing are nothing but hired thugs, no bandits. So no reason to be afraid. Either way just leave the scouting or fighting to me if they see us. You just focus on taking and running out as much water as you can."

Yang looks worried when the possibility of another fight might happen with Sonya once more taking it on herself. Yet she knows there's no arguing for now since the past fights they've had she hasn't been much help.

Her mind then drifts to her other friend Nox as she thinks of their past fight.

She looks around curiously to see if she can spot him. It was difficult to find him since so many teams were present around her and Sonya.

She then gets an idea and focused instead on finding his aura. Closing her eyes then focuses.

After a bit of seeing the different types of auras around them, she finally sees the one she recognizes as Nox's.

She opens her eyes and gives a small smile. She then flinches and looks nervously to Sonya.

"U-Um Sonya."

Sonya looks to her friend curiously. Yang tapping her paws together nervously.

"W-Well you see.... I-I think I can.... s-sense Nox is close by...."

Sonya gains a small frown on her face at the mention of the male Eevee. Yang starting to sweat nervously seeing her reaction she knew she had when she said Nox's name. "I-I just.... w-well...."

Sonya sighs, already guessing what her friend is wanting to say. "Go."

Yang stops her rambling and looks surprised. "A-Are you sure?"

"We haven't started moving out yet. Go now before we start."

Yang looks a bit relieved Sonya said it was ok. A part of her wanting to ask that Sonya comes with her so they could talk to Nox for a bit, yet she knows it's still too soon to ask her to do that.

She gives Sonya a quick hug then walks off quickly but carefully to not bump in to anyone.

Sonya watches her at the corner of her eye. She's glad yang didn't ask her to go with since she would of felt bad outright saying no. She still has mixed and confused feelings on the male and think it best to keep a distance for now.

Yang follows where Nox's aura is coming from. She perks up with a smile finally catching sight of him and walks over quickly to her new friend.

"N-Nox." She says once she's close enough to him. Her voice still soft to hear but still loud that he should hear her.

The shiny male Eevee’s head turned over to the familiar voice. "Ah hey Yang... how are you feeling?" He asked since he wasn't sure if she's used to such conditions or not. At the edge of his eyes he could see that a shiny Ralts was waving a bit timidly over towards the shiny Mienfoo was at next to him.

Yang smiles, also noticing that the shiny Ralts named Nodoka was waving to her. She waves back happily then turns to look at Nox again. "I-I'm fine thanks. T-The heat doesn't bother me that badly."

She taps her paws nervously, not quite ready yet to explain why that is she isn't bothered by it.

The male Eevee sighed calmly, not delving in more to why it is she can handl the heat. "Today's gonna be a tough mission. I'm pretty sure that we'll talk with Vander, Sibyl and Miss Kassi to form a strategy before we'll head into that place."

Yang looks nervous at the mention of the upcoming task. Not scared like she usually is, but just concerned like usual.

"T-There are quite a few of us this time. I-I'm sure we can pull together to get it done safely and effectively." Yang says reassuringly since this time they'll be working alongside a few Guild leaders instead of on their own.

Nox suddenly gasps in surprise, making Yang look curious when he suddenly gasps and sees him looking at something. She turns to look and notices that her other friend Nodoka is now with a shiny Umbreon with a unique pattern of rings on her legs. They are talking together happily.

She looks back to Nox and noticed the slight sparkle in his eyes at seeing the shiny female Umbreon.

She can't help but giggle a bit, thinking he looks like an excited child who's waiting for something with great anticipation.

He realized that Yang was looking towards him the whole time, which caused him to blush embarrassed "A-ah... Err... I umm... I... I was just thinkg of what I should evolve into... ahahaha~" He sweat dropped nervously.

She smiles to him when he apologizes. "I-It's ok. I-It must be exciting for you to have so many choices to evolve in to."

"W-what about you, are you feeling alright for the upcoming task?" Nox knows how the shiny Mienfoo reacts when she's in trouble, so he's assuming that she'll be a water runner after they properly scouted out that place.

She taps her paws nervously but nods to Nox. "I-I think so. S-Sonya wants to try to make it that we don't have to fight this time by being stealthy. I-I admit though," she can't help but giggle amused thinking of her friend, "k-knowing Sonya how long I have, I know she's not very patient for stealth. S-she likes to rush in and get things done quickly, so I'm sure a fight might be unavoidable. A-At least this time, it won't be just her fighting since there's so many of us here this time and they're not bandits. S-So I'm still worried, but not as much as usual."

"Mhm... we're definitely more then last time... but it still would be nice that we'll be able to be Robin Hoods for this task without getting spotted and having a fight." The grey furred Eevee responded to her with a calm smile. "Yeah, Sonya can be impatient... but we'll see what kind of strategy we'll get to forge with the Trackers Leader, Miss Kassi and Sibyl..."

It was at this point were both Nox and Yang could hear the large group wishing each other luck as they splitted up. The Pangoro, the Phantump and the Weavile of that group were all heading to the meeting point of the mission. Shortly after that did the Zorua started to head out to the same direction on his own, as well as the shiny Ralts Nodoka and the shiny Umbreon. "I think it's time to head out to the meeting spot Yang." He said just as two rather strange looking snakes passing by appearing to have a small argument as they do.

Yang looks up when Nox mentions the teams begin to assemble. She still feels nervous but seems ready as she walks with Nox back to where Sonya is at.

Sonya is sitting up straight and ready with her eyes narrowed in determination. She does her best to mentally prepare for this task since she'd like to not fight this time since it seems that's all she's been doing lately.

Her ears rise up as from the corner of her eye she sees Nox pass by her. They then lower down as her bell gives a small broken ring and she narrows her eyes at him uncertain.

She doeesn’t look at him in hatred or resentment, but more in uncertainty and maybe even, pain.

As he passes her, Yang right behind him, he says softly but quickly to her, “Let’s get this over with by being patient…..”

Her look now turns irritated at what he said, knowing he said that because he probably wants to avoid a fight as well but knows she can be impatient and assumes she’ll act rashly like she always does.

Though the fact that he's still talking to her, even if it's just a little, makes her heart skip a beat and almost feel happy. Happy because he isn't avoiding her or assuming she’s a cold blooded killer even after finding out what she was.

She looks surprised at those feelings as she makes a face then shakes her head rigorously. Yang coming up next to her nervously as she heard what Nox said as he passed by her.

Suddenly Sonya stands up and walks faster past Nox while she says, "I know already. Don't tell me what to do." Her tone sounds upset but she doesn't have a face that says she's angry or condescending, having a small pout on her face as she walks forward quickly.

Yang flinches softly at what she said but then sees the face Sonya has. Sonya looking more like a child who is throwing a small tantrum than an angry adult.

Yang sighs then smiles softly at her friend’s small tantrum. She walks forward and goes next to Nox while saying, "S-She's warming up to you. I-I can see it."

She then giggles softly and rushed forward to catch up with her friend.

Once she's next to Sonya, who's still pouting, she smiles.

Sonya doesn't look at Yang, but can feel her smiling next to her. "What are you smiling about?"

"Oh nothing. J-Just glad you don't seem to hate Nox." Yang replies gleefully.

Sonya turns to her embarrassed, about to deny what she said and say she does hate him. Yet she chokes on her words as she can't seem to say it for some reason.

Sonya grumbles and walks faster as Yang giggles and tried to keep up.


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After an hour the whole group that were going for Don Kapons private water reservoir assembled near an alleyway were one of the of the hidden passages were located. It was guarded by the goons of Don Kapoon, who were mostly fighting types but they were trying to concealing themselves. Not good enough though as Vander, Kassi and Sibyl already spotted them and had already talked about what to do for this situation.

The Girafarig sighed a bit annoyed that Vander and Kassi wanted to burst in, "So much for stealth.”

Sonya and Yang stand with the groups casually listening to their instructions. Sonya looking to them then inside to the cave where the reservoir is located.

Her eyes narrowing as she doesn't see any of the goons yet, but something inside makes her feel uneasy. Though it's not as intense as a witch's, she can feel signs of bloodlust somewhere in the cave.

Yang nervous as though she can't see the ones guarding the water, she can faintly feel their auras deep inside. And they don't feel pleasant.

She's glad they're definitely not auras of bandits so she won't freeze up like usual, but she can still sense they aren't kind or compassionate. Their greed at having been paid to make sure no one gets the water by the Don oozing out of their auras and makes Yang feel sick at how content they feel even if others are suffering for it.

Just as the leaders appear to have settled on a way to get in there, Yang looking concerned that a fight is inevitable and Sonya notices, suddenly Nox speaks up.

"As much as I love to bash some bad guys heads do I agree with Sibyl that we should go in concealed and stealthy. Sure, you, Miss Kassi and even the Pangoro are capable fighters,” He says motioning to a Pangoro who’s wearing a knitted sweater and a strange hat.

To Sonya it looked strange, but Yang gasps out softly as she recognizes the style the Pangoro has and where she could be from. A small twinge of pain going through her heart, but before she can dwell more on those feelings, Nox continues to speak, “but the majority of us aren't physically strong, nor used to the current conditions that will tire us out very quicky... besides that, we don't even know how many of Don Kapons goons are in there, which can lead to a very nasty situation of overpowering us all."

Sonya's eyes widen a bit and Yang looks taken back when Nox walked forward and suggested another way.

It was at this point where the male shiny Eevee realized that he had the full attention of the whole group, which made him gulp for a moment "I-I just.... d-don't w-want a-a-any u-unnecessary c-c-causalities..." He speaks rather bashfully now.

A young male Phantump spoke up timidly  next, "I-I think h-he h-haves a p-point!" The female Weavile responded with "Heh, I have to agree on that too."

Sibyl now speaks up after everyone said their opinion, "Then it's settled. We're going to scout out the water reservoir first before the group moves in."

Sonya and a few others do look a bit disappointed at the fact they can't just go in there and fight.

Yet Sonya looks normal again as though she still isn't sure about him, she is glad he spoke up. Especially as at the corner of her eye, she notices Yang's shoulders slouch a bit in relief.

Vander looks a bit disappointed as well, but shrugs and says, "Very well, majority votes."

"It's better that I go in scouting with a few other mons that are capable of moving undetected.” Sibyl says as the looks to the teams, “And I already know which one I want to scout out for the group. Myself, Birch, Samara, Nodoka, Sonya and Nox. They all are small and hard to spot, but I want the Eevees to work together."

Sonya flinches with an annoyed frown when Sibyl suggested she and Nox work together.
A part of her annoyed at being called small, even though she does have a point it would make them hard to spot, and another annoyed because she now has to work together with the male.

"There are at least four known entrances that all lead to the water reservoir. I suggest we-" the Girafarig started to say, but before she could continue on a Zorua suddenly appears to the group who was panting heavily,

"I-I-I have... bad news!" The young male spoke up out of breath.

Kassi walks to him and asks, "What's wrong Ian?" Ian coughed a bit because he rushed over to the group as fast as he could "T-there is... a shiny... Zangoose around here… w-who.... fooled my partner Faye and h-harmed her very badly!"

"Oh no..." Vander says then looks angry as he muttered, "Oxnard I should have known that the old cat is here."

"Oxnard?" A shiny Ralts asked a bit confused since she was able to catch the words the Hitmonchan said.

"He's very dangerous... this situation got even worse now... I recommend you all try to avoid getting into a fight with him at all cost. Leave the water behind if that means that you'll get out alive."

Sonya’s eyes widen in surprise, then narrow in concern. Now understanding in a way why she felt a faint bloodlust from deep in the cavern.

That telling her this Oxnard as they called him, was probably inside somewhere.

Yang looks concerned at this new information, mostly due to her friends going inside first.

Yang sighs softly, trying to remain calm though it's difficult now since things aren't going as planned.

Sonya still looks determined as even with this new information, they still need to head in and get that water for the citizens. She stands up and even though reluctant to have to work with the male Eevee, she readies herself.


Yang already knows Sonya is still going to go despite this new danger, but knows Sonya won’t back down. And neither will she, not this time.

"P-Please be careful...." She says worriedly.

Sonya looks to her and smirks reassuringly, "Relax Yang. Like Nox said, we'll go in, find a safe route for you and the other runners, then get out before the Don or this Oxnard even knows what's up. We just need to take as much water as we can while the others are stalling in his office."

Yang nods in nervous agreement and walks over to where the other water runners are. She passes by Nox and smiles to him softly.

"P-Please be careful too Nox. A-And if you can, k-keep an eye out for Sonya for me. P-Please?" She asks honestly and softly. She knows there's still tension between the eevees, but Nox is the only one she truly trusts that has proven already he can be relied on should things go badly.

Nox looked over to the shiny Mienfoo as she spoked up to him "Don't worry Yang, it'll be hard to spot me. And I'll try to keep an eye on her."

At that point did the shiny Ralts Nodoka speaked up to Yang "Yang, I'll look after them too, even if I don't know him."

Yang looks to Nodoka, another friend of hers, and nods but also still looks worried.

Nox placed his paw soflty onto Yang shoulder "We'll avoid that Oxnard person as much as we can, so please don't worry... alright?" The male Eevee soon hugged the shiny Mienfoo to calm her down.

Yang looks surprised when Nox suddenly hugs her after reassuring her. Sonya noticing too as she looks a bit surprised but hides it well.

Yang smiling softly as her new friend tries to reassure her from her concerns, and nods hugging him back before he lets go and heads off with the others.

She looks and nods to Nodoka as she walks off with them and stands ready with the other water runners. Standing near the section where Nox and Sonya will go down to scout next to an Emolga and a Plusle who doesn’t look to happy at the fact they won’t be busting some heads.

Sonya gives a reassuring look to Yang who now looks to her. She smiles softly and nods, Yang nodding back with confidence she and Nox will be fine.

The grey furred Eevee soon walked to Sonya, not really looking content about their situation either as he says, "Just don't get in my way... alright?" before heading down the hidden passage they got assigned too. Nodoka soon followed Nox despite not knowing him, since she's doing a favor for her friend Yang after all.

Sonya’s eyes narrow in irritation at what he said before he takes off first, a small growl emanating from her chest as her ears lower, her bell ringing off in a broken tone, before she runs after behind him and Nodoka.

Yang holds her paws together near her chest nervously watching her friends go in to the cavern. She slightly narrows her eyes and focuses on their auras once they're out of sight to try to keep and ‘eye’out for them.

Please be safe. And please Sonya, try to give Nox a chance.