Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Broken Ideals

Chapter 31: Tension Rising

Chapter 31

Tension Rising

The warm, pleasant rays of the sun poured into Team Vendetta's room the next morning, slowly stirring Terron out of his slumber. He tiredly opened his eyes to find everyone was still asleep. Zekra was on her side, cuddling the Cubone as she rested her head under his chin. Impetus slept with her head against the other side of Zekra, with Syn curled up comfortably on the Mienfoo's chest.

Terron smiled at the sight of seeing everyone at such peace. He turned his head and much to his surprise, he found the newest member of their team was actually awake. Novus was still lying in his bed of hay a few feet away from Terron, as if he was asleep, but his eyes were open and he was clearly alert and ready for the day.

Seeing this, the Cubone sluggishly got to his feet and made his way over to Novus before sitting in front of the Quilava.

"How long have you been awake?" Terron asked curiously.

"Since dawn," Novus answered simply. "In other words, approximately three hours."

"How come you got up so early, though?" Terron then asked. "I mean, we don't need to get up early for any missions today. We're just relaxing today since today's our day off. We told you this last night before we went to bed."

"Yes, I'm aware of such thing," Novus stated. "Even still, my resting schedule refuses to change despite this fact. I've become accustomed to arising at dawn every day. I cannot undo such thing after having done it for years. At least, not right away."

"Well, I suppose it prevents you from wanting to over-sleep in the future," Terron shrugged. "I mean, tomorrow we'll have to get up early again, and that might be hard since we've slept in kinda late today. But, sorry for having you stay awake all by yourself while you waited for one of us to get up."

"It's not a problem," Novus said dismissively. "I spent time venturing through the base and town in order to pass the time. There were not many Pokémon, as to be expected, which was rather peaceful."

Terron nodded silently before gazing back at his other teammates. All three of them were still fast asleep, not disturbed by the chatter between himself and Novus.

"So, how do you like being part of the team?" Terron asked, trying to create a bit of small talk with the new member. "I know we haven't really done much yet, but I just wanna know what you think of it so far."

"It's rather peculiar to be working with four Pokémon for most of my waking moments," Novus said cautiously, as if trying to find the right words. "I've become rather accustomed to the idea of operating by myself. It's especially so when those four are merely children. I've never had a moment in my life where I was the only adult surrounded by children."

"You do know we're not that young, right?" Terron then asked, becoming somewhat peevish at the slightly demeaning comment.

"It's only a statement," Novus frowned, but otherwise remained collected. "It is not an insult to wound your pride. There is nothing wrong with working alongside children. It's simply a very different experience for me. Besides, I understand you 'children' are actually nearing adulthood. You're more adolescents than children. I only call you 'children' due to that being what every Pokémon refers to those that are not adults. Except for Syn, that is. He truly is a child. Either way, do not take insult to my statement. You wished to know my thoughts. Do not be quick to judge what I mean by those thoughts without receiving verification."

"Oh," Terron said sheepishly. "Sorry about doing that. I'm just so used to everyone calling us kids and making that sound like a bad thing, that it's kind of getting annoying now. I must get that from Zekra."