Wild Hunters Mission Zero: Papers Please

Walking through the streets of this town was going to take a bit of getting used to it seemed. He had been walking for the past few days and had a very haggard look about him. His charge, Sunny had finally went to sleep and was curled up on his back, the pamphlet firmly held between her paws.  Even though Jack could only see through one eye, he could tell that there were gawkers on either side.  One said, "Is he a Feral? What's he doing here?"

Another asked, "Did he kidnap that little one on his back?"  This caused Jack to turn his head to see, causing a Furret to quickly turn around and walk away out of fright.  Jack gave a sigh, this kind of thing happened whenever they came to a new place.    

Off in the distance, Jack could almost make out a building shaped like a Kecleon. But unlike most of the reptiles he's seen, this building was yellow and blue. Confused for a moment, he lifted his head and nudged the espurr with the flat of one of his antlers. "Hey little one, wake up. I think we're there," He said in his deep voice.

The little feline grunted, trying to swat the antler away. Jack shook himself slightly, causing the Espurr to roll over, finally waking her, "Five more minutes?"

Jack shook his head, "Need you awake for this kid."

Sunny stood up and stretched as Jack made his way to the door. Without missing a beat Jack raised a front leg and knocked the door best he could. All of the sudden the door swung open smacking him clear across his nose. Out from behind the door walked out a Kecleon who's scales matched the same coloring of the building.

The lizard jumped as it saw Jack staring it down, “Ah, pardon me! Do you have an appointment?”

Sunny then climbed up between Jacks antlers and gave a big grin. She waved the pamphlet in its face, "Hi, this thing says we have to talk to you to get work?"

The lizard snatched it away without saying a word, and began to grumble to itself as it went over the pamphlet. “Ah yes,” he mumbled. “Brilliant.” He folded up the pamphlet several time and placed it under his arm. He beckons them with a hand gesture. “Come along now. We have some work to do inside. Hopefully you didn’t think that was all of it.”

Jack looked up and whispered, "Behave yourself," The Espurr gave him a makeshift salute before climbing down, and headed through the door.

As they entered the hut, the first thing they both noticed was the floor was made up entirely of gravel.  Sunny skipped off to the side and began gathering a few. Jack gave a small grin and wandered over to the large bookcase that seemed to envelope the whole building.  He muttered to himself, "Haven't seen a place like this in years." Spotting a few books with a familiar face etched into the side with charcoal,  he turned and asked, "Did you write any of these?"

The kecleon laughed as he made his way up a small platform, "A few but the rest is others' work." There was a large desk covered in papers, folders and several measuring instruments. Off to the side was another platform,  with  what appeared to be a large filing cabinet.  The chameleon sauntered over to the desk with a grim expression, unfolding the pamphlet and quickly browsed it before placing it on the desk.

“These working conditions are abysmal,” the Kec said, “but at least I have my own place now. Need to put aside a month to rearrange this place.” The lizard stared at Jack with an enticed look, and picked up a piece of charcoal from a small mug on the corner of the desk. “What is your name?”

Jack sat where he stood, "My name is Jack, Jack Walker." He then whistled for Sunny, getting her to run to his side.

The cat smiled, "I'm Sunny!" Jack nudged her with one on his hooves, "Belcourt."

The kecleon was scribbling up a storm as they answered, his eyes never leaving the two as he scribbled upon two pieces of paper lying around on his desk. With a quick nod he smiled,  “Nice to meet you."  After checking over his scribbles he asked,  "I’m Devdas. How are you doing?”

Sunny raised her paw enthusiastically, "It's a good day so far, we made it here and are not being attacked by people!"

Jack muttered, "It wasn't an easy trip down here, I can tell you that."

Devdas suddenly stopped writing, and eyed Jack more intently. But then he shrugged awkwardly,  “Ah, I see. The weather sure is nice-- ah, can you turn to your side for a moment?”

Jack and Sunny stood and turned to face the wall.  Devdas kept scribbling,  eyes darting wildly while grinding away the charcoal on that piece of paper. All of the sudden the grinding stopped. He picked up the paper for one last check, then tapped it against the table.  He then smiled, “You seem to have a peculiar body type, Sunny,” he said before showing her his drawing. “Do you, by chance, have any Pyroar, in your lineage?”

The espurr shook her head, "What's a pyroar?"

The lizard chuckled, "Another breed of feline like yourself." He then turned towards Jack, "Now you on the other hand have a much more athletic build than others of your genus." He held up the other picture, " do you happen to know anything about your family?"
Jack chuckled, "My father was a Chesnaught."

This caused Devdas to scribble several notes, "You don't say."   Placing his papers to the side he sat in his chair and insisted, “Please, do get comfortable.” Jack quickly sat back down and sunny Climbed up on his back.

“Now,” the Kecleon continued with a set of fresh notes, “you two seem to have gotten my memo, which is a good thing. Thank goodness, too: I was starting to doubt our communications technologies for a good moment. Until you arrived." He then pointed at them,  " Now, do tell me more about yourself.”

Jack shook his head, "We come from the far north. I was a hunter by trade, a small few others and I kept the village of Frostmourn safe. There was always wild ones coming out of the woods looking for prey." He gave concerned look at Sunny, "After some nasty events, I had to leave, with the little one here in tow. She'll be a lot safer down here."

Sunny climbed between his antlers, "My turn, my turn! I've been traveling with Jack as long as I can remember. He can be fun but he's always so serious! It's great to always see new places, meeting new people, and being able to help them.  Also, seems I have some kind of mind powers! I'm not very good at them yet, but I'm always practicing!"

She suddenly stopped, realizing that the lizard wasn't exactly following what she was said.  She asked, "What you doing Mister?"

“Mmm?” Devdas mumbled. “Oh. This -- what you’re helping me with -- is a thorough guide on all of the species known in this part of the world. I could tell you more about it, but there isn’t much more to tell.”

Jack said with a grin, "That sounds like quite a job."

Devdas simply shrugged, "Speaking of which…” Devdas tapped his stick of charcoal against the paper a bit. “You did speak a great deal of interesting information, definitely, but do you employ some sort of special… skills with what you clearly have shown me? Something like this.”

The Kecleon whipped around his tail, stroking the tip of it. Some moments later, his scales shimmered, with the markings on his body turned whiter. The tail then lighted on fire in a fashion similar to that of a Char-line Pokémon causing his guests jaws to drop.  “Ah,” the chameleon said, cupping his flame for a moment before taking his hands away from it. He gestured at his tail. “I can change my elemental affinity upon using a move. The scientists at Heroldberg called the phenomena Protean.”

Jack looked away a short while, deep in thought.  He then said, "I don't know if it's much of an actual ability. But since I'm half plant, the sun invigorates me. It allows me to push myself harder than usual. If I remember, It's called Chlorophyll."  He then stood, "The rest of the stuff I can do is meant for fighting, I could show you if you really want, but there will be a mess."  

Devdas shook his head, "No, that will not be necessary." He then pointed at Sunny, "Now what about you little one, what kind of skills do you know you have?"

Sunnys eyes began to glow brightly, and before anyone could react, Devdas' stick of charcoal was floating in the air in front of him.  She smiled, "Told you I had abilities!"
Jack chimed in, "Either than that, she got the Keen Eyes ability from her mother. She sees a lot more than the rest of us."

“Brilliant, just amazing,” the Kecleon mumbled as he finished his last few notes. He stacked the papers as neatly as he could and blew what charcoal was left away. From out of the bramble of objects he then produced a folder to seal the information away.

Devdas stood and began to make his way towards the other platform.  Jack stood up and asked, "Wasn't this supposed to help us get guild registration?"    

The lizard stopped where he stood, “Ah yes, of course!”

The Kecleon sprinted back to the desk, and carefully put his stick of charcoal away. Placing the folder down, he motioned Jack to follow. He finally stopped in front of a medium sized wooden box that was almost hidden by a pile of loose books.  “This is what I’ve been working on,” he told them, “in collaboration with an artisan from Norhaven. Say goodbye to writing out the same thing over and over again!” He snapped open the latch and slowly pushed the lid free.

Inside of the box was what looked like intricate molds, stained with different hues of colors. “I’ve tested the machine out, and it works way better than the wooden blocks that we used to use. It was built on site as well!”

Sunny smiled brightly, "That's a big doohickey, cool!"

Devdas kept looking over the device, “Now, as payment for assisting me with my goal, your guild application fee has been waived. You may choose whichever guild you would like. Hopefully, you’ve read the terms and conditions for each guild prior to coming here.”

"For 'mons like us the only guild is the Survivalists," Jack said as he watched Sunny try to climb the press to get a better look.

Devdas turned to Sunny and asked, "Would you like to give me a hand dear?" Which the espurr nodded enthusiastically and climbed down. He then gently removed the current mold. He grabbed the rag hanging from a loop on the box and wiped off the remaining ink.  As he reinstalled it, he asked, "Can you  hand me some paper?"

Sunny focused on the box next to the towel ring and using psychic floated a paper over to Devdas' waiting hand. When you do so, he slipped the paper up into the top.  The mold was then slathered with ink, and once that was done, the box was sealed shut.

As the printing process continues, Devdas asked them: “So, the Survivalists, mmm? What made you decide upon them?” He sat on top of the box.

Jack closed his eyes and sighed, "Folks like me, we're not exactly built towards being artists or healers. I was born and raised to hunt, to fight.  I'd rather use these skills for a good cause than be a thug. I swore to protect Sunny no matter what, and I keep my promises. Since the little one insists on coming along, at least there may be some 'mon who can teach her how to use her skills better than me."

Devdas gave a thoughtful grin as a loud chime came from the box. The chameleon jumped down and unlatched the lid, revealing the printed piece of paper. Sunny tried to grab it but Devdas shook his head, "No, it needs a minute or two to dry." After a bit of air-drying, Devdas grabbed the paper and hands it to Sunny.

“This you will need to fill out with me, Jack,” he said with a grin. Devdas walked back over to the desk and, from out of one of the drawers, takes out what looks like a Petri dish with a handle and a large quill and ink.

After Sunny placed it upon the desk, and the quill firmly placed in his mouth, Jack signed the form as needed. After it was explained, Sunny managed to scribble what she could on the dotted line, then covered her right paw in ink and left a print for her signature.

Devdas  took a minute to go over the paper, "Alright this is all in order."  Devdas then  uncapped the awkward-looking device and presses it in the top right handed corner of your application. Removing the object showed a miniature handprint of the registrar’s.

“I had a very friendly guy make me one of these and use Minimize on it,” he told them. “It’s cleaner and easier than using my own hand, I’d say. Well, technically it is my hand, too.”

“That stamp is a symbol of authentication, and this one…” -- he took out another, two-part stamping apparatus and pressed it down into the topmost left spot -- “... is a symbol of your guild status. From here on out, you are official guild members.”

After that, he placed the application in the  folder with the rest of what info he gleaned. He marched himself towards the filing cabinet with a bit of a spring in his step. As he opened the filing cabinet, his back turned he said, "Well Sunny, I do hope you enjoy your stay here." He then turned to them," Jack, it was nice to meet you and I hope you haven't made you journey for nothing. But a bit of friendly advice, you need to try to loosen up just a little."

Sunny let out a loud yawn as she climbed back onto Jack, "Can we go now?"

Jack chuckled, "Come on little one, let's see if we can go find some grub."  Backing away slowly, Jack pushed his way through the door. He made his way out into the chilled night air, ready for whatever would come next.