So jail... wasn't fun.
Probably a given, Armaldo would readily admit, but still worth saying. Jail wasn't fun, and neither was the whole lead-up process to going to jail. That was, getting arrested. Definitely not fun. Especially when you had a crying kid on your heels threatening to topple some ancient ruins just because the Magne's were trying to do their darn job.
After the kid's prior optimism, it had been pretty alarming, to say the least. More alarming was the way no one had done anything about it. They'd all just stood around and panicked uselessly while the kid had a breakdown, begging to be listened to.
Actually, it kind of ticked him off how none of them had done anything about any of it.
Why hadn't the parents known what the kid was getting up to every day? Had he lied? Or had they not bothered to even ask? What if he'd been in real trouble, with one of those outlaw types who lacked any kind of standards at all? There were a lot worse bad guys than Armaldo out there. Ones who were actually in it to be bad as opposed to a matter of circumstance. If Junior'd ended up trailing after one of them like an overeager Electrike, he had a feeling things might not've turned out so alright in the end.
Certainly, if he were one of those really nasty sorts, he wouldn't be getting released years ahead of schedule for good behavior.
It was true, he'd been a model citizen, as much as he could when about seventy percent of his life was spent in the same cramped cell these days. He did what he was told, didn't start fights (even when the other guy would've deserved it), went where they wanted him like a good little criminal. It sucked.
All he'd ever wanted was to be left alone. He didn't really think he deserved to be behind the same bars as the sorts of guys who lured folks out into the middle of nowhere to rob them and leave them for dead.
(Seriously, the Electabuzz a few doors down was a real freakshow.)
But breaking the law was breaking the law in the eyes of, well, the Law. The specifics of whatever you did really only determined how long they'd get to keep you.
Which, as was previously established, turned out to be less time than expected.
"Good behavior?" he repeated, bewildered, as the Magneton across from him split its tripled gaze between him and the paperwork on their desk. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Preci-zz-ely what it say-zz on the tin," Magneton buzzed, voice lacking any real inflection, tapping its lower magnets against the surface of the desk to punctuate their words. "We've ob-zz-erved your actions during your szz-entence, and came to the conclu-zz-ion that you have learned the les-zz-on that your imprisonment was intended to teach. We believe if you're relea-zz-ed, you're unlikely to return to a life of crime. Are we mi-zz-taken?"
"I mean, no," he said, because he wasn't a fool. And also because it was true, but more importantly he wasn't a fool. "Definitely not."
A decade ago, he might've found it worth clarifying that he hadn't actually done anything illegal in the few years preceding his capture, but those sorts of semantics were the kind of thing that'd get him thrown back in his cell if he pushed them too far. He wasn't gonna look a gift Rapidash in the mouth.
"Then we have no reason to keep you in cu-zz-tody." They turned to pull open a cabinet behind them with one magnet, and rifle through the documents there with the other. "Also helps that you had quite the notable spon-zz-or to atte-zz-t to your integrity, but both factors were con-zz-idered when making our call. And sin-zz-e that case, we are offi-zz-ially declaring you free to go."
"Wait, someone vouched for me?" He kind of thought he'd burned all his bridges ages ago. Unless this was some kind of political thing..?
In lieu of answering, Magneton simply stamped a signature on one of the lines on the document it had retrieved. They nudged it forward. Somewhat dazedly, Armaldo simply reached forward to scrawl his own signature on the page with the tip of one claw.
"Thank you for your cooperation," Magneton said. There still wasn't any kind of tone in its voice, but he could swear they were amused. What about this was funny? "Until further noti-zz-e, you will be held on a proba-zz-ional period to en-zz-ure you neither commit a crime nor are accu-zz-ed of doing so without any eviden-zz-e due to past action-zz. Likewi-zz-e, you will be required to remain either within the boundarie-zz of your given town so we can find you if we have rea-zz-on to do so."
He barely repressed a shudder. Don't get him wrong, he was glad to be getting out, and at least it was better to be confined to one town as opposed to a single building, but... Bars were still bars, no matter how big his cell was.
And even if exploring had been more means to an end than anything else, he'd still picked that as his career path for a reason.
"My given town? Are you assigning me somewhere, or something?"
All three eyes focused on him. "As mentioned, your relea-zz-e is being spon-zz-ored. The head of the organi-zz-ation which has elected to repre-zz-ent you will be respon-zz-ible for your behavior beyond here. Such, you are to be relegated to area-zz where this organization has influence."
Free, but still on a leash.
"Right," he muttered, growing warier by the second. "Stay where I'm told. Got it."
"Don't worry," Magneton turned their back to file the document the both of them had signed away. He could still hear that faint smile in its voice, or maybe he was still imagining things. "The Guild which campaigned for your relea-zz-e is rather widely renowned. They'll have no trouble finding somewhere szz-uitable for you."
A Guild?
Oh, boy.
"...Right." He muttered, then tacked on a; "Thanks for your help," because he was a criminal, not rude.
"Your spon-zz-or will meet you in the lobby. Have a ni-zz-e day."
Thoroughly dismissed (and even more confused), Armaldo turned and made for the exit. Luckily the office was only a short walk to the exit, and he didn't have to pass any other inmates as he went, only a bored looking Machoke guarding the door who gave him a short nod as he left. Hell of an anticlimactic departure, if you asked him. Then again, who was asking?
He braced himself at the door, really hoping he wasn't about to walk into the lobby and be accosted by some do-gooder explorer hoping to make an example of a "reformed criminal," and stepped out.
There had been a moment's concern he might not know who he was looking for. Said concern was immediately dashed the second he spotted the only other Pokémon in the room.
Aside from the fact that they were, as mentioned, the only other Pokémon in the room and thus probably the person he was looking for, no one else would have such an unaffected smile on their face sitting in the waiting room of a prison.
He'd never met anyone else that pink, either.
"Hi, Master! ♪"
Armaldo resisted the urge to put his head in his claws.
Of course. He should've known, really, the moment Magneton said his sponsor was the head of an Explorer's Guild. Should've known the moment they said he was sponsored at all.
No one else would be so audacious.
At least he'd only been half-right. He definitely wasn't going to be made an example of, but there was a do-gooder Explorer here to accost him.
"...Hey, Junior."
Then he paused.
Because Magneton had said-- His sponsor was quite notable. And the Guild was widely renowned.
What had the kid been up to since he'd been away?
"If I can still call you that," he said, awkwardly continuing, "feels a little impolite now. Especially considering..."
Now-Wigglytuff tilted his head, ears flopping to the side. "Considering?"
A vague gesture in his general direction. He didn't look like much, sitting in the chair a little too small for him with his feet dangling, but Armaldo could see the difference in the way he held himself. This was a guy who was good at what he did, and knew it, too. "Y'know, with you being the leader of a world famous Explorer's Guild and all. Pretty widely renowned, so the word goes. And considering I was pretty much just in it to avoid the cops... Well. Figure if anyone here's the Master anymore, it's you."
Silence followed for several long seconds, long enough that Armaldo was starting to wonder if he'd made some grave error in the past handful of sentences. Then it was broken by Wigglytuff giving a loud, bubbly laugh.
"That's silly, Master! ♪ You're the one who taught me! And you're older. So it wouldn't make much sense for us to trade titles."
It was true that Wigglytuff wouldn't have much room to start calling him Junior, certified senior that he was, but as for the first reason... Well, maybe he didn't need to know how much he'd actually taught Armaldo about things like "making friends" and "enjoying his life." And also "not doing crime."
"Do what you want," he eventually settled on, gruff tone doing nothing to dissuade Wigglytuff's boundless cheer.
"Yay! ♪ Okay! ♪ Need you to help, though. I want you to come back to the Guild with me."
Straightforward, wasn't he? (Always had been.)
"That was the plan," Armaldo said. "Figured it was kind of the only plan, actually. The way Magneton phrased it made it sound like I didn't have much of a choice."
"Silly Master, you always have a choice. ♪ What matters is that you make the right one."
...The right one, huh?
He wasn't exactly known for having stellar judgment, or he wouldn't have ended up in this situation in the first place, but this one was kind of a no-brainer.
"In that case, we'd better get a move on. Y'know, I made a promise to this lively little kid a while back that once I was done owning up for all the things I'd done, I'd go and become an explorer." He tilted his head, absentmindedly scratching at his carapace. "Since I'm not the sort who breaks promises, I've gotta get started on that, and I'd be kind of an idiot to turn down an invitation from a world famous Guildmaster."
Wigglytuff giggled, hopping off his chair with a quiet yoom-tah! "Great! It's settled. ♪ Let's go! ♪"
As easily as breathing, he fell into step behind the kid and let himself be led on some new adventure.
"So, where are we headed?"
"Treasure Town, ♪" Wigglytuff hummed, giving a cheerful wave to the receptionist as they left, and holding the door for Armaldo to allow him to duck through. "It's fun! ♪ Very friendly. ♪ My Guild headquarters are there, so that's where you'll be staying."
"...Right."
Staying. In one place. For an indefinite amount of time, because they hadn't actually told him how long his "probation" was going to last. And sure, he'd stayed in Murky Forest and been stuck in that jail for a while after that, but that was different. He didn't really have an option, there. It would be different, out and about, with the possibility of leaving so close yet so far away. The only real thing keeping him stuck would be his own inclination to do the right thing. (Make the right choice.)
And, of course, the Magne's threatening to drag him back to jail if he stepped out of line, but they were more of a background concern.
"Master?"
Whoops. His brooding had been too obvious, hadn't it? He was usually pretty good at keeping his expression impassive, but this kid had always had an eye for other people. He'd sort of forgotten. (Not forgotten the kid, of course, he couldn't do that if he tried. But forgotten what it was like to be around someone who actually knew him. Who could read him like an open book.)
"I'm fine," he brushed off the concerned inquiry with an idle wave of his claw. "Just thinking about the future and all."
"Oh! I am, too. I'm excited. ♪" Wigglytuff trotted along a few paces ahead. From here, Armaldo couldn't see his expression. It was probably his usual placid smile, but... "It's been a while since we had any new faces in the Guild. The last ones were great! ♪ Very friendly. Wonderful Explorers! They saved the world one time. But it's been a while since they joined. And more friends are always better!"
"Sure, whatever you say," Armaldo said, somewhat absently. Then he paused. "Wait, they--??"
"Oh, look! A job board!" Wigglytuff immediately sidebar'd over to look at the job listings, completely ignoring Armaldo's sputtering. (Some of his Explorers had saved the world? Like, the whole thing?? What had he missed? He hadn't even known the world had been in a place to need saving. He really needed to listen to lunchroom gossip more, if this was the sort of thing he was missing.) "What do you think, Master? We could do a job before we go home!"
Kid hadn't changed a bit, had he? Always onto the next exploration.
(...He'd called it "home?")
"Maybe later," Armaldo said, hating to shoot him down but also completely used to needing to be the adult in a given situation. "The Magne's probably wouldn't like me wandering off into a dungeon so soon. And frankly, I haven't been out in a while. Think I might need a bit of a refresher course in exploring before I start tackling paid opportunities."
Wigglytuff hummed in acknowledgment. If he was disappointed, it didn't show, and he resumed their trekking without complaint. "Okay! You're right. It might not be safe to go now. Don't worry, my Guild is great at training. Our recruits are some of the best! ♪"
"I'm looking forward to it," he replied, entirely genuine. Even if he couldn't actually go very far at all, any amount of not being trapped under one roof would be an improvement. Being supervised on an exploration probably counted as staying where he was told, right? Sure. Semantics. "Be a good opportunity for me to cash in on that other part of my promise too. That is if you're still interested, at least. Wouldn't want to invite myself along or anything without asking."
His guide stopped.
Only sort of paying attention to where they were going, Armaldo nearly bowled right into him, just barely managing to halt in his tracks and keep from sending both of them tumbling to the ground.
"Junior?"
"...Master," Wigglytuff began, oddly quiet compared to his usual exuberance. He still wasn't looking Armaldo's way, and there was an odd set to his posture. Had Armaldo said something wrong? He thought the whole conversation was pretty innocuous, but maybe he'd forgotten how to talk to people politely along with everything else. "...Did you think. I might say no?"
"Uh." Shoot, had he? "I don't know if I was really... thinking that hard about it. I don't like making assumptions, that's all."
Finally, Wigglytuff did turn to face him. His expression hadn't changed much, but there was enough of a downward tilt to it that Armaldo abruptly realized he'd made a serious miscalculation in terms of how much Wigglytuff did or did not still care about him.
"Kid--"
"You know," Wigglytuff cut him off. "I used to introduce myself as your apprentice whenever I met someone new."
Armaldo blanched. "You did?"
"Yup! ♪ No one had ever heard of you. But I still did it." He reached up and stuck his paw in the curled tuft of fur on his head, rifling around for a minute. (Did he... store stuff in there? Was that something Pokémon with fur did? Huh.) "It was important to me. For a couple reasons, really! I wanted to remember where I came from, who got me started exploring in the first place. It's only thanks to you I've been able to explore so far and make so many friends."
Before Armaldo could interrupt with a refute, protest that he hadn't actually done that much and Wigglytuff's achievements were all his own, the kid was already barreling through with more to say; "I also knew that one day you would be all done answering for the things you'd done. When that happened, you would be free to become an explorer. An honest one. And I thought it would be nice if you had a good reputation right from the start. Being known as the teacher of one of the most famous Guildmasters around sounds pretty good, right? ♪"
Better than being known as an outlaw, at least. And a B-rank one at that.
Finally finding whatever he'd gone looking for, Wigglytuff pulled his paws free of his fur, and opened it to reveal a small blue sphere. It had been scuffed and dulled with time, but clearly well taken care of. And well loved.
Armaldo exhaled slowly.
"You kept it," he said, quietly. Whether he'd actually kept it on his person all that time or tucked away in a box somewhere and only brought it out for this specific meeting didn't really matter; he'd still held onto it. And known where it was to bring it with. "All this time?"
"It was important," Wigglytuff replied. He tucked the Defend Globe back into his fur, and reached forward to take hold of Armaldo's claws. Armaldo just froze at the unexpected contact. "My point is, yes. ♪ I want to go exploring with you again. That's mostly why I did all this! ♪"
They were still standing in the middle of the road. (It was a good thing there weren't a lot of travelers in the middle of the afternoon.)
He'd kind of wondered. If it was some sense of debt that had urged Wigglytuff to vouch for him, or if he'd really still cared that much. At some point along the line (in the past few minutes they'd been walking) he'd decided on the first option, because that was just how the world worked, wasn't it? No one did things just to be nice.
But Wigglytuff wasn't like anyone else, was he?
Either really not noticing or choosing to ignore the way Armaldo had gone completely still under his touch, Wigglytuff drew his paws back, wagging one like he was dishing out a lecture. (Or possibly preparing to use Metronome. But probably not that.) "We don't sponsor a lot of outlaws, you know. In fact, we have an agreement with Magnezone to catch renegade outlaws. Wigglytuff's Guild is staunchly anti-crime. So you'll have to be on your best behavior!"
"You really don't have to worry about that, trust me. My days of outlaw-ing are far behind me." Maybe not for the right reasons-- he still didn't really care too much about following the rules, thought they were pretty restricting a broad majority of the time-- but the end result of your actions mattered a lot more than why you were doing them, right? So what if he was swearing off crime mostly so he never had to see Wigglytuff as sad as the day he'd been arrested again? He was still swearing off crime.
"I do! ♪ Trust you." He reached over to give Armaldo's claw a single emphatic pat, then once more set them off on their way. "You've never given me a reason not to. ♪"
Armaldo gave him a dry look. "Did you forget I was a bad guy?"
He couldn't tell whether the stretch of silence that followed was an indication that Wigglytuff actually had forgotten (which seemed thoroughly unlikely for a lot of reasons), or if that short sentence had somehow inspired another big speech like the one a minute ago.
"I don't think bad Pokémon really exist," Wigglytuff said, confirming the latter conclusion. "I had a lot of time to think about it after everything. And I've kept thinking about it as I've traveled. I've met a lot of Pokémon. Some nice, some not. Some good, and some pretending to be. Some who wanted to be but couldn't. And some who didn't even know they had the option. There's always a choice. But you might not see every road you can take on a first look-- and sometimes you don't have a chance to look again. Sometimes, you just have to take the very first road available to you, even if it's only gonna get you more lost in the end."
Ah, metaphors. Armaldo wasn't the biggest fan of them. At least this one was pretty straightforward.
"You're saying it's a matter of desperation?"
"Sometimes! Sometimes folks are just mean. But that doesn't make them bad. Everyone's a friend, one way or another. ♪" Deflating slightly, Wigglytuff looked away. "Some... are meaner than others. I know that now. I didn't really get it back then. When we first met. But. You had a lot of opportunities. To do something. To hurt me. I looked up to you. I would've done a lot if I thought it would make you happy. That's probably what scared Mama and Papa so badly."
Armaldo's heart dropped into his stomach. He hated to say it, but he'd had that thought, too. There were a lot of really cruel Pokémon in the world. He'd met several. Wretches who would have looked at Igglybuff-- young, impressionable, eager to please-- and seen an opportunity. One to take advantage of.
He tried not to spend too long considering the hypotheticals. Mostly because if lingered too much on what could have been if he were literally anyone else, he got nauseous.
"I-- I wouldn't have done anything like that. Not to you, and not to anyone else. Not ever. I swear."
The beat of silence that followed felt like it stretched on forever, even though it was probably just a few seconds. At the end of it, Wigglytuff turned back to face him with a smile, not a shred of apprehension to be found.
"I know that! ♪ Silly Master. ♪ I was never in any danger with you."
The tension drained out of Armaldo so quickly, it nearly made him stumble.
He didn't--? He didn't. Good. Yeah.
He had a feeling Wigglytuff knew the truth, had known the truth, or he probably wouldn't have been so willing to get Armaldo out of jail. On the list of crimes they'd read him guilty for after he'd been arrested, it had only been the stuff he'd actually done, so at the very least the parents had taken the kid at his word. But he'd still worried...
Well, worried for nothing, apparently. He shouldn't be surprised.
"That's not entirely true," he said, hoping for an easy-going humorous tone, and wincing when it wavered more than he would've liked. "There was that time with the Monster House-- that was pretty dangerous. And you were with me then, right?"
"Hmm. Okay, good point. How about; I was never in any danger from you." Wigglytuff giggled, raising a paw to cover his mouth, not that it did anything to cover his broad smile. "Seemed to me like you were in more danger from yourself! Master taught me a lot of things, but I learned one thing best of all; how not to activate traps. ♪"
"Wha-- Hey! Now that's just uncalled for, Junior."
Defensive as he might've gotten, he couldn't help but be relieved. He knew his feelings really weren't the priority, that they weren't worth much when compared against whatever Wigglytuff had thought of everything, but he'd still... worried. Not that the kid might've seen him in a bad light, that didn't really matter. (...Much.) But that the kid might've been afraid of him for something he'd never do in a million years. He'd never be able to live with himself if he'd inadvertently put that kind of anxiety on Wigglytuff's shoulders.
More the fool him for thinking Wigglytuff would be deterred by assumptions, though. He wasn't even deterred by actual real and present danger when it was staring him in the face.
"Anyway. We should get going. ♪ It's going to get dark sooner or later, and I want to make it to Capim Town before then if we can. We've still got a bit of a journey ahead of us! ♪"
"Oh, yeah?" Armaldo stepped up beside him, bumping an elbow against his shoulder. At least after all this time, the kid hadn't gotten taller than him. He'd have never lived that down. "You think we're up for it?"
"Of course we are! ♪" Wigglytuff smiled brightly, puffing up his chest, and Armaldo could absolutely see both that peppy little kid he'd known and the world famous Guildmaster he was meeting in the same Pokémon. Wasn't even hard. He'd always known his student would turn out to be something special. "Let's do our best, Master! ♪"
Hah. He'd heard that one before. "Don't we always?"
Wigglytuff led the way. And, like he'd never been anywhere else, Armaldo followed.