Sweet 'n Sour Feb Tasks 1.1

It was the morning after Kail and Tad officially became members of the Rogue Guild as Team Sweet ‘n Sour. The rain had stopped, the sun was shining, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The air was peaceful and calm and a blanket of tranquility draped over Kail’s shack. The distant sounds of morning Pidgeys and waves gliding across Tao Lake were gently carried by a soft wind. It was a glorious morning, indeed.

CRASH!!!!

The sound yanked Kail out of his slumber and he leapt out of bed. He grabbed for his bone, ready for anything. He ran through the shack, checking everything to see what had happened. His frantic search brought him to Tad’s room, where he saw the Minccino cheerfully humming as he was cutting a red curtain with a pair of scissors. The entire curtain, plus the rod, appeared to have been forced from the wall.

Kail stood in the doorway, his tail drooped slightly. “Tad… what happened?”

“Well, I couldn’t reach the rod, so I just pulled on the curtain until it fell.”

“…Why?”

“Oh! Callahan said we needed to get bandanas or something to mark us as a new team, so I figured we could use this. It’s the same color as sweet ‘n sour sauce!”

Kail stared at Tad’s scissors as they cut through the cloth. Was he really watching this happening?

“Just curious, do you even like sweet ‘n sour sauce?”

Tad had to think about that one for a moment. He paused and mulled it over while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “No.”

Kail brought his hand to his forehead in a sigh.

“Okay, here’s yours!” Tad hopped to his feet and proudly presented Kail’s bandana to him. The cloth was roughly cut frayed in a few places. Kail took it anyway.

“Thanks, Tad.”

“I’m gonna wear mine like a superhero!” Tad tied his own bandana around his neck so that if fell behind him like a small cape. “What about you?”

Kail didn’t reply, but instead latched it around his left arm. His teammate gave him a double thumbs-up as a response.

They made themselves a quick breakfast and prepared to be off to Tao Village to look at the Task Board. It didn’t matter if it was only their first day on the job, there was no time to waste. Tad was most eager to see what Rogue-specific tasks were available.

The pickings were a bit of a disappointment.

“Beat up a Shedinja?!” Tad stared at the Task Board in disbelief. “How are we supposed to do that? Neither of us are fire or flying types.”

“I know Rock Slide,” said Kail. “That would work.”

“But it’s not helping anyone. And what about this one- ‘change the shipping address to Kings Rock Casino?’ I don’t know, Kail. They both seem pretty shady.” He turned to the Rescuers’ tasks. “Oh, what about this one! Helping a Caterpie evolve would be great!”

“That’s not our assigned task, Tad. We’re Rogues, not Rescuers.”

“But…” Tad looked at their own tasks despairingly. They didn’t feel right-neither of them did. His eyes wandered to the other messages. “I want something luxurious. Sell our stuff. This Exploud is too loud. One of our trees was…”

Kail read over the Rogue tasks again. He agreed with Tad on changing the shipping address request- it did seem rather odd. But the Shedinja… from what the author said, it sounded like his over privileged brother was using his advantage to oppress his fellow ‘Mon. Kail narrowed his eyes as he thought of Vernon the Shiftry, who had performed such an act countless times throughout his life. Perhaps it wasn’t such a terrible task. Besides, a battle against a Shedinja could help make him stronger. And the stronger he was, the closer he would be too—

“Kail! Kail, this one!”

“Huh?”

“We need to do this one!” Tad tore the paper off the board and shoved it in the Cubone’s face. Kail took the paper from him and held it further away so he could read it. A residential tree in Mossy Village had fallen down, leaving many bugs homeless. They needed someone to build a home for them.

When Kail looked up from the paper, he saw Tad looking back at him. His face was serious. Kail understood exactly why they needed to do this one. Less than a year had gone by since Tad’s own house was destroyed, leaving him out in the streets.

“Very well,” said Kail. “We’re off to Mossy Village.”