A new story? Its been 11 months since I've made a new story. Sure, there's been some repairs recently, but thats boring. You guys want the fresh stuff which I've been promising for ages. This fic is the Regular x Legendary fic from SilvaUmbra's challenge ages ago, but whilst the challenge has probably long since passed, I doubt you'd prefer this to remain un-uploaded.
The duo of a Treecko and a Totodile was a regular sight in Wigglytuff's guild, the union's most recently graduated team. Both were perched in front of the jobs board, scanning the notices idly, throwing assignment details at each other.
"Hmm… Lost Onix in Concealed Ruins?" The Treecko suggested, pointing at a particularly handsomely rewarding task. The Totodile shook his head.
"Too many explosion traps. How about…" He twirled a foreclaw lazily, pressing the talon into one of the posters "Treasure hunting team required for exploring Dark Crater."
The Treecko immediately leapt away, backing up against the wall
"No way Crunch! That's an active volcano! I'm not getting roast to cinders for the sake of it." He jittered back. The Totodile half-closed his eyes lazily, fully aware of his partners aversion to fire. After all, on their last trip, he'd fainted six times to the same Magmar. The same Magmar for crying out loud.
"Keep your leaves on, I wasn't being serious…" He replied, returning to scanning the bulletins. To be honest, none of the assignments they'd performed recently had left him with any sense of triumph, of a job well done. Sure, the Pokemon in question would thank them and give them some money, but the thrill of the chase was something he'd missed. The Treecko, being the team leader, had the final say of where they went, and typically it involved trashing rock types, something they could both do blindfolded.
"Hey, here's a good one." The Treecko said, climbing up the wall above the board, and pointing at a tiny article at the top. Crunch tilted his head questioningly.
"I can't read that from down here. What does it say?" He asked. The Treecko pulled the poster off, and jumped back down to ground, showing it to his partner.
"A new dungeon to explore; freshly discovered. Happy Outlook. Kabuto wants a team to explore it with. What do you reckon?" He said, smoothing the creases in the paper. Crunch grinned toothily, picking up the team bag.
"Lime… I say we get going."
"Right. You get some kit out at Kangaskhan's, and I'll check at Kecleon's for anything we might find useful."
Crunch held up a claw smiling toothily again, and Lime punched his paw into it, a similar, yet less dental smile on his face.
"Team Obsidian! You can't beat us, 'cos we're hard as rock!" They shouted together, a habit that none of the regular members of the guild took any notice of anymore, despite the idiocy.
"Ah! Lime!" The green Kecleon greeted enthusiastically, "How can we help you today?"
"Just a look at today's stock please." He replied, drumming his fingers on the counter. The Kecleon pulled open a cupboard against the back wall of the shop, moving aside so Lime could peer inside. After a few minutes, he pointed at a selection of seeds on the bottom shelf. The Kecleon pulled out the shelf, resting it on the counter.
"What takes your interest?" He asked politely. Lime glanced down at the tray, before leaning back.
"Crunch! Do we need any more reviver seeds?" he shouted over to Kangaskhans storage. He saw a blue shape lean out, shaking its head vigorously.
"No, we've got tons." Crunch called back, "And plenty of sleep and stuns. More Blue Gummis wouldn't go amiss though."
Lime nodded, before returning his attention to the counter again.
"Just a handful of Blue Gummis then." He said. The green Kecleon nodded curtly, and moved back to the cupboard, rummaging through the Gummi shelf. A few seconds later, he came back with half a dozen Blue Gummis.
"That'll be 600 poke please." He said as Lime collected them, "Thank you."
"Hey Lime! What's taking so long?" Crunch asked as he arrived at the store, the bag bulging by his hip. Lime tilted his head mockingly.
"Oh dear. Then I guess I shouldn't have spent the extra time buying these." He replied, holding out the handful gummis. Crunch stared at the beans, open-mouthed, a string of drool hanging from his fangs, an effect Lime knew very well. Saying Crunch had a sweet tooth was an understatement. Every single tooth in his mouth had an unhealthy craving for confectionary. Lime continually waved the gummis in front of Crunch's face, before plunging them into the bag. The reptiles face instantly fell.
"Oh come on… couldn't I at least have had one?" He groaned. Lime rolled his eyes, before turning towards the town exit.
"Come on. We've got a dungeon to explore."
They found the Kabuto waiting for them outside the dungeon entrance as they approached.
"Hey!" He shouted as they approached, "I've been waiting for you."
"Ready to rock?" Lime asked, the Team motto. The Kabuto just leant to one side.
"Huh? Erm… I guess…" He said, hobbling along as they headed towards the forest mouth. Upon entering, Lime felt the entrance seal behind them as usual, something the Kabuto hadn't been expecting since he'd yelped loudly and was now clinging on to Crunch's back in terror. Something that Crunch was used to new clients doing anyway, but still unpleasant since they usually had claws.
"What was that?!"
"Just the entrance closing up. Nothing unusual." Crunch said wincingly, shrugging the crab off, "So then… Now what?" Crunch asked, watching as Lime licked a finger and held it in the air, concentrating deeply. After about twenty seconds, he flicked the finger down, pointing down a tunnel in the foliage.
"That way." He answered, leading the group deeper into the woods.
The floors of the dungeon passed quickly until floor eighteen, until their luck at finding the stairs ran out. To make things quicker, they'd chosen to split up: Lime on his own, and Crunch and Kabuto together. A set up they'd often used when trying to get through a dungeon quickly. That split up had been about ten minutes ago.
"Are you guys professionals?" The Kabuto asked his guardian. Crunch shrugged.
"After the guild steals most of our earnings, sort of." He answered, peeking around the next corner. "Sometimes I wonder why- Ooh… Blue Gummis…"
"Huh? What are you on about?"
Crunch was stood in the open entryway, gawping into the room, his jaw dropped as far down as feasibly possible, and a long string of thick drool dangling from it.
"Blue Gummis. The most awesome food around. And free!" He replied, walking into the room naively. He groaned though as almost twenty Pokemon, mainly Persians Sunfloras and Exeggutors, suddenly dropped to the ground ahead of them, blocking his access to the confectionary: A Monster House, one of the most dangerous situations even the most experienced rescue teams could find themselves in with little warning. Crunch could feel the beady eyes of the horde studying him carefully, and he swallowed awkwardly. The Persians in the group growled menacingly.
"Come on!" The lead Persian jeered at him, "Show me what those pegs of yours can do."
Crunch cleared his throat, drawing himself to his full height, even if it was a mere 60 centimetres, baring his talons at the horde. Whilst Monster Houses were indeed dangerous, Team Obsidian had its own system to deal with them.
"A gentleman's got a walking stick, A seaman's got a gaff." Crunch sang deeply. The horde tilted their heads in unison at the strange antic.
"What? What's that supposed to mean?" The lead Persian asked.
"And the merry men of Robin Hood, They used a quarterstaff." A familiar voice, to Crunch at least, sang back from the opposite side of the room. The crowd spun around to spot a Treecko leaning casually against the doorway at the opposite side, razor sharp leaf-blades jutting from his wrists. Had the pack known the duo better, they'd have noticed a slight tensioning in the legs of both of them, a sure signal for a pounce. Finally, the pair sang in unison, the tension in the room building until something had to give.
"On the Spanish plains inside their canes, they hide their ruddy swords. But we make do with an old bamboo and everyone applauds!"
The shocked creatures barely knew what hit them as they were struck with a relentless flurry of lashes as the duo exploded into the fray. None of them could tell foe from friend, slashing out wildly wherever they could see flesh, immediately turning the room into a fierce melee. Above the din though, two voices could be heard clearly.
"1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8!" Crunch shouted, raking claws through anything in his way, and freezing anything that he missed.
"And a 1-2-3-4 and a 5 and a 6 and a 7… 8!" Lime continued, adding to the KO count, hamstringing his opponents with the blades before kicking them over on the pass. He felt the fangs of one of the Persians clamp down on his arm, and he winced as they pierced the skin. Swinging a fist around, he jabbed a blade into the cat's face, the feline relinquishing with a pained howl. With another jab, the Persian was down for the count.
As the dust cloud from the skirmish finally settled, it was clear that he and Crunch were now the only Pokemon in the room still conscious. Well… almost.
"Oh my god… that was so awesome!" The Kabuto shouted, clapping his fore claws together frantically, returning the duo's attention to the client. Crunch scratched the back of his head awkwardly, as Lime wandered over towards the staircase tucked away in the corner of the room.
"It's just a monster house. They're not tough." Crunch answered, sweeping up the Blue Gummis from the floor, "Just takes practice."
"Hey Crunch… you'd better come look at this…" Lime called over, bending down in front of the staircase, careful to hide his injured arm from his partner. Crunch looked at the stairway in question, noticing thick fog pouring through the opening.
"Oh shoot…"
Progress through the next floor was hindered understandably by the fog, forcing the group to feel their way through along the walls. Crunch had vouched to take the lead when offered to by Lime, giving the Treecko a chance to study his injury. It wasn't too deep, and the bleeding had already stopped, but he was still wary that it could be prone to infection. Pressing a finger gingerly to the broken skin, he winced slightly from the sting. Still… he'd suffered worse before…
Out of the fog, a wall suddenly appeared in front of Lime, but being too engrossed in his arm to notice, walked straight into it. Bouncing off the obstacle, he glowered at it, before looking around to see where his companions were. Holding his arms out ahead, he 'scanned' the area around, but as he expected, there was no-one there. Getting separated from the rest of the group would be considered a setback in less experienced Exploration Teams, yet a remarkably common occurrence for Team Obsidian. Pacing carefully, he continued moving through the fog, probing around for either a wall, the staircase, or any other Pokemon.
Nearly half an hour of searching later though, all he'd done was get himself even more lost. The fog was still as thick as ever, and despite encountering dozens of unfriendly Pokemon, he hadn't found a staircase or Crunch. Sitting down against the base of one of the walls, he took out an apple from a small satchel he was wearing, deciding he needed to rest, and that given a bit of time, the fog might clear enough to find a way out. As he bit into the fruit, he traced a finger over the patterns in the paving underneath him, seeing if they would offer any clue as to how to escape this dungeon. He stopped suddenly as his finger moved over a small object on the ground, hidden by the fog. Bending forwards to peer at it, he found a small piece of jewellery lying there; the shape of a heart with a clip on the back. He reached out for it, stopping as he felt a light wind brush through the room. The wind whistled menacingly, the walls around him groaning as they began to shift, before settling down again. He shivered apprehensively at the dungeon's threat, before putting the broach in the satchel. These dungeons had a habit of leaving precious things lying around, and most of them sold for a decent price at Kecleon's. It was a better earner than doing jobs after the guild effectively stole a cut.
Standing back up again, he returned to wandering the labyrinth. He'd never been in a single dungeon floor long enough for it to start to warp around him, but he knew from tales of Explorer teams of ages past that it was very dangerous to be there when the dungeon would reset. But he must have scoured the entire dungeon by now… so he had to bump into the stairs soon enough… it wasn't as though – Oof!
Lime growled as he bounced off something he hadn't noticed in the fog. However, what was surprising was that the something also squeaked from the collision, a quite shrill squeak which despite his couple of years of experience, he'd never heard before, in any dungeon.
"Who's there?!" The squeak asked, panic evident in her voice.
As for who the legendary is... you'll have to wait.