Mission Destination: Seafoam Caves.
Floor 1
Alex jumped back from the attacking pokegirls, not even certain what was attacking him at first. Helen sprung into action thankfully, her metal coated vines extending from her back and lashing at the line of icy scaled dragon types.
Frostwhelps, the snow dragon pokegirl. They tended towards working in packs, so Alex wasn't too surprised to find them in a group of six.
He was slightly caught off guard to see two Frostdrakes, their evolution, behind them. All eight pokegirls fired ice beam together, releasing a blast of cold that would have even frozen the two of them in a block of ice too solid to even be broken apart with machinery.
Thankfully Alex was quick on the draw and let out Allie; all three heads releasing fire blast at the same time. The three waves of intense fire collided with the ice blast.
It didn't fully negate the attack, but it weakened it enough for Helen to block the attack without risking too much damage.
Her steel typing protected her from taking too much damage, but it would take her a moment to free herself from the ice she'd been trapped in. Alex let out Tali and Josie to help them out, the former using Bandage Snake to stall the attackers while the latter used psychic to try and free the frozen Iron Chef.
Tali's bandages wrapped around four of the Frostwhelps and sent them into the Frostdrakes like projectiles. The remaining two fired off large ice shards, which the Phawhore handled with bronze and silver fist to crush the two of them one after the other.
The combination of Josie's psychic power and Helen's own strength freed her from the ice, and with an annoyed growl she fired of a combination of metal sound and razor leaf, hitting the entire horde of ferals at once with it.
Allie fired off another triple fire blast, aided by Josie's psybeam. The two (or perhaps four based on how you counted it) attacks combined as they hit the ice dragons, creating a colorful burst of embers and light.
The Frostwhelp's dropped to the ground, the two Drakes remaining on their feet; if only barely. They both fired off aurora beam together, focusing their fire on Allie. The Cerberass put up her guard and braced herself for the double attack, letting it hit her so the others could focus on damage dealing.
Josie froze the two dragons in place with hypnosis while Helen and Tali delivered finishing attacks with frying pan and drill punch respectively.
Both of them dropped to the icy ground, left unconscious by the strikes. Alex took a breath, sending out Velvet to take care of healing Allie and Helen; and possible Tali is she'd managed to hurt herself with the counter attacks. Allie had actually managed to take the attack without a massive amount of damage, just getting burns on her arms.
At least she looked alright, though it was possible she was just trying to show off to the rest of harem.
Floor 2
Alex and his harem set up camp on floor two of the Seafoam Caves so they could gather items from the area.
Hidden within the walls and the solid ice structures were crystals of ice that could function as evolution items for certain ice types, and power up ice type moves if held by a pokegirl as a normal item.
Dara's fists, Helen's vines, and Josie's psychic were instrumental in gathering them, while Tali phased through the ice cold water to go diving for naturally occurring water stones within the flowing water. Alex did his best to help them, he didn't think it was fair for them to do all the work; but humans, even at their peak, were only capable of so much, and these were tasks for them.
He sighed as he accepted this and sat at the camp, unsure what he should be doing to help out the exploration in some way; until his keen senses picked up on a sound from nearby, and he
Floor 4
The party had barely stepped into the next room of the cave when they were aggressed by three figures.
They landed in front of them, large humanoid pokegirls, drappled in gear made of fur and armed with swords. They were definitely feral it seemed, but they could still speak.
Well, the one in the lead spoke, "Human, step forward to fight. You may choose two of your harem to face use with you. You may not pass until you've defeated us in combat."
Alex looked them over. Stone grey skin and matching eyes. All three were highly muscular and standing just under seven feet; though the leading one Alex could see was also quite curvy with a rather pleasing hourglass figure.
Huns, the ice warrior pokegirl. They were skilled hunters and powerful arctic warriors. How exactly these three had gotten stuck down here-and more to the point, how they'd gotten to the point of deciding they were the guardians of this level of the caves-Alex couldn't even venture a guess.
He looked to Velvet and Carrie, nodding to them and stepping forward with them. Normally, they were his support pokegirls, so he figured they would appreciate the chance to take center stage in a battle.
If nothing else, it would give them another opportunity to compete with each other, which he was sure they would like.
All three Huns drew their swords as Alex and his pokegirls stepped forward. If things got out of hand, of course Alex's other pokegirls would get involved, but for the moment they figured they'd follow the arbitrary rules set up in front of them. Velvet dawned her organic armor, pink body covered in the dark self-formed material, fingertips sharpening into blade points while static began to spark from Carrie's fur.
The three Huns rushed forward together, their blades raises and glowing with the light blue of their ice elemental power. Velvet jumped up into the air, landing behind her opponent and slashing behind her. Carrie blocked the Hun's sword with her claws, sending a powerful shock through the blade and into its wielder.
With no innate combat attacks, Alex was left with basic martial arts. He sidestepped her to avoid the swing of the sword, striking her wrist with one land to make her release it before driving his other fist into her jaw to send her back.
He didn't like physically fighting himself, but even if he did, she barely seemed affected by the attack, grabbing the tamer by his coat and throwing him into the air; firing a bolt of ice at him. It hit and shattered against his body, knocking the wind out of him and spraying his body with shards of ice.
He landed on his feet, which he realized immediately had been a terrible idea. The Hun picked up her sword again and rushed forward to finish Alex off, but he launched to the side to avoid it, kicking her legs out from under her.
Her sword went skittering across the ice. Curiously-and not at all to do with the Slowsis who's eyes followed the blade the entire way-the sword kept going across the ice until reaching the rushing water; which carried it away permanently.
The Hun struck the ground in frustration, turning to find Alex being healed by the Night Nurse; the Lawfoxx's lightning crackling across the cave to keep both of the other Huns as bay. She stood up, holding out her hand and forming a broad sword from ice before charging forward. Velvet glared at her, stepping forward and firing off dark bomb.
The detonation melted the ice for a foot in every direction around the Hun as her sword was broken apart by the blast. She remained on her feet, which surprised and even impressed the Night Nurse, who rushed forward with her organic claws.
Seeing that Alex was healed, Carrie dropped the lightning fall and focused her fire on one of the Huns to try and finish her off quickly, hoping she could do so before the other Hun landed a strike on her from behind.
As it turned out, she couldn't; so it was thankful that Alex was healed and able to tackle the other Hun to the ground before she could land the attack.
Said Hun kicked Alex off of her, but by that point, Carrie had finished frying the other Hun with a combination of thunderbolt and magnet bomb.
She dropped to the ground, unconscious and smoking, and Carrie was able to turn around and fire at the other Hun before she could attack Alex with her sword.
The battle was ended when the third and final Hun was thrown through the air, Velvet having hefted her up and sent her flying into the other one so the three were all left unconscious on the solid stone ground. Alex stood, letting Velvet heal whatever possible internal damage he'd taken as he threw out ultra balls to capture the three Huns.
This was no place for great warriors to end their days. He'd find them nice homes up above somewhere, even if it was only at a pokegirl ranch.
Floor 8
The party was experiencing a lot of cold due to their depths in the Seafoam Caves by this point, but their equipment was keeping them fairly alright.
But when they crossed the threshold of the current level and looked down into what was occupying the icy water below them, their blood all froze over in perfect sync.
She wasn't as massive as she could have been given her species, but given the circumstances that be like if every inch of your body burst into pure white fire and being thankful it wasn't acid. She was more like a section of the cave than an occupant of it.
Leviathaness, the Deep Devil pokegirl. Seeing her alone and taking a picture for confirmation would be a reward five hundred thousand credits. At their largest they could be about three hundred feet.
In theory they had bodies like mermaids; but in practice their otherwise human mouths were filled with sword length fangs, and their tails could wrap around ships to crush them near effortlessly.
If he managed to kill her without getting killed himself that'd go up to eight hundred, and if he could capture it… he'd single handedly pay for this expedition, the next few months of living after it, and possibly the entire next expedition, with a single pokeball. He had of course brought with him various pokeballs.
Normally a Heavy Ball would be only slightly more useful than a standard ultra ball, but the current target was so massively heavier and larger than normal that a heavy ball would essentially be a master ball against her.
But Alex saw no value in risking things with such a powerful bounty 'girl; one who could and would bring the entire mountain down on top of them.
They needed to weaken her as much as they were physically capable of; without waking her. Alex used Josie's telepathic abilities to communicate wordlessly with his harem, letting them coordinate as silently as possible.
Jasmine flew quietly up into the air, hovering above the partially submerged beast of a pokegirl. Josie used her psychic to levitate Dara and Allie across the cave to a ledge on other side, Alex taking out one of his pricer pieces of equipment that he was now infinitely glad he'd brung; a solar generator. It provided sunlight-like energy that Helen could absorb; either for food or, in this case, to attack with.
Josie hovered to one side of the cave, Tali floating over to the other, Dara and Allie preparing to strike from the opposite end of the cave that Alex, Velvet, Helen, and Carrie currently were.
There wouldn't be much elegance to this. This would just be a pure, mad, berserk onslaught.
Ironic considering how elegant it started; Jasmine mixing her Gyspy Moth singing skills with her celestial sub typing to create a song of bliss and calm, keeping the sleeping feral in an even deeper trance to prevent her waking. On Alex's cue, the pokegirls attacked in as close to unison as they were capable off.
Allie fired a fix of blast burn, hell fire, and fire blast from her three mouths while Dara released hyper beam. Velvet, Helen, and Carrie fired off dark wave, solar beam, and thunderbolt respectively.
From the sides, psybeam and rock blast came from Josie and Tali. The attacks hit from all directions at once, igniting the room with light and sound, dealing as much damage as possible. By themselves, Carrie and Allie were probably doing the most damage, but it was a group effort; and all would later agree that it was Jasmine doing the most work.
The wrath of a Leviathaness was often compared to legendaries, demonic almost in its power. And with naught but her voice and celestial power she was holding it all at bay. That said, she couldn't keep it asleep throughout the entire assault.
The entire cave erupted with the sound of her roaring as she began to wake, the water firing off in all directions; solidifying into spears at the ends to attempt killing the attackers quickly. Thankfully the only ones at risk from this were Tali and Josie; both of whom could easily weave around to avoid them.
The waters grew more violent, the cave beginning to shake. Loud cracks were heard as the strength of her movements began to send spiderweb cracks all throughout the cave. Thankfully Jasmine was ready for this, concentrating her celestial energy into a more offensive force.
She formed a Heavenly Arrow, combining it with the Signal Beam attack and firing the attack down; landing a direct strike on and into the feral's head. She continued to thrash, having send a deep crack that spanned the length of the cave through the ice in the thirty seconds she'd been conscious.
Not wanting to risk it further, Alex called off the attack and sent out the Heavy Ball. It impacted the point of the Leviathaness' head where the Heavenly Signal Beam had left a painful looking mark.
A pokegirl vanishing into a pokeball was always slightly odd when you focused on it, but it was outright surreal when it was such a massive, colossal pokegirl into the standard sized ball. Josie kept the ball hovering in the air as it shook, but the bounty 'girl's size and strength, for the first and perhaps only time in her life, worked against her.
She was so incredibly vast that the Heavy ball caught her without incident. It may well have done so even without the damage, but there wasn't a chance of Alex risking it.
And to put icing on the cake, the tamer had managed to snap a picture of her when she'd woken up; catching the image of her right as her tail and powerful arms had risen from the water. That alone would make the trip worth it; capturing her entirely… they might as well leave the caves now.
But with the Leviathaness out of the way, Alex could see the path leading down to even deeper levels of the cave, and none of them could resist pressing on further.
Floor 9
Alex really only had himself to blame for the ice beam that was fired at him. The way he fell in through the icy cave floor would likely look like a deliberate assault to someone below.
Thankfully the momentum of his fall prevented the all but certainly lethal ice beam from hitting. Alex landed hard on the frozen ground, hearing something either below or within him crunch from the impact. He groaned in pain, his pokegirls coming down after him.
Allie and Helen immediately went on the defensive, standing guard while Dara and Velvet focused on healing to repair the damage he'd gotten in the fall. He sat up, looking at whatever the source of the ice beam was, his eyes widening as he realized he was staring down a legendary.
She stood seven feet tall, her body a blend of strength and elegance, icy blue feathers lining her harpy-like arm-wings that sparkled as though actually sculpted from ice. Her eyes were colder than the cave around them, trailed on Alex and his harem as though waiting for them all to attack at once.
Articunt, the legendary ice bird pokegirl; the pinnacle for ice types and a paragon of flying types.
"Stand down girls, we aren't here to cause any trouble." Alex reminded them. Allie and Helen remained in front of the legendary for another moment before moving back to stand next to their tamer instead.
"It has been quite awhile since a human made it down this far." Articunt said softly, "He was powerful. Dragons, fire, swords, guns, and a fighting spirit to rival an Amachamp's. He put up a respectable fight, but didn't know what to do when he lost. I suspect if you looked you could still find what's left of him somewhere in that water." She said, gesturing to the freezing water surrounding the stationary glacier that they were standing on.
Alex put his hands up peacefully, "I'm not here for a fight." Articuno tilted her head.
"Then you perhaps think you've some clever words to convince me to join you? Can't even remember the last time someone tried diplomacy."
Alex shook his head, "I'm not here to capture you at all. It'd be an honor to have a legendary of your caliber of course, but I'm not in the market to add to my team."
This genuinely caught her off guard now, blinking in surprise, "Then.. what are you here for?" She questioned. "Well, we just came here for a little exploring," Alex said truthfully, "Take a few picture, collect a few items, mark things down. We'd heard rumors of a legendary being down here somewhere, but we didn't even know if it was true; we certainly didn't expect to actually find you."
"Is that so?" Articunt asked, "Well, now that you've seen that I am, what is it you intend to do?" Her every word came out suspicious, like she was constantly waiting for a net to drop onto her and Alex to begin monologuing his clever plan and victory. Given the stories of her past, he wouldn't be shocked if that's what she was expecting. Speaking of..
"Well, I'm hoping I'm persuasive enough to hear some stories," Alex said, "I'd suppose a legendary like yourself has quite a few. Of the old war if nothing else." He shrugged, "Maybe a picture or two for the sake of paying for the supplies that got us down here in the first place. I could tell anyone who asks that I only got a glimpse if you like."
Articunt was silent for several long moments, then a soft chuckle escaped her, "Well.. I suppose you deserve something it for making it so far. Take a seat human, I'll tell you a few things. Keep quiet about it and I might, might see about a picture. Might be interesting to see how many humans make it after you if you leave with evidence. Maybe I'd even have to relocate."
Alex didn't ask the question he really wanted to ask; that being why the hell she was down here. She was a flying type, a bird, and she was trapped down at the bottom of the cave.
Until just a few moments ago when he'd put a whole through the frozen ceiling, it didn't even look like there was a way for her to have gotten in or out if she wanted to. Either way, he sat down and listened to her tales, jotting them down in a journal that only he, his harem, and (gods willing) his future children would see.
The stories weren't the only things he got though, and as he and his team left the Seafoam Caves in the early rays of dawn the following morning, he felt that the trip had been an overwhelming success.
Mission Complete.
Items: Deep Icy Crystalsx10 (100 credits each), water stonesx3 (3000 credits each), Old Relic (5000 credits), Articunt Feathersx3 (20k credits each).
Pictures: Dancing Yuki-Onna (3000 credits), Battling Leviathaness (400k credits), Resting Empresslove (5000 credits), Calm Ice Empress (5000 credits), Articunt in Flight (450k credits).
Captured: Frostwhelpx6 (3000 credits each), Frostdrakex2 (5000 credits each), Hunsx3 (7000 credits each), Leviathaness (1 million credits).
Total Reward: 1,987,000 credits - 500,000 expedition expenses = 1,487,000 credits.
Personal journal increased by 10%.
