The Primal Curse Chapter: 2
Aaron was sleeping soundly. He was dreaming about his time at home, about Treecko, and about the Primal outbreak. He wasn't planning on waking up anytime soon but was forced to when he felt several slaps go across his face (Wake-Up Slap).
"You're late." It was Lia who gave him the several full force smacks. "You're only a mute, so you can't pull the 'I'm disabled' excuse."
Aaron woke up and rubbed his eyes. He noticed that Lia was wearing a Tempfix on her chest for her blindness. It revealed the ruby colored glow in her eyes which he missed once she turned off her Tempfix. He checked the battery on his before putting it on. It was at 97% charge, so he equipped it and picked up his satchel (The one that held the orbs. Apparently, it was higher quality than the standard issue bags, and it could hold about twice as many items). Aaron and Lia made their way down to Team Gimp's lobby.
Tremor was giving a breakdown of what each group of members would be doing that day. He was speaking and using PSL at the same time as well. When he saw Aaron and Lia enter, he stopped his sound off and introduced Aaron. "This is our newest member to Team Gimp. His name is Aaron and he is also a human that has been sent to this world." There was a moderate amount of clamor coming from the crowd of Pokemon, but Tremor hushed them. "He may be a human, however, but I don't want him to receive any extra treatment. He is a Pokemon now. Treat him like any other greenhorn, with respect. Do I make myself clear?" All of the crowd threw up their hands in agreement and salute. "Good. That is all." After everyone filed away, he turned towards Aaron and Lia. "You two. I need to talk to you." He walked towards his office while the duo followed. They entered and sat down in front of his desk. "I need you two to check up on an offer that has been made with the Galamence guild."
"An offer? What kind of offer?" Lia was stoically curious.
"... The Weather Trio's orbs."
"What? You mean those three Legendaries?" Lia was visibly shocked.
"Who are they?" Aaron was legitimately confused. He also really hates the pronoun game.
"The three Legendary Pokemon that control the land, sea, and sky: Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza. They control the weather itself. Groudon can cause droughts, Kyogre can cause torrential rainfalls, and Rayquaza can eliminate the weather conditions completely." Tremor's explanation sent chills down Aaron's spine. "They could very well destroy the world if they became Primal. This exchange could very well change everything."
"Well, what do they want for it?" Lia demanded.
"They want nothing. The Pokemon said that they did not want them to fall into the wrong hands."
"Sounds like a trap to me," Aaron inputted.
"Exactly. That's why I'm sending you two as the mediators."
Aaron stared. He broke after a few seconds. "What? You want just us, to go into a possible trap to see if this deal is real?"
"I don't see a problem with it." Lia seemed completely calm about this situation.
"How?"
"Well, we have a backup plan," Tremor explained. "If the situation does happen to be a trap, then you two will have Escape orbs to immediately back out of the situation. I'll give you some just so that it's covered."
"Why us, though? Aren't there more qualified Pokemon in the guild that could also do this?"
"There are, however, because you two look unassuming, and the dealer may be more inclined to go through with the deal."
"But-"
"Look, Aaron." Lia was starting to get impatient. "The longer we stand here, the greater the risk those orbs are put at. I know this is your first official exploration, but, like it or not, this is what we're doing."
Aaron was still reluctant to doing this because even as a human, he has never fought a day in his life. Finally, he said, "Alright. I'll go with Lia to check it out."
Tremor nodded. "Ly. I want you to start getting items for the trip. Once you finish stocking up, come back by here to pick up your Escape orbs."
"Understood. Aaron, let's go."
Aaron and Lia made their way over to the Sharp Shoppe to stock up on items. As they approached, Spines noticed them coming over. "Hello there, Ly! You too, Aaron! What do you guys need?"
"We're going to be doing something slightly risky today."
"Well, you're in luck. I just got a new shipment of Reviver Seeds in today. I even managed to get my hands on some Quick Seeds."
Lily popped up from behind the counter. "What are you two going to be doing?" She then proceeded to latch onto Aaron like velcro.
"A secret mission. I'd rather not say for security reasons, but we are going into Misty Bog." Lia seemed unfazed.
"Misty Bog, huh. Well, I hope you two will be all right with the type disadvantages and all. Anyways, what should I get you?"
"Aaron. How many berries did you pick before I escorted you yesterday?"
He proceeded to count the number of berries and fruit. "Four Oran berries, one Chesto berry, and three apples."
"Alright, then. Spines, I need one apple, two Quick Seeds, five Reviver Seeds, and some Gravelerocks."
Spines took out all the items that Lia had asked for. "Will that be all?"
"Yes. Thank you." Lia handed the items to Aaron who put them in his satchel. They both proceeded to walk away from the store.
"Come back soon! Don't hurt yourself too much, Aaron!" Lily was only really worried about him.
Lia walked to the Misty Bog with Aaron. It wasn't a mystery dungeon, but it was hard to traverse nonetheless. It was mostly inhabited by Flying and Psychic type Pokemon. Around three-quarters of the way through, there was a clearing where someone before them had created a rest stop of sorts. They both sat down and ate two of their apples while they had a conversation. "Did Tremor say anything more about who was offering the orbs?"
Lia took a bite out of the apple. "He said it was a Swadloon named Slink." Lia just sighed. "He has the most clich name for a deal maker I've ever heard."
"He better have the orbs otherwise, this is all for nothing." Aaron took a small bite out of his apple.
"Well, then we know that the real orbs are still out there to retrieve before any gets to them."
"I guess." Aaron finished off his apple and they both got up and continued down the bog. They came to a larger clearing than the rest stop and saw a large twisted tree in the center of it. "So, where's Slink?"
Lia closed her eyes and sensed nothing. "He should be around this clearing."
Aaron and Lia began to walk around the clearing. Lia looked around the outer edge of the clearing while Aaron looked around the tree. He looked at the trunk of the tree and in all of its worn alcoves. He saw that one of the alcoves went into a larger hole in the tree. "Lia. Give me a hand." Lia lowered Aaron into the hollowed out area and it fell down about three feet. He landed on something firm but it wasn't solid ground. Aaron looked down and saw a green and yellow Pokemon that seemed to be wrapped in a leafy blanket. "Lia! I think I found Slink!"
"In the tree?"
"Yeah. I don't think he's in good shape right now, though." Aaron lifted him out with his arms and handed him over to Lia. They sprawled Slink out on the ground. He had one large claw-like gash on his side. Most of the wound was still fresh and the edges were slightly scabbed over. "Will he be alright?"
"I have no clue." She reached into Aaron's bag and brought out an Oran berry. She broke it half and try to feed it to Slink. He didn't respond at all. "If he's not eating, then he is unconscious. We need to bring him back to the guild hall."
"What about the orbs? When are we going to get those?"
"I don't know, but right now, his life is more important." Lia quickly wrapped up Slink's wound with some emergency gauze. "We have to carry him. You ready?"
Aaron nodded and the duo began to take Slink back to the guild hall. Once they came inside Lia began to take Aaron and Slink into a different gate in the main hall. This one had a blue border, unlike Team Gimp's purple border. Aaron saw a crowd of Pokemon made up of mainly Water-Type, Electric-Type, and Fairy-Type Pokemon. They continued holding him like a stretcher into what seemed to be an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A mostly blue and white Pokemon was standing in one of the rooms who became surprised at Aaron and Lia's sudden entry. It had white from its bottom to its midsection and was sectioned off by a wave and bubble-like pattern. It had a thin zig-zag tail with a small blue ball at the end of it (Azumarill).
"Hailey." This was one of the few times that Lia turned on her Tempfix. Lia's ruby red eyes showed distress that Aaron had never seen before. "This Pokemon needs to be treated, and quickly."
"Lia? What's happened?" Hailey the Azumarill was starting to get worried because of the bandages around Slink's torso.
"He was slashed in the side and he is still losing blood. I wrapped some emergency gauze around him, but he still needs treatment. He won't eat either."
Hailey lifted Slink out of Aaron and Lia's hands almost effortlessly and carried him over to one of the beds. She used a move that put up an almost divine aura around her to prevent the spreading of status ailments (Safeguard) while she treated Slink. "I need a Super Potion, some crushed Pecha berry, a Revive, and some fresh bandages. This is going to be a rough one." She first sprayed the wound with a Super Potion which made the area close up with a weak scar. Hailey took the bandages and rewrapped the area to prevent the wound from opening again. She took the Revive and pressed it lightly to Slink's chest. It made a soft yellow light emit from the area of pressure and Slink began to stir. His face instantly turned a sickly purple and he was writhing while about half-conscious. Hailey asked for a small glass of water and one of the nearby Clefairys came back with one almost immediately. She took the glass and mixed in the aforementioned crushed Pecha berries. Hailey, while holding the Pecha berry solution in one hand, tilted Slink's head up slightly and slowly let him drink the makeshift antidote. His face slowly turned to its normal yellow color and he stopped writhing on the bed. He was now asleep from exhaustion at that point. "His condition is stable now. All he needs now is some rest."
Lia was relieved. She let out a soft sigh and walked out into a waiting room of sorts and sat down while Aaron followed her. As she sat on the couch in a little waiting area, she turned off her Tempfix, returning her eyes to a milky white. "I'm sorry..." Lia's words made Aaron jump. "I know this isn't how you wanted your first mission to go, but..." She looked in Slink's direction which was behind a couple of walls.
"Don't beat yourself up about it. To be honest, I was expecting something along the lines of an ambush. I'm at least glad we were able to save Slink." Having a moment to think, Aaron looked around at everything. "Which team is this anyway?"
"Paramed. Team Paramed. They mainly accompany teams on rescue missions to revive guild members that have fallen in mystery dungeons. As you have seen, they are quite adept at recovery. Hailey has treated me several times when I was a recruit. I owe her a lot."
"When you were new here, did you run into things more too?"
Lia was visibly embarrassed. "I only still know my way around the Team Gimp wing. The walls of the Galamence guild hall are completely see-through when I use Aura Sight. I bump into the walls quite often still."
Aaron smiled a bit. "Glad to see the ace of Team Gimp isn't completely stuck-up."
"Thanks?" Lia wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. "Anyway, we need to report back to Tremor. Even though the orbs were not there, we still have to tell him about Slink."
Aaron nodded. Both of them stood up and started walking towards Team Paramed's exit. Lia turned her Tempfix on and kept it activated until they entered Team Gimp's entrance. She essentially had the entire place mapped out in her head and used Aura Sight to avoid bumping into other Pokemon. Tremor's office was completely black as usual, and he was currently sitting at his desk reading over some reports in praille (A/N: Pun on braille). Lia knocked on the entrance frame a couple of times. Tremor immediately recognized that it was Lia's knock and turned on his Tempfix.
"You're back. I didn't expect it to only take about two hours. How did the exchange go?"
Lia bowed her head slightly. "It did not go completely as planned but we did manage to rescue Slink in the process."
"Rescue him? What happened?"
"He was in the hollow of a tree when we found him. He was poisoned, bleeding, and unconscious. The orbs weren't anywhere around the site."
"Did you take him to Paramed?"
"He is currently resting. His gash was quite large, but luckily it wasn't too deep."
Tremor stared at the floor for a bit. "I guess the only thing to do is wait. You two can call it in for the day. With Paramed watching over him, he should be awake by tomorrow morning. That will be all." Tremor continued to read over the previous reports after sitting down and turning off his Tempfix.
Once Aaron and Lia left the office, Aaron asked the obvious question, "So, what now?"
Lia was also at a loss. However, she finally said, "If you're still up for it, we can do a different mission to pass the time."
Aaron agreed and they both proceeded to do a couple of item delivery missions until it was close to nighttime. The duo made their way back to the guild building in relative silence. They had both run out of topics to ask each other so the end result was an uncomfortable quiet. Lia walked Aaron back to his room in Team Gimp's wing. Her last words to him for that day was the same, "Lights out." She turned off his lights and walked to the entrance of the guild building and turned on her Aura Sight.
Nearby, atop one of the buildings close by the guild building, was a shadowy silhouette of a Pokemon. It spoke with a sharp voice at a strange orb, "I think we found the human. He's with the Galamence guild right now. I'm going to report this right away." It dashed off into the night unseen by anyone save for one, Lia. She proceeded to follow the suspicious Pokemon all the way into a clearing where she momentarily lost track of it. Focusing a bit harder, she noticed that it had fled into a hidden cave system underneath the clearing. Lia turned on her Tempfix to see exactly where she was and it was the final clearing of the Misty Bog. She decided to call it in for the night and to report what she had found in the morning.