The second chapter c: Once again, this is a collab between rioludoodle and Quillinx! 33 We hope you enjoy.
Eevee and Cyndaquil are mine, Buizel and Zorua are rio's.
Eevee yelped, diving after Zorua. The Hyper Beam shot directly over her head, singing her fur badly. Her ear tips stung. She spiraled into a free-fall for a few horrifying seconds-one, two, three... before a Staravia caught her as well, wingbeats ragged as he made a steep turn to avoid a second Hyper Beam. Her eyes plastered almost shut, she tried to look for Buizel and the two rescuees. She felt like she was about to fly straight off the Staravia's slick back at any moment.
"Do you see them?" she yelled to the Staravia, but his reply was lost in the roaring wind. Little singed bits of something leftover from the Hyper Beam danced through the air.
"Hey! Eevee! Over here!" Zorua shouted in her shrill voice. "We're right above you!" Sighing with sudden, unexpected relief, Eevee looked up and directed the Staravia she had landed on upwards to join the others.
"Do we head back to our base or headquarters?" Buizel asked, raising his voice to be heard over the wind. As the Staravia banked sharply, steering her up to them, she would most likely have given Zorua the tongue-lashing of her life. If they had had time for that. She scrambled a little further up Staravia's back, fastened her kit more firmly around her neck, and opened her mouth to reply.
"Our base!" she shouted, the wind sweeping the words from her mouth. "Safer! Hurry, Salamence is coming!" A distant roar echoed from the ship. Cyndaquil shivered and clung to the silky feathers of his Staravia, looking back fearfully.
"All right!" Buizel didn't argue- he knew that Eevee was probably right. And if he dared suggest she wasn't, she'd blow up at him, and they really didn't need that at the moment. With a gentle nudge, he directed his Staravia towards the general direction of Sandgem Town. The others quickly followed, Zorua squealing with excitement, Cyndaquil shivering and clinging to Buizel, and Eevee muttering under her breath about something, probably not a peaceful something.
As they swept through the air, the roars of the Salamence grew fainter.
"I bet we're okay now," piped Zorua, who had been surveying the whole flight with bright, unafraid eyes. Eevee squashed her back down onto her Staravia, who squawked quietly in protest.
"You never know for sure," Eevee hissed. "It might be a trick. The J is tricky, you know."
"Up ahead!" Buizel's shout interrupted them both. "I can see Sandgem Town now! We're close, don't worry." He looked kindly down at Cyndaquil and patted him. "Not much longer." The flock of Staravia swooped down to the tiny speck that was Sandgem.
"Finally," Buizel said, "We're here."
They had just arrived at their base located just outside of Sandgem Town.
"So..." Zorua said, squirming in a slightly impatient way. Everyone ignored her.
Eevee looked around worriedly, scanning the clear afternoon skies for any sign of Hunter J and her Salamence. The Staravia seemed to have outflown them. Now that was a close one.
"Thank you for your help," she said, bowing formally to the flock. As the three Staravia took flight, one by one, each bowing their heads respectfully, she turned to Buizel, Zorua and Cyndaquil. "Let's get underground." She couldn't wait to be back somewhere safe again. Cyndaquil, who had finally stopped shaking like an aspen leaf, was the first to scramble inside.
They had gone underground through a hidden tunnel at the base of a tall tree in the forest just outside of Sandgem Town. The tunnel was lined with a slippery moss, and was more like a waterslide than anything else. Having arrived there for the very first time, Zorua and Cyndaquil were curious and looked around the base. It was fairly empty, and evidently 'Rescue Squad J' were relatively new at what they did. Some extra TMs were stacked up in a corner, which Cyndaquil dolefully poked at until Eevee snapped at him to stop. There were also a few apples and a storage cupboard, probably full of food. A little oven was set into the wall.
Curious about something that had been on her mind since being rescued, Zorua repeated, "So..."
Before Buizel could stop her, Eevee whipped around bad-temperedly.
"'So'? So what?!" she snapped. "If you have a question, just ask!" Cyndaquil backed away fearfully. Eevee rolled her eyes and faced Zorua confrontationally. One of her eyes twitched slightly. I am so not in the mood for sharing our base with these Pokémon.
"When's lunch?" Zorua said with a smile. Eevee stared at her in disbelief.
"You... you..." she sputtered. "You just got rescued from Pokemon Hunter J, and you're worried about lunch?" Eyes wide, she stared at Zorua for another second and then burst out laughing. "You've got guts, that's for sure!" she snickered, turning to Buizel. "So, when is lunch?"
"Um... in about half an hour from now, I guess." Buizel said, taken aback by the whole encounter "Why is it always me who has to get it ready though?" Zorua, not even paying attention to the conversation anymore, scampered off to play with Cyndaquil. Buizel glanced at them. They had begun a game of tag with each other, Zorua having cast an illusion of herself as a Cyndaquil as well. Cyndaquil squealed as he pounced on Cyndaquil-Zorua.
"Because I'm no good at cooking," explained Eevee as though it were obvious. "Don't you remember the last time I had to cook?" She winced. "Actually, I'd rather not remember that, if it's all the same to you." She backed aside, closer to Buizel, as Cyndaquil-Zorua crashed into her front paws. "Ow! Watch it, you runts." she squealed, but a teasing tone had entered her voice. Not that Zorua would have cared if she had screamed into her face.
Buizel sighed and walked to their storage area to gather some berries and juice. He thought back to the last time Eevee had tried to make lunch. She had ended up causing a small forest fire, when she was slicing berries. The thought made him chuckle. That was Eevee- not feminine at all. He could still hear her voice in his head- It wasn't my fault! This Starly kept trying to steal all of the berries off the bush, so I just aimed a little Flamethrower at him and look what happened! What kind of Eevee knows Flamethrower, anyways? he thought.
Cyndaquil and Zorua apologized, although Zorua was a little less than sincere, and Eevee -grudgingly- took them out to play.
Eevee led the two eager youngsters to a lush, grassy spot in the fringes of the forest.
"Now, you two play nice, stay here, and don't bother me." she said shortly, padding over to a stump and curling up on it. Great. Just great. Watching these two- I'd almost rather cook. Almost.
While Cyndaquil and Zorua messed around, she rearranged the rescue kit to her liking. Ugh. Why are there berries in the TM section?
Outside, Zorua saw a Pelipper arrive, wings flapping heavily, with a Mail Pouch.
"Is this Rescue Squad J's base?" he asked politely, wondering who these two youngsters could be. Surely Eevee wouldn't take on any apprentices, even if Buizel would?
"Yup!" Zorua responded eagerly, abandoning Cyndaquil to scamper over and try to peer into the Mail Pouch.
"Please give them these envelopes." Pelipper replied, trying to shake off the persistent Zorua.
"Okay, sure." Zorua said with a shrug. Pelipper thanked her and flew away, still wondering about them. Maybe they were just rescues with no home.
Eevee trotted over.
"Is there mail?" she asked irritably.
"Yeah, here you go." Zorua handed her the envelopes unceremoniously, practically dumping them in her arms. Eevee staggered, rolling her eyes. Aaugh.
"Hey guys, lunch is ready!" Buizel interrupted, sticking his head out of the base's door.
"Lunch!" all three shouted happily. Cyndaquil and Zorua dashed on ahead, racing each other, but it was Eevee who reached the door first.
"We have mail," she announced, dumping the envelopes unceremoniously at Buizel's feet.
"All this?!" Buizel yelped, surprised. "Well, at least we have a variety to choose from..."
As Zorua and Cyndaquil devoured what was left of lunch, Buizel and Eevee began sorting through the envelopes. Although they specialized in rescuing pokemon from J, they still received everyday requests which were delivered by Pelipper mail from the Sinnoh Rescue Home, where Buizel used to be supplies manager. Eevee had never set foot in such a place; she could barely stand reading through their daily mail as it was. "That's Buizel's specialty," she would always say.
Buizel picked up the first envelope and said, "Well, let's get started on these." Eevee rolled her eyes and picked up another, scanning it. Her paw drummed impatiently on the floor as she read.
"Way below our level," she said, tossing it aside without even looking at the details. She picked up another and sliced through the envelope carefully with one claw. She shoved some food in her mouth at the same time.
Cyndaquil nibbled on a sandwich, feeling slightly ill-at-ease. He tried not to look at Zorua, knowing she'd be wolfing her own food down. Instead, he stared curiously at Eevee and Buizel, wondering what they were doing. Is all that part of being a rescue team, too? I never knew. Watching them talk and laugh together, sitting among the envelopes, made him feel strangely like an intruder. Zorua, of course, seemed to feel so such qualms.
Buizel read through the third letter he picked up.
"Hey Eevee, this looks interesting." the water-type said. "It says, 'Go to Iron Island and gather information about what caused all the Steel-types to attack three days ago. Warning: Human involvement confirmed, unknown if humans who caused this are still on the island.'" He looked at Eevee, the light of a new adventure beginning to shine in his eyes. "Why don't we try it? It sounds interesting, and since everything's back to normal now we could bring Cyndaquil and Zorua with us, at least until Sinnoh Home tells us what to do with them. What do you think, Eevee?" He waited hopefully for a response. Eevee was known to be picky about the jobs the team accepted.
Eevee tilted her head, placing one paw on Buizel's as she skimmed the letter as well.
"Bring those two?" She rolled her eyes, jerking one paw carelessly at Cyndaquil and Zorua. "I don't think they could handle this kind of thing," she scoffed. Plus, I don't want them around.
"It'll be fine," Buizel said- He always thinks the best of everyone. It's so annoying! thought Eevee irritably- "It says right here 'Investigation Mission: Confirmed by Rescue Home'. You know investigation missions aren't dangerous. Besides, you want to leave those two here, alone?" Eevee considered this.
"Yeah... I guess you're right," she admitted, staring in a slightly accusatory manner at Zorua, who stared back, and Cyndaquil, who cringed. "They've already proven themselves to be way more trouble than they're worth." Snorting, she turned back to Buizel. "So what are we gonna do with them, anyways?" I cannot wait to get rid of them. Seriously. Then it could be back to her and Buizel again. She took another bite of food.
"Well, the way I'm thinking of it, we just bring them along." Buizel said. "We'll all fly there, with the Staravia flock, and when we land we'll split into teams and start asking around about what happened with the Steel-types. If there's one of us in each group, we could split it you and Zorua, me and Cyndaquil." Eevee groaned at being paired with Zorua, but she knew it made sense. After all, Cyndaquil would probably-
FWOOOOM! The explosion rang throughout the base, leaving a stunned Buizel and a slowly-growing-furious Eevee facing a dust-covered Cyndaquil and charred Zorua.
"What were you two doing?!" Buizel shouted, dusting some smoke out of the air with one paw. Eevee stared at the charred food in her paw and let it drop to the ground. Her eyes were as big as saucers.
Zorua shook off her fur and boldly said, "We found a bag full of small purple balls and started playing Soccer." She tilted her head. "Why? Is there a problem with that?" Cyndaquil tried to make himself as small as possible. Whoops.
"Those were smoke balls..." Buizel groaned, throwing his paws in the air. He turned to a speechless Eevee and said, "Want to get them out of here now?"
