Author's note: Howdy! Not much to say this time, so I'll just say this: enjoy!
Chapter Three: The Storm
Maractus leaned in closer. "'Rowdy Pikachu,'" she read. "'This crook steals personal treasures! Help us apprehend this wrongdoer!' Arrest Pikachu. Last seen in Mount Bristle. Rank C. Reward: two thousand poke and a grass gummi." She moved away, smiling. "Ooh, a grass gummi! I haven't had one of those in a while!"
"Rank C?" Grumpig asked skeptically. "I'm not sure you're ready for rank C yet, kid."
Buneary analysed the poster. Yes, it was true that the rank was a little high for her current skill level – especially since she'd done her first ever D rank only yesterday – but something about the sketch was compelling her to go after this outlaw. She wasn't quite sure what it was.
Now that she looked at it, the Pokemon's face was quite attractive. If the sketch was accurate, then he was handsome in an adorably cute way. She really couldn't believe that she was thinking such things about an outlaw, but it was true.
It was kind of a pity that he was an outlaw, really. She would have loved to meet him in person, otherwise. He was just so darn cute! And he looked to be in good shape, too, if, again, the sketch was accurate.
She sighed. "I guess not..." she replied, about to put the poster back.
"Hold on a second," Maractus said.
She looked up at her. "Hmm?"
"If you wanna do this mission, I say we go for it!"
"But, Maractus..." Grumpig said.
"Here me out, Grumpig! Buneary clearly wants to do this mission... and we're bronze rank, so we can handle it just fine... so I don't see why we shouldn't let her do it!"
"Hmm..."
"I know Buneary's still new at this... but we'll be by her side the whole time! And, as a team, we can take down that outlaw!"
Grumpig smirked. "Yeah, you're right. I wasn't sure she could handle it, but she's a tough kid. Plus, we'll be there to help." She paused. "But you're mainly doing this for the grass gummi, aren't you?"
Maractus giggled. "Guilty as charged."
Grumpig shook her head in amusement, then looked at Buneary. "So, kid... you wanna go after a C rank?"
Buneary's eyes sparkled. She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Yes!" she replied.
Grumpig chuckled. "Alright, then. Come on, let's go gather supplies."
On their way to the ladder, they passed Team Cloud, who were, interestingly enough, staring at the job bulletin board. Apparently, Ducklett had finally managed to convince Rufflet to do a rescue mission. Buneary felt strangely proud of him. After all, rescue missions were just as important in a guild as outlaw missions. She caught sight of Team Awesome also approaching the board before following her teammates up the ladder.
Buneary tugged anxiously on the Plain Ribbon around her neck as she looked around Mount Bristle. Everywhere the eye could see, there were pale-coloured rocks that looked crystalline in nature. She could almost consider it pretty, if she wasn't so busy thinking about what was to come on a later floor. Glancing at the treasure bag that was draped over Grumpig's shoulder, she pictured the wanted poster that lay within it.
She shook her head. No, an outlaw was an outlaw and needed to be brought to justice. It didn't matter how cute they were. Outlaws were evil Pokemon and it was an explorer's job to arrest them. Simple as that.
Her train of thought was interrupted as a Starly appeared around the corner. The flying/normal-type took one look at Team Nebula and tensed for battle. "Darned explorers..." he growled.
Team Nebula tensed in retaliation. Why did so many wild Pokemon have such a problem with explorers, anyway? They were only out to help their community, yet this happened every single time they went into a dungeon. Buneary knew they were territorial, but it was still rather ridiculous. She had several cousins who also hated explorers, but she couldn't imagine why.
"Come and get it, then," Grumpig said.
The Starly snarled. "Quick Attack!"
They battled many Pokemon on their way through the dungeon, sometimes two or more at once. Every Starly, Machop, Geodude, Spinarak and Doduo, however, fell just like the first, some with more difficulty than others. Buneary felt lucky to be on such a strong and capable team, as she really didn't think she could accomplish this alone.
It was on the fourth floor, after knocking out yet another Starly, that they turned a corner and found what they were looking for. There he was, the Pikachu from the wanted poster, with his back turned to them as he tinkered with a large pile of items. He also had something tied around his neck.
As they stepped closer, his ears pricked up and he spun around in surprise, holding what appeared to be a Geo Pebble in his paws. Buneary took one look at his face and her breath caught in her throat. He was even cuter in real life than he was on the poster!
"Explorers?" he asked.
"That's right, Pikachu!" Grumpig replied, readying a battle stance. "So surrender yourself before things get ugly!"
"Yeah!" Maractus added, also taking up a battle stance. This snapped Buneary out of her stupor. She also took up a battle stance.
Pikachu frowned, tossing aside the Geo Pebble and getting on all fours. "I don't think so," he replied.
Grumpig huffed. "Why do they never just surrender?" she asked irritably. A yellow ball of energy appeared between her paws. "Always have to be awkward. Power Gem!" She shot the attack at Pikachu.
Pikachu quickly rolled out of the way and the attack struck the ground where he'd been standing. There was a small explosion and his pile of items scattered everywhere.
"Thundeeeer..." Pikachu built up electricity in his cheeks. "Boooolt!"
It flew from him in an arc and headed straight for them. Buneary and Maractus managed to dodge out of the way, but Grumpig wasn't so lucky. She screamed in agony.
"Grumpig!" Maractus cried. Grumpig collapsed to the floor, twitching. Maractus quickly hopped over to her. "Are you alright?"
"Urgh..." she replied.
Buneary looked over at Pikachu in surprise. How had he managed to do that much damage? He was only supposed to be a C rank and Grumpig was much tougher than that! She prepared herself for any on-coming attack, but was surprised, yet again, when Pikachu backed away from her, guarding the scattered pile of items.
"Grumpig?" There was a pause. "You hurt Grumpig!" Suddenly, Maractus charged straight at Pikachu, the needles on her hand glowing purple. "Poison Jab!"
Again, Pikachu managed to roll out of the way, only for the glowing needles to strike the ground. Turning around quickly, he charged up more electricity. "Thundeeeerboooolt!" Maractus screamed from the electrocution and dropped to the floor.
"Maractus!" Buneary cried.
"Ouch..." Grumpig said as she slowly sat up. "I thought so."
Buneary turned to her. "Huh?" she asked. "You thought what?"
Grumpig pointed to Pikachu. "See that thing on his neck? That's a Special Band."
"A Special Band?"
"Nice scarf, outlaw! Where'd you get it?"
"None of your business!" Pikachu replied, still guarding the pile of items.
"It powers up his special attacks... meaning his Thunderbolt's a bit more powerful than it usually is."
Buneary felt her heart drop. "Oh..." she replied in dismay.
"Which means..." Grumpig pushed herself to her feet. "We might be in for a ride, here."
"Just leave me alone and nobody has to get hurt," Pikachu growled.
"Very funny, outlaw." The black orbs on Grumpig's head suddenly glowed a rainbow colour. "Psybeam!"
A stream of rainbow-coloured light shot out of them towards Pikachu. Before he could react, it hit him and he yelped in pain.
Maractus, still lying on the floor, turned her body around and held out her arms. The needles glowed white. "Pin Missle!" she yelled. White streaks of light zoomed towards Pikachu, striking him in the side. He yelped louder and flew back a couple of feet.
Grinding his teeth teeth in fury, he ran towards Maractus, his tail glowing white. Jumping into the air, he spun around. "Iron Tail!" he yelled.
His tail smacked Maractus in the face, sending her sliding across the floor. He landed back on his four paws and glared at Grumpig.
Grumpig balled a fist and punched it into her palm, then ran towards Pikachu. A green ball of energy appeared on her fist. "Drain Punch!" she cried.
Again, his tail glowed white before he jumped into the air and spun around. "Iron Tail!" The two attacks clashed, with Grumpig's fist pushing against Pikachu's tail. Pikachu flinched in mid-air from having his energy drained and flew backwards. Landing back on his paws, he skidded backwards slightly. He built up electricity again. "Thundeeeerboooolt!"
The attack, again, hit Grumpig and caused her to scream in agony. She collapsed to the floor a second time.
Gasping, Buneary looked at Pikachu, instantly locking eyes with him. It was almost as if the scowl on his face was daring her to attack him. She wasn't sure she could take him down, if Grumpig and Maractus were having trouble, but what kind of explorer would she be if she didn't, at least, try?
She frowned, sending energy to her ears, and ran towards him. "Dizzy Punch!" she yelled.
She swung her ear, but he dodged out of the way, his tail glowing white again. "Iron Tail!"
Seeing it just in time, she backflipped out of the way and quickly sent energy to her feet. "Bounce!"
When she hit the floor, she sprung up several feet, almost hitting her head on the dungeon ceiling. Turning, so that her foot was aimed at Pikachu, she launched herself back down again. Her foot connected with his face and sent him flying across the room. When he hit he floor, he rolled back onto his feet. As she stood there and stared him down, she noticed that he was panting slightly.
"Thundeeeer..." Only too late did she notice that he was aiming the attack at her. "Boooolt!"
The electricity flew towards her. At the last second, Maractus jumped in front of her and took the hit. She screamed in pain and collapsed again.
"Maractus!"
"Ow..." Maractus muttered. She cringed as she flashed her a half-smile. "Get the scarf, Buneary..."
The scarf? She looked up at Pikachu and, after a moment, suddenly realised what she was supposed to do. She frowned, took a deep breath and nodded, lunging towards the outlaw.
His tail glowed white, so she jumped into the air, a plan in mind. As predicted, he jumped into the air after her, swinging his tail around. "Iron Tail!" he yelled.
Doing a somersault over his tail, she reached out and grabbed the scarf. Her forward momentum pulled it straight off him.
The two of them landed on the floor and she lifted up the scarf in victory. "I did it!" she cried.
"Hey, my scarf! Thundeeeerbooolt!"
Before she could even turn around, she was electrocuted. Agony coursed through her veins, seizing up all of her muscles, and she screamed. When it was over, she collapsed to the floor.
If that was the normal version, she thought, I don't wanna know what the powered-up version is like...
"Buneary!" Grumpig cried, rushing over. "Are you alright?"
"I... think so..." she replied.
"Nice work." Grumpig looked back over at Pikachu, the black orbs on her head glowing a rainbow colour. "Psybeam!"
"Energy Ball!" Maractus cried from across the room.
There were several explosions, then Grumpig ran away from Buneary to immerse herself in the fighting. Groaning, Buneary pushed herself into a sitting position to see better.
Pikachu jumped into the air. "Thundeeeerbooolt!" he yelled, zapping both Grumpig and Maractus at the same time. They both yelled in pain, but, when the electricity stopped and Pikachu landed back on all fours, they were still standing.
All three Pokemon now panting for breath, Grumpig smirked. "Yeah, that's definitely weaker," she said. Pikachu's eyes widened.
"Yup!" Maractus replied.
"It's about time we finished this." A green ball appeared over Grumpig's fist. "Don't you think, guys?"
"Agreed!" The spikes on Maractus's hand glowed purple. "Buneary?"
Buneary blinked, then suddenly realised that was her cue. "Oh!" she replied, smiling widely. She quickly hopped over to join them, sending energy to the tips of her ears. "Sure thing!"
Pikachu looked intimidated, but he clearly wasn't going down without a fight. His cheeks sparked. "Thundeeeer..." he said.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Grumpig yelled, charging forwards. Instinctively, Maractus and Buneary followed her. "Drain Punch!"
"Poison Jab!" Maractus yelled.
"Dizzy Punch!" Buneary yelled.
"Boooolt!" Pikachu yelled.
As the combined appendages of Team Nebula struck Pikachu in the face, he unleashed a wave of electricity, shocking all three of them at once. After a moment, there was a huge explosion and all four of them went flying in separate directions across the room. Buneary slid along the floor and crashed into a wall.
It took her a while to get the energy to sit back up again, but, once she did, she could see that Grumpig had crawled over to an unconscious Pikachu and was rooting around in her treasure bag. Glancing over at Maractus, she could see her gathering up the pile of items that was scattered around. She smiled, leaning her back against the wall. They'd done it. It had been a struggle, but her team had taken down a C rank outlaw. Man, did it feel good.
It had been an exhausting day, first fighting off all the Pokemon in the dungeon, then battling the outlaw that Grumpig and Maractus were currently tying up with rope in the kitchen, but Buneary was pleased. She'd accomplished a lot lately and was very proud of herself. One day, she would be the number one explorer, for sure!
After a final tug on the ropes by Grumpig, Pikachu's eyes slowly cracked open. Team Nebula put themselves on guard as he blinked and looked around him. Buneary was unsure about what he was going to do. Eevee had attempted to struggle yesterday, but had been too weak to break free of the ropes.
After a long moment, Pikachu's ears drooped and he stared miserably at the floor, not saying a word. Buneary blinked. Now that was odd behaviour.
"You two watch the outlaw," Grumpig said, heading out the door. "I'm gonna tell Blaziken to call in Officer Magnezone."
"Okay!" Maractus replied. She then turned to the outlaw and shoved him to the floor. He flinched, but, otherwise, didn't respond at all. "Be back soon!"
"Will do!" Grumpig disappeared.
"Wanna help me, Buneary?"
"Uh..." Buneary replied, still observing the pain in Pikachu's eyes, "sure..." She walked over and held her paw against his head.
As the minutes ticked by, and many other exploration teams returned from their own trips out, some congratulating them on their arrest, one question continued to plague Buneary's mind: why was he not struggling? Even a completely exhausted Pokemon still has it in them to struggle, but Pikachu wasn't moving at all. He was just staring mindlessly at the floor. Why? She didn't understand it and it was really bothering her.
Eventually, Grumpig returned with Blaziken in tow. "Bad news, I'm afraid," Blaziken said.
"Oh?" Maractus asked, sounding worried. "What's wrong?"
"The Pelipper that I sent to Officer Magnezone has come back, saying he can't make it here today."
Maractus gasped. "What?"
Blaziken folded her arms. "It seems he's very busy dealing with the flood of outlaws across other guilds right now and can't come here until tomorrow."
"Which means no grass gummi until tomorrow," Grumpig added with a small smirk.
"Aww!" Maractus whined. She paused. "Wait... why not just send some of his Magnemite here, in his place?"
Blaziken sighed. "Officer Magnezone has always been... very picky about that," she replied. "He likes to deal with every outlaw personally."
"But that's a lot of work for one Pokemon..." Buneary said.
"Indeed." Blaziken glanced down at the outlaw. "Well, it looks like he'll have to stay here for the night. It's rare that this happens, but it does, occasionally." Buneary's eyes widened.
Grumpig shrugged. "Yeah, but where are we gonna put him?" she asked. "We can't just leave him in the kitchen." She paused. "Maybe stick him in a closet, or something." She sniggered.
Pikachu didn't respond, continuing to stare at the floor.
"Your team is, fortunately, the only one that brought back an outlaw today, so we only have to deal with the one."
"We were?" Maractus asked.
"Yes." Blaziken paused. "But where to put him..."
Buneary blinked as realisation came to her, but she hesitated. Did she really want to suggest that? It might not be the smartest or most sensible of ideas. However, she needed answers and she was determined to get them.
"There's a spare bed in my room!" she said.
Grumpig and Maractus stared at her like she'd grown another head. "Are you crazy?" Grumpig asked. "He's an outlaw! A dangerous criminal! We can't allow him to share a room with you!"
"Yeah!" Maractus added. "It's not safe! Tell her, guildmaster!"
Blaziken narrowed her eyes a fraction, but said nothing. Buneary felt like she was being scrutinised under the fire/fighting-type's gaze and it made her uncomfortable.
After what felt like an eternity, Blaziken nodded. "Very well, then," she replied.
"What?" both Grumpig and Maractus shrieked at the same time.
"But, guildmaster...!" Maractus cried.
"He may take your spare bed for the night. I trust that you are capable of handling him. However, if he gives you any trouble... any trouble at all... come to me instantly. Am I clear on that?"
Buneary beamed at her. "Yes, ma'am!" she replied.
As Blaziken left the kitchen - Grumpig and Maractus staring after her in disbelief - Buneary looked back down at Pikachu, whose eyes were still overflowing with pain. She didn't know what was wrong with him, but she was determined to find out, one way or another. It was set to be an interesting night...
