Chapter Three! Yippee! Well, I'm gonna start this out with the humans-become-Pokémon heading off after nine to see Chesnaught. That is all I have to say for now, so read on and take a look!
"Robin! Get up, you lazy bird!"
The Volcano Pokémon had to practically yank the Fletchinder off her perch, having forgotten the agreement with the Guildmaster and had gone to sleep. Ren dragged the struggling Robin out of the Rescue Team's tent and repeatedly poked her face to awaken her.
"Heyyy... Stop that!" the bird groaned, flapping upright and pecking him forcefully on the rear. Ren yelped and shot into the air, rubbing his backside.
"That hurt, you know!" retorted the Quilava. "We should seriously get going, though. Chesnaught won't be happy if we're not there!"
"Hey, didn't he say it was optional? That means we can go back to Rin and Izol's nice, warm tent and get some decent sleep!" Robin yawned, preparing to take off in the general direction of the tent.
"Not so fast! If I'm going, you're going with me, even if I have to drag you there by your tail feathers!" yelled the Volcano Pokémon. In response Robin launched off the ground, grunting in the strain to get away, but Ren was too quick. He grabbed a mouthful of black feathers and dragged the Fletchinder to the ground, screeching and beating her wings wildly.
This only seemed to grab the attention of a Bisharp who was positioned outside the flap of Chesnaught's tent. Sprinting over to the pair, he stopped a few metres short once he spotted the stone slabs Ren had (thankfully) remembered. A Bisharp dashing at full pelt towards you when you're human-sized is scary – a Bisharp doing the same thing is even scarier when you're about half-a-metre high, and the two were terrified before the guard stopped dead and gestured for the pair to follow.
Padding quietly behind the tall Pokémon, Ren allowed Robin to perch on his back for a while. Approaching the main tent, the Quilava gulped and crept inside whilst the guard resumed his position. I hope these guys are friendly, he hoped as he gently shook his companion awake. "Robin! Get up!" he hissed, rolling over on the carpeted floor and tipping the Fletchinder off his smooth back.
Staggering to her feet and re-joining Ren, who had spotted a trap-door and ladder leading to an underground floor, the two Pokémon strained their ears to hear what was going on down there.
"I think it's like a party..." Robin trailed off, beak open.
"Umm... I sorta imagined it like one of those things where everyone sits in a circle and tells all the others about their problems... what's that called again?" Ren pondered. The bird shook her head and refocused on the problem.
"I don't know... but we won't find out by sitting around here the whole night, eh? Let's go in." The Volcano Pokémon soon agreed and began to crawl down the ladder. Robin fluttered from rung to rung, suddenly aware at the multiple pairs of eyes boring into the back of her neck. Ren gulped and placed his paws on the ground, leaping down and scanning the room nervously.
Turning around slowly and grinning upon spotting the two, Chesnaught lumbered over and formally introduced them to the others.
"Okay, everyone! Simmer down! Now here we have Robin and Ren. As always they are in the same predicament as you are, so be nice and share with these two. Okay?" A murmur of excitement and approval spread around the underground chamber, and a couple of Pokémon glanced their way before returning to what they were originally doing, whether that be talking or just plain messing about.
"I think I like this place!" commented Robin.
A small green plant-like Pokémon sat on a roughly carved stool in the corner of the room, biting down on a berry and staring into space. He was a Snivy, wearing a dark blue neckerchief, and clearly off in his own little world at the current point in time. Ren loped over, sensing loneliness.
"Hey there!" he smiled, holding out a paw to the Grass Snake Pokémon who flinched away, clearly not pleased by the fright of a fire-type staring him in the eyes. His eyes widened and he scrabbled over the edge of the chair, scuttling over the floor with berry still in hand, muttering 'f-fire!' as he went.
"I wonder what's up with that guy?" Robin thought out loud, rubbing her feathered chin with her flight feathers. Watching the Snivy settle back down on the other side of the room, Ren nodded and plopped himself down on the floor.
"Eh, don't mind him. That's just Elin." Looking up to find a Lucario towering above them both, neither appreciated the jumpscare and let out a sigh of relief as the karate-fighting fox lowered himself to the ground beside the pair. "I'm Kaito. Good to see some new faces around here!"
Robin nodded. "I used to have a Lucario on my team when I was still human... a few days ago, actually. He was named Aura... he fought well. And he had a Lucarionite, like that one on your necklace!" She indicated the stone on a silver pendant hanging around Kaito's neck, and he smiled slyly before turning to Ren.
"So what Pokémon did you have?" he asked, and the Quilava took in a deep breath before replying.
"Umm... I had a... Birdscreech, and a Bunnyclaw, and... umm... a Woofwolf!" By then he had turned a noticeable shade of red, and both Lucario and Fletchinder barely held in their laughter. "Those... aren't Pokémon, are they?" he mumbled, and both shook their heads no while the indignant Ren launched little bursts of fire at the two of them. Robin just took the blast, while Kaito flinched away and wiped the burn marks off his fur.
"I'm a Steel type... so in future, watch where you're launching those Embers!" he growled, standing up and running off to find out who had the bowl of Rawst berries. Both Pokémon watched him go, unsure about this stranger.
By ten Robin had all but fallen asleep, losing grip on the wooden beam she was seated on and dropping to the floor. She bounced twice before she even stirred, and when she did she screeched so loud Chesnaught had to call off the meeting due to a headache issue. Everyone in the hall was more than happy to comply, rubbing their sore ears and shooting glares at the Fletchinder. "What did I do?" she whispered to Ren, who yelped and scuttled out the door holding his paws over his ears.
"Just disturbed the whole party and landed half the guild with a day off sick tomorrow!" he teased sarcastically before popping back round the corner, leaving her alone with the Guildmaster.
"Umm... I'm sorry I fell asleep in your gathering. It was fun, at least until everyone just packed up and left..." Chesnaught nodded solemnly and started lifting the tables into the corner with his broad arms.
"It's alright. Everyone messes up a few times upon becoming a Pokémon. They lose their footing, accidentally set tents on fire, flood the place unintentionally... It looks like you have a sleep issue." Robin blushed at this comment.
"Yeah, I do tend to drift off, then do something weird when I'm not quite fully awake yet and then everyone gets mad at me for saying something or falling over on top of them. Oh, and when I fully wake up I can't remember doing it. What did I do here?"
Chesnaught chuckled. "Fell of the beams, bounced twice and let out a screech loud enough to deafen every 'mon within ten miles of this place!" Robin grew even redder than her normal colour and twiddled her feathers a bit, a guilty look on her face. "Well, I suppose you'll be sleeping at lower heights in the guild from now on!"
"Yes, Guildmaster! Thanks for everything!" she squawked hurriedly, saluting with one wing and fluttering up the hatch, shutting the door behind her. "Byee!" she called down before gliding out of the door, past the Bisharp guard who paid her no heed, and away towards the plain brown tent belonging to Rin and Izol.
"Hey! Where've you been, birdie girl?" Izol teased, claws on hips. "We've been peering in this poor guy's ear all the time you were gone, wondering where the heck you were and checking for hearing damage!" Robin blushed again.
"Can you guys stop going on about my little slip and give a girl a break? I need to sleep!"
"No kidding!" Izol snickered.
"Okay! Time to get up, hurry up and get to Chesnaught's Tent!" An excruciatingly loud voice drifted into the Pokémon's subconscious, reverberating around inside her head.
Robin was now perched precariously on a 'trapeze' – a stick suspended from the ceiling by a few pieces of rope – and was barely responding to the wake-up call. Well, at least until she was practically dragged off her perch by two paws' worth of sharp, hard claws raking her tail-feathers. Luckily, she was suddenly awoken by the hard yank to her tail, and didn't embarrass herself further.
"Come on, sleepy-head! Chesnaught sure doesn't like mid-morning naps, so get your butts over to the tent ASAP!" Rin was yelling rather loudly to the two new recruits. Izol had finished prising the Fletchinder off her new trapeze and was now stood to attention by the door, but you couldn't say the same for poor Robin – she had rolled over onto her back, legs in the air, tongue lolling out, clearly not quite with it.
"Ugh... why the heck are we getting up now? It can't be later than six..." she groaned, not moving apart from the occasional twitch of her toes. Izol tutted and shook her head, tapping her feet against the ground.
"Chesnaught doesn't like slackers. We need to be at roll call in less than five minutes." Rin nodded as if to second her comment.
"And the work starts at seven! We received a rescue mission yesterday from Braviary, the delivery bird. Any mission is our duty to complete, right?" Izol shot him a glare, and the Marill turned red for a second. "Anyway, yeah. Time to go!" With that he slung his pouch over his arm and trotted off out the door, followed by Izol and a yawning Ren. Just mustering the strength to flap just as far as her friend's back, she dropped off the moment her claws touched his smooth blue fur.
"ROBIN! Get UP!" The Fletchinder only groaned, shuffling her feet a bit. "I said, GET UP!" Ren blasted his fire, for she had landed on top of his fire-holes, and she quickly shot into the air – thankfully silent this time around. She could just make out Chesnaught's tent through hazy eyes, her vision clearing as she spread her wings, glided off Ren's back and into the tent.
Once again reaching the ladder this time she took a nosedive, flicking her wings up at the last second and fluttering gracefully to the ground. The tables were once again positioned around the room, each with a note pinned to them, and Pokémon were sat on stools and tree stumps around them. Using her sharp eyesight to her advantage, she made out the lettering on one empty table's note. Noticing the names across the top, she swooped over to get a better look, landing on a small forked stick attached to the floor presumably for her.
Rin, Izol, Robin and Ren
Mission: A client has been caught in a poacher's trap and is due to be loaded into a Poké Ball and sold to humans by midday. Your task is to locate the trapped Pokémon and free her with Izol's sharp claws and lock-picking skills. All of you must prepare for battle as the poachers and ordinary trainers are bound to be in the local area.
LOCATION: Just off Route 2, in the outer edge of Santalune Forest
CLIENT: Sera, Vulpix, Female
REWARD: 100 Poké, Chesto Berry, 5 Upgrade Points
"Okay, so we have to go to Route 2 and get a Vulpix out of a cage. No problemo!" chuckled the oddly-coloured Sneasel, who by the time Robin had finished reading had seated herself on a tall stump to Robin's right. Looking up, she could see Ren sat on a stool opposite and Rin to her left, both chewing on the berries laid out before them. She gave a startled squawk of delight and dug in, shovelling the Oran Berries and Apples into her beak. By the time she had finished she was no longer zoning out every few minutes but hopping onto the table, licking the leftovers from the others' bowls.
"Yuck! You do know what you're doing, right?" Rin flinched away as she hopped to his place, digging her beak into his left-over berries.
"I thought that as a Pokémon this was completely normal!" she replied, berry juice dripping off her beak.
"Well, just because we're animalistic doesn't mean we aren't hygienic!" Izol cut in before Rin could reply. Robin quickly hopped back onto her perch, eyeing Ren's mushed remains and licking her beak pitifully. Feeling sorry for her, the Quilava leant over the table and scooped his leftovers into her bowl which she downed in a few seconds.
"SIMMER DOWN, everybody!" roared a booming voice from the front of the hall. Chesnaught slammed his great fists down on one table, having sat there and now stood up to address the guild. "Now! You all have rescue missions, and as always I expect them to be completed without fail! If you help out the client and manage to get back by seven, you will receive your promised reward. If not, you will be penalised!" The whole guild nodded and began to leave the hall, Robin and Ren tagging along.
"Alright, here we are! Route 2!" Rin seemed happy to have made it, seeing that the Guild was deep in the woods on the other side of the region.
"God... we walked from the woods outside Coumarine City to here before midday?" Robin asked.
"You flew. It's less tiring. And where exactly are we?" Ren chided, much to her distaste.
"Humph. Why do you need to know? Anyway, we're near Aquacorde Town. The woods up ahead connect it to Santalune City." she grumbled reluctantly. "Past Aquacorde Town is Vaniville Town, my old hometown..." she trailed off, a distant look in her eyes.
"Look. Robin. Tell you what, after we get this Sera out of the trap you can go see your mum. Alright?" Izol proposed, claws on hips and eager to get the job started.
"Okay." She scuffed her talons against the floor, looking at the miniature clouds of dust she was kicking up.
Ren's ears pricked up. "There's someone whining, this way!" Rin and Izol dashing behind, Robin took off to scout ahead and check.
Just within the treeline sat a cage below a tree. In one end sat an empty dish and the door was attached to a branch with rope. She could clearly see the pressure pad that had triggered the inmate's capture, and that inmate was a Vulpix.
Wheeling around to greet the others, she led them all over to where Sera was curled inside. Suddenly aware at the Rescue Team swarming around the cage, she glanced in all directions. On one side a Sneasel was clawing at the mechanism, a Fletchinder struggling to get her claws in on the other, and a Quilava leapt on top and scorched the ropes. Finally, a Marill lifted the grate up and over the sliding panels to set her free. "T-thank you!" she yelped over her shoulder, fleeing into Santalune Forest despite the group calling after her.
"Well, that's that. Nothing we can do about an antisocial fox." Izol joked, slapping Rin on the back. "We'd better be getting back."
"Oh no you don't! You're coming with me!" growled a gruff human voice from above, a fat pink hand grabbing Ren by the scruff of his neck and shoving him into what resembled a cat carry-case. "Starters are worth a lot of cash these days. Seeing as kids can only choose one, I can breed from you and sell you off as well!" Ren quaked and rammed his head against the bars, yelling down to his team below.
"Ooh, a fighter? Cor, you're gonna make me a fortune! I just gotta teach you a bit o' respect!" Unlatching the door and pulling the writhing Quilava out by his hind leg, the poacher pulled what resembled a shock collar from his coat pocket and slammed it onto Ren's neck. Shoving him back in the box and waving him tantalisingly before the others, the surly man prepared to leave when the bars crashed to the floor. Ren leapt out and began to dash back to the others, when electricity began coursing through his body and he fell limp to the floor. Striding over to grab him once again, remote in hand, the poacher was stopped by a young girl's voice.
"Hey! Leave them alone!"
Behind him now stood a tall girl no older than eleven, who had a Froakie sat on her shoulder. She wore rimmed glasses, and had long black hair tied back in a plait. Robin gave a chirrup of relief and delight, recognising her immediately.
"And what if I don't? You'll send your little froggie to assassinate me while I sleep? Gimme a break, you're only, what, ten?" The poacher smirked and lifted the carry case to shove Ren's limp body inside when the Froakie sprung off her shoulder and rammed its head into the arm holding the box. He let out a cry of pain and let the container clatter to the ground, where the Quilava crawled out and allowed Izol to unpick the collar.
"Okay, Freddie! Pound him again!" This time the Bubble Frog Pokémon slammed his fist into the man's stomach. He cringed and doubled over in pain. His Poké Balls caught his eye as he straightened up, grabbing one and casting it onto the field. When the light faded a black quadruped cat-like Pokémon stood on his side of the field, mewling and pawing the earth, eager to begin.
"Umbreon! Night Slash!" In an instant his Pokémon feinted to the right and slashed 'Freddie' with one paw, almost knocking him out. Robin glanced and the others, and they put a completely unplanned strategy into action.
Swooping straight at the Eeveelution, willing for flames to surround her, she pulled off a lopsided Flame Charge and damaged the opponent reasonably. The more experienced Rin let rip a powerful Aqua Jet, successfully cloaking his body in flowing water and ramming straight into his opponent's other side. Caught in the crossfire of two different attacks, the Umbreon yowled and let loose a Dark Pulse which damaged them both and pushed them away so she could recover.
Izol, however, was too fast and cut straight in with a slice to the enemy's flanks. She collapsed to the ground, fainted, and Izol wiped the thick blood off her claws. "Moves aren't always the answer!" she joked, and all four including Ren approached the girl who had helped.
She backed away slowly, fully aware that Pokémon can be dangerous, and seeing their performance and the Umbreon's blood dripping off the Sneasel's claws frightened her. Her Froakie, however, hopped down and began to chat.
"Hi! I'm Freddie. Who are you?" he asked cheerfully, grinning.
"I'm Robin," she introduced herself, "and this is Ren, Rin and Izol, my friends."
Freddie nodded solemnly. "Oh, my new trainer said her friend was called Robin. She left home a year ago with a Cyndaquil, and is supposedly now on Victory Road! She seemed so proud to call that Robin a friend..." He trailed off, still smiling.
"That's one thing, though..." Robin sighed, looking at the ground. Freddie's smile softened and he hopped over to her.
"What is it?" he croaked.
"Umm... how do I put this? Okay. I am her best friend. I got caught in a weird cave thingy, waking up near Coumarine City on a beach and I don't know what happened."
The little frog just stared for a moment, blinking. "You mean you were her friend Robin?" The Fletchinder nodded. "I need to tell her!" He hopped frantically back to his trainer, yapping frantically in her ear about Robin, but she just knelt down and let the Pokémon approach her.
"Hello there! I'm Olana. This is Freddie, and he won't shut up right now. Are you okay?" She directed the last question at Ren, who nodded and affirmed this. To her it probably sounded like 'Quilava, Quil!', but it was the best he could do. "You guys seem rather friendly!" In agreement Robin flapped onto Olana's shoulder, chirping 'Fletch. Fletch!' when the girl would listen.
"Well, I think I'd better be off. Will you four be alright alone? You know, I know you'll be okay, seeing how you all held off that poacher! Bye then!" She stood up, letting the Froakie hop back on her shoulder, and Robin fluttered to the ground. She was sad to see her friend go, knowing they might not see each other again, and turned away towards the others.
"You did say I could go to Vaniville! So?" she chirped, faking happiness. The others, buying it, agreed to head back and wait for her to catch up. She kicked off the ground, circled once and burst up through the canopy to fly in the opposite direction – towards her home.
Below her the streets of Aquacorde unfolded like a map, slate grey pavements and shops along the centre of town. A small plaza lay on either side of the gate to Route 1, complete with chairs and tables. Landing on the pavement and hopping along. A few Fletchling asked where she was from as they passed by, which she did not answer, and stopped at the gate. Taking a deep breath and exhaling loudly, scaring the little birds stalking her away, she stepped onto the path.
Along the short path her head filled with memories, like the day she first trod this path with her new Cyndaquil, and the time she returned to show Olana the free Lucario that'd been practically handed to her along the way along with its Lucarionite. She walked slowly, taking in every inch of the path, every branch of the trees, and looking at the trainers with new Poké Balls strapped to their belts that practically ignored her.
The gateway to her home lay ahead, and as she hopped through the wooden doors she got a couple of awkward stares from the townsfolk she once knew and loved. Approaching a few and getting a couple of pats from the older citizens, she gulped deeply staring into her own yard, at her own front door.
Tapping on the wooden door with her beak, she was answered by her mother. She looked very surprised to see her, and that's not unusual seeing as she was barely recognisable. 'Fletch! Chinder chi!' was all the woman heard as the 'uninvited guest' hopped into the front room.
"Hello, visitor! Who's your owner?" cheeped her family pet Fletchling, greeting her.
"I'm Robin. Nice to see you again, Fletchy!" she replied coolly.
The little bird cocked its head to the side. "You mean you're Robin?" The Fletchinder nodded.
"It's a long story. I just thought I'd drop by and see how the place is running without me!"
Fletchy turned pale and shook its little head. "Oh no, this is bad! I can't tell your Mother, she can't understand me! Oh wait... You'd better get out fast, here she comes with a Poké Ball and some Max Repel..."
This had happened before. Her mother had sprayed the stuff at a Scatterbug that had wandered in and captured it before giving it to the Professor to study as a 'gift'. She had no time to react as Fletchy was summoned back into its ball and the Repel was sprayed everywhere. She coughed and doubled over. "Now I see... why this stuff... is so damn effective!" she choked, before red light enveloped her and everything went black.
Oh god. Captured by her mother. Damn, that's harsh. Anyway, there's chapter three! So the gathering has happened, they've gone on their first Rescue Mission and met Robin's human friend. Olana is my OC and the only human, frankly, so I just thought I'd make her up and throw her in there to help the chapter make sense. Well, that's it for now! If anything's wrong with your OC, let me know and I'll fix it! Elin belongs to OPFan37, Kaito is from Rek-san, and Sera belongs to Spirals of Happiness. I think that's it for OCs this chapter, anyway! Thank you all for reading, and have a good week!