Chapter 4: The Mission
To Hatake's mind, time seemed to have slowed down. The missile of a toaster flew within inches of Hatake's face. His reflection stared back at him from the silvery sides revealing the surprise on his face that everyone else was seeing. Time exploded back to normal and the toaster sped past, exploding into the same booth that Pypski had hurled an unsuspecting student into minutes earlier. Stunned Hatake turned to Pypski and Hideki who were standing to his side smiling.
"What just happened?" Hatake said staring at the pair.
"Welcome to Team Rocket" was Hideki's reply.
A small girl stomped out of the back part of the booth muttering to herself. The girl was short and slim sporting a blue striker uniform similar to the green on Hatake was wearing. The cut of the jacket and shirt was shorter allowing the more freedom of movement and the strikers fit abs to be seen. Her hair was medium length and grey, with a yellow hairclip pinning it out of her eyes. Those eyes were a deep piercing blue that looked right past Hatake. The girl pushed right past Hatake, still muttering to herself as she walked towards the landing site of the makeshift missile.
Hatake just stared at the girl fascinated by her and her strange behavior. He watched as she began to dig through the remains of the club booth looking for the toaster, the whole time the club owning the booth started to gather shouting at her. He was so caught up in this strange event, Hatake failed to notice Hideki and Pypski walking up behind him, until he felt a hard smack on the back.
"Interesting isn't she" Hideki said with a huge grin.
"Her name is JapansAce" Pypski added. "She is a grade 2 striker class A, very strong though she does have some quirks. She loves to hate that toaster. At any rate we need to get you on our club roaster so that we can add you to the mission tomorrow."
"Mission?" Hatake wondered out loud.
"Yes, the Headmaster has tasked Team Rocket with checking out a cave in Sunset Pier. A meteorite crashed into the swamp there not long ago and rumors of skalari hanging around the place have been coming in" Hideki answered.
"Sunset Pier? That's off limits to grade 1 students like me. I don't believe I will be able to help" Hatake replied.
"Nonsense!" Pypski chimed in. "You have been doing extra training every day and running errands for the folks of Fortvill for the past week. That combined with your natural abilities should allow you to pass the second grade entrance exam. Just speak with the Headmaster, he will tell you where to go."
With that Hideki practically pushed Hatake out of the club booth. Hatake walked out of the courtyard pondering what had just happened. He looked down at the new club mark attached to his right jacket sleeve and gauntlet. He had joined a club, had a toaster fly past his face, been added to a mission roaster for a higher grade, and told to take the second grade entrance exam all in a matter of minutes. The crazy thing was that this all seemed normal to the club he just joined.
Hatake continued walking across campus taking in the sights of the Club Fair while searching for the Headmaster. After an hour of searching he finally found the Headmaster sitting beneath a cherry blossom tree munching on some of the fair's delicious food. Hatake quickly explained that he was looking to take the second grade exam so that he could join his fellow club mates on their mission tomorrow. The headmaster directed Hatake to the exam hall in the main school building to meet with the Exam Proctor later that day. Hatake used that time to continue to explore the fair and have some fun.
When it was time for the exam Hatake met with the Proctor outside the main building. The proctor handed Hatake a written test and ushered him into the exam hall. The exam was full of questions regarding the history of the school, the principles of mana usage, as well as the physics behind different class attacks. After an hour Hatake finished his exam and turned it into the proctor who immediately began to grade it. Hatake sat in the waiting room anxious to find out if he had passed. The clock on the wall kept ticking and the lighting shining through the window began to fade as the colors of the sunset began to glow across the horizon. After what seemed like forever to Hatake the Proctor entered the waiting room smiling and handed Hatake his exam which had "Congratulations you have advanced to grade two" written across it.
Sunset Pier was a small fishing town on the edge of the Kasmarian Sea. The major pier and Lighthouse were the two main staples of the community although many windmills could be found along the coastline as well. The town got its name from a strange haze that caused the town to always be cast in the gold, red, and orange hues of sunset, no matter the time of day. Lowland swamps and salt marshes were scattered along the edge of the town and a small mountain called the Hill of the Dead was to the north.
Hatake sat outside the local supply store waiting for the rest of the team to show up. Hatake was amazed by the spectacular view sunset pier offered and the soothing sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs. There were not that many locals around and Hatake was not surprised by that. Since he had arrived at his table in the store he had been forced to listen to stories of aliens and government conspiracies from a local named Harry. Hatake was very relieved when he heard the sound of the Airship transport landing on its pad not far away.
Pushing Harry out of the way Hatake ran to the landing pad. Hideki and Pypski were the first ones off the airship. Both of them were wearing the signature armor and weapons of their class with the Team Rocket mark embedded in them. Smiling, they both walked down from the pad.
"Glad you could make it" Hideki said cheerfully.
"Can't say I know what exactly is going on but I am sure glad to be here" Hatake simply replied.
"Ahhh" screamed a familiar voice.
Hatake looked up just in time to see a familiar figure crash into him. Hatake landed hard on his back with a grunt. Reorienting himself Hatake found that a small girl wearing the blue armor of a striker had landed on top of him.
"Hot" Hatake heard Pypski say. "Hatake you met Jace yesterday. She was the one who threw the toaster"
Jace's face quickly turned bright red at Pypski's comment. Her fist then slammed into Hatake's face sending his head back into the dirt. Standing up she dusted herself off and stomped over to Pypski. Shaking the flashing lights and bells out of his head Hatake stood up as well, rubbing his cheek.
"Hey Jace if you don't like him, I'll let you sit on me" said a tall boy walking down the stairs.
Jace's reply to that was a metallic toaster that slammed right into the boy's face. "Go die in a hole, Daybunny!" she said stomping off towards the swamp.
Daybunny was tall and strong. His armor was a combination of hard leather armor and metal plates. His boots had an exaggerated broadness to them to help stabilize his attacks while fighting and his chest plate and gauntlets had spots to set a rifle in. On his back was a huge gun, the signature weapon of a heavy launcher.
The toaster slid slowly off of DayBunny's face as he laughed and walked over to join the group. Hatake took a deep breath and looked around him. He saw Jace stomping off and a Laughing Daybunny. Pypski was close by smiling cheerfully and Hideki starring at a duck across the way. 'An interesting group' he thought to himself, and all of them wore the mark of Team Rocket.
"Daybunny meet Hatake, he is our newest member" Pypski said cheerfully. "Hatake and Jace will be our quick hitters, I myself will be taking the center and Hideki and Daybunny will be providing support with their guns. Now let's go find this Meteor Cave"
The group of four took off, quickly catching up to Jace as they entered the edge of the swamp. The swamp itself was eerily green, the golden hues of the rest of Sunset Pier failing to make it past the outer layer of plant growth. It wreaked too, the pungent smells of sulfur, decay, and mud filled the air around them. Sink holes covered with peat moss and thick sticky mud made the land difficult to navigate.
"Something isn't right" DayBunny said suddenly.
"What do you mean" Asked Hideki
"I mean it's too quiet"
Thinking back Hatake realized that he had not heard the sounds of any animals since they entered the swamp an hour before. Swamps were typically full of life, making them seem haunted by the strange sounds made by the creatures that inhabit them. The lack of sound was strange and it put Hatake on edge.
The eerie quiet was putting more than just Hatake on edge. The whole party had slowed to a crawl and began scanning their surroundings. Each piece of vegetation created a shadow that something could hide in. Each pool of water provided a chance of something sneaking up on them. That newly formed caution proved useful as Jace yelled a warning, right before the party found themselves surrounded.
The enemy that now surrounded the group consisted of two types of skalari. The first was short and green. It had webbed fingers and toes with a sharp bird like beak for a mouth. A set of glowing red eyes sat low beneath a head bald except for a green Lilly pad like structure. The second skalari was even stranger looking. It was short and blue with a large round eye in the center of its face. It was short and rotund and carried a trident. Altogether there were twenty skalari surrounding the five knights.
"They are Swamp Kappas and Big Eyes" Pypski shouted.
"Eww, gross" Jace chimed in.
"Look at its eye, lets poke it" Hideki added.
"Ladies allow me to light up your world with my gun" DayBunny said with a wink.
"Kill now, flirt later" Hatake said charging forward.
Ten Big Eyes lowered their trident and charged forward while the Swamp Kappas began hurling a volley of mud balls laced with poison. Pypski batted aside the first Big Eye with a side swing of her hammer sending it flying into a nearby tree. Hatake dashed into the two Big Eyes to the right of Pypski, knocking one of them over and brushing the second ones trident aside. A burst of bullets flew past Hatake's head slamming into a mud throwing Swamp Kappa causing it to disappear. Jace was off to the left engaging three Big Eyes. A loud blast ran out as Daybunny shot cannon rounds into a mass of Swamp Kappas.
A trident glanced off of Pypski's chest plate as she whipped her massive hammer to her right catching a Big Eye in the side. Turning back to face the Big Eye who had struck her, she grabbed its trident smiling. Using her inhuman strength she pulled the trident forward and to the left dragging the squirming big eye with it. Down her hammer came in an overhead attack, crashing into the skalari's head and causing him to fade from existence.
Jace dodge left, then right, before somersaulting under the strikes of her three enemies. She pushed off the ground driving her right claw into the center Big Eye as she came out of her summersault. Spinning on her heal she ripped that claw out the skalari's side to parry the incoming attack of the second skalari before back flipping over the attack of the third. Now behind the third skalari Jace unleashed a furious attack of slashing claws, cutting deep into the skalaris back, killing it. The remaining Big Eye jabbed forward wildly with its trident which Jace kept dodging. Stepping in the reach of the trident, Jace swept her left claw up, catching the weapon between the blades of hers and sweeping it out to the side. She then kicked out catching the skalar's knee in the side, dislocating it before stepping in and driving her right claw through its eye.
Hatake was sidestepping furiously dodging the attacks of the first two skalari he had engaged as well as the attacks of two more who had joined them. Stepping wide to the side Hatake found an opening in the barrage of tridents. He spun along the pole of the fourth monsters weapon, pushing it towards the other three tridents. He swept his left claw in driving his opponent's weapon even farther before slamming his other claw straight ahead ending that opponent's life. Hatake dropped to his knees avoiding the oncoming rush of tridents and swept his foot out catching an opponent's foot and sending him sprawling to the ground. Pushing up from the ground he caught the two still standing in the chest with his claws, scoring two quick kills. Sliding his weapons out of the fading skalari he spun around and finished the remaining Big Eye who was still trying to stand up.
Hideki and DayBunny meanwhile were fighting off the Swamp Kappas. DayBunny rocked back as he fired shot after shot of his cannon, the design of his armor and boots helping him stabilize his attacks. Each cannon blast was devastating to the Swamp Kappas. DayBunny's first two shots had killed one Kappa and sent a second flying backwards into the swamp. His third shot was an ice round that froze three more Kappas. Daybunny then launched a charged shot that exploded above the frozen skalari and sent bursts of electricity running through all of them causing the ice to explode and the skalari to vanish. DayBunny turned to see the Kappa that had flown backwards, crawling out of the swamp. With a carefree trigger pull he launched a cannon shell straight into its face ending it.
Hideki shot rapidly killing a second Kappa. Charging forth Hideki grabbed four grenades from his belt and threw them towards the enemy. The grenades landed next to two more kappas and exploded killing both. Now in range of the Last Swamp Kappa's poison mud ball, Hideki had to dive to the side to avoid a mud missile. Rolling to his knees Hideki shot a high speed bullet forming an explosive air shot that traveled into the Kappa, knocking it off its feet. Hideki leaped to his feet and ran to his fallen opponent before blasting three more rounds into its body.
"Well I guess that confirms that there are Skalari hanging around the swamp here" Hideki said with a grin. "And I think I know why they attacked here."
The rest of the party walked over to where Hideki was standing, holstering their weapons. From this vantage point they could all see through a large clearing. The clearing had dozens of Big Eyes and Swamp Kappas wondering about and on the far side of it was a massive hole in the side of a hill.
"Do you think that's the entrance of the Meteor Cave?" Hatake asked in awe.
"Only one way to find out" Pypski said with a big smile.
End Chapter 4