I will not even try to come up with an excuse for how long this took. To tell you the truth, I had decided that I would probably never finish this a while ago, but now I want to work on it again. I can't promise its completion, however, as I feel I am not cut out to be a writer. Despite that, I want to go somewhere with these characters. I ended up scrapping the original chapter I had been working on and restarting with a new idea.
A good portion of the day had past since we had left Mt. Travail. By the looks of it, we would probably have to find a spot to spend the night and then head back in the morning. This wasn't uncommon for exploration teams and guild members, though. Unless your destination was relatively close to your base, most of your day could be spent just getting there if you only travel on foot. You would probably then end up spending the rest of it doing whatever job you got. On the contrary, if you or your companions could fly or teleport, then your would obviously have it easier. Rundas and I obviously did not have that luxury.
By this point, we only had four apples left, but that did not bother me too much. We could always find more food in the forest if we had too. Rundas had more or less stayed silent the entire trip, but that did not bother me too much. I was happy enough just to be out in the wilderness, and it is not like we had anything to talk about in the first place.
I could see the edge of what was probably Treeshroud Forest up ahead. I will admit, it was different from the mundane forest I had expected. All of the trees stood proudly, yet it was apparent that they were all ancient. Their thick foliage intertwined near their tops and formed a canopy that almost entirely blocked out the sun. Since I lived in the mountains, trees of such grandeur were rare.
"If you would stop gazing up at the trees, we might be able to get somewhere," Rundas grumbled.
"Oh, pardon me," I said sarcastically, turning to him.
I was done trying to be polite with the Glaceon. He stared at me, but remained silent. I turned away and continued on into the forest, the sound of movement from behind told me he was still following.
Now that we were finally here, what next? It's not like we knew where Balin had entered the forest, so looking for footprints to follow would be difficult. I thought maybe I could ask some local Pokémon if they had seen a Dragonite in the forest within the last day or so. If they had, then it had to have been Balin. Knowing what sort of Pokémon he had been with would have been helpful too. I scanned the dark forest for anything moving, but I did not see anything. Actually, the forest was a whole lot quieter than I had expected, the only noise coming from the breezes moving through the trees. I shrugged and continued on deeper into the woods, but I made sure to keep an eye out for other Pokémon.
The silence persisted between Rundas and I as we continued. I wondered what he was thinking about or if he was even considering what our next course of action should be. So far, I had been doing all of the work, though to be fair, there hadn't really been that much to do in the first place. The rustling of a nearby bush caught my attention and I stopped in my tracks, glancing over at it. The bush went still, then all of a sudden a black, winged creature swooped out from it and landed beside us. It was definitely a bug of some sort, but I had never seen its kind before. One of its pale arms had some sort of sticky residue around the end, which it licked at before turning its attention over to us. Rundas took and aggressive stance right away and growled at the newcomer. The bug's red orange eyes widened and it hopped backwards.
"Please, I mean you no harm," it whimpered meekly.
"What do you want, and be quick about it," Rundas demanded.
"Um...would you by any chance be an exploration team?"
"Nope, we're not. Anyway, we have business to take care of, so beat it," Rundas answered hastily.
The bug cocked its head at this. "What sort of business? I might be able to help you out." It had a hopeful tone in its voice.
"Not your business, and no, there is little you could do to help us. Just get out of here, you're annoying."
The bug's feathery antennae drooped. "Oh p-p-please give me a chance, I know I could be useful. Just tell me what it is you are up to."
"Nope. I don't like you, and that Cubone doesn't like you either. Now, go get yourself caught in an Ariados' web," Rundas said dismissively.
The bug whimpered again and its antennae drooped further. It sadly stared down at the ground and kicked a twig. That statement was just uncalled for.
"I'll speak for myself Rundas," I hissed, fixing him with a glare. Looking back at the bug, I said "We are looking for someone who went missing here in the forest. Have you by any chance seen a large, orange dragon here within the last day or so?" The bug put the tip of its arm to its mouth and hummed thoughtfully.
"You know what, I think I did," it replied. "Yes, two days ago now," it affirmed, its tone perking up a bit, "I was resting on the branch of a large tree, when I heard voices from down below. Curious, I got up to see what it was all about. One of the Pokémon was the tall, orange dragon, and while I could not tell what the other was, it was a whole lot smaller and the dragon appeared to be following it."
I couldn't believe this, the first Pokémon we encountered had indeed seen Balin. We got some lead right off the bat, how lucky for us.
"Do you know what part of the forest you saw them in?" I asked.
"Well, I do not think it was too far from here. I could take you there if you would like," the bug offered.
"That would be kind of you," I replied. Out of the corner of my vision, I thought I saw Rundas rolling his eyes.
"Okay then, follow me," The bug chirped happily, darting off into the forest.
"Hey, not so fast," I called, running to keep up. The bug stopped and looked over its shoulder.
"Sorry," it mumbled.
"Don't worry about it, please continue."
The bug once again took flight, but this time, it moved at a slower pace.
"So, uh, where are you from," it asked.
"Mt. Travail," I answered.
"Oh, I've only been down that way a few times in my entire life. Seeing as you're not an exploration team, are you one of the guild members then?"
"Yeah," I replied.
"So what's it like, you know, being apart of an exploration guild and all?"
"It beats a normal life, I guess. I joined about a year ago now, so I am a relatively new member."
"What about your companion," the bug asked warily, gesturing behind me to Rundas. "Why's he so mean?"
"Oh, don't mind him. Today just hasn't been his day," I said in a quiet tone.
"...I see, is he a guild member too?" Before I could answer, Rundas cut in.
"Hey, how close are we?"
The bug quickly looked around at the surroundings.
"Oh don't worry, we're almost there," it replied.
"The sooner the better," The Glaceon grumbled.
A few minutes went by in total silence, save for the bug's flapping wings. It soon landed and looked around.
"Well, this is the place," it exclaimed, turning to us.
"Thank you," I said.
The bug blinked at me and bowed its head.
"You're welcome." Raising its head, it leered at Rundas. "See, I turned out to be useful after all. I believe you owe me an apology."
There was confidence in the bug's tone all of a sudden.
"...Fine, I'm sorry," Rundas sighed. "Now will you please leave?"
"I'm afraid he won't be going anywhere," a voice erupted from a nearby bush, "and neither will you, for that matter."
I looked around the area, bewildered. At that moment, a tall, green creature with a red, bill-like mouth and a lily pad on its head as well as some sort of red bird who's tail resembled a bag stepped out from behind a couple of trees and closed in on the three of us; both of them were wearing black, cloth masks. A cream-colored feline sporting a gold coin on its head and a similar mask to the other two leaped out of the bush.
"Nyahahaha," it laughed, as it joined its companions. "You were all just as easily fooled as that Dragonite was." From the sound of its voice I was pretty sure that this Pokémon was a male.
"Where is he," Rundas demanded.
"Oh don't worry, he is safe for now. His ransom will have to be payed sooner or later to ensure this, however." The cat shifted his attention to the bug. "Good work, Blackjack."
"Thank you, Poker," the bug replied.
"What? You're with them, aren't you? I trusted you," I almost shouted.
"I'm sorry Kylie," he said, "Business is business."
"How...did you know my name?"
"I saw you early this morning, when I accidentally woke you up. I got into the guild via your window, but you started to wake, so I flew out of your room and hid in the darkness of the corridor. I later saw you take the Sheriff's letter. I knew it was going to end up at Mt. Travail, all I had to do was see who would accept to job. Finally, I secretly followed you and the Glaceon from the guild all the way out here, and the rest is history." The bug then moved over and stood next to the feline, the other two flanking them on both sides. "I will regret having to do this to you. You were civil to me, after all. Life just isn't fair, is it Kylie?"
"You no good scum," Rundas growled.
"Enough of this pointless chit-chat," the feline piped in. "We shall now proceed to mug and send send both of you cryin' back to your mountain like little kits. You can then tell your guild that if the ransom is not payed," a large grin crossed the feline's face, "something unfortunate might happen to the good legend expert."
"Do you have a death wish, Meowth?" Rundas sneered. "You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?"
"It hardly matters," the cat said, unsheathing his claws, "soon you will both be wishing you never came here. Baccarat, Roulet?"
"Yes, boss," the other two Pokémon replied.
"Get them."
