Chapter 3

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Ambush

"Man, it's a beautiful day isn't it?" Eric asked as they walked down the steps. It was almost December, but there wasn't a single cloud in the blue sky that morning, his companion besides him enjoying the breathtaking sights as well. The sky was a clear blue, the same as her eyes.

"Yeah, it's a great day for a mission!" Eevee answered, smiling like a little kid as they got down the stairs. They saw someone walking around. It was a Chimchar. It had a really worried face, and she was pacing back and forward. Eric and Eevee stared at her.

"Who's that?" The former asked, and the latter simply shook her head.

"No idea. Never seen her around town. Let's go ask!" She approached the Chimchar and greeted her, Eric joining them just as she asked what was on her mind. "...you looked really worried!"

The chimchar looked at them. "What? No, no no no... It's just that... I'm worried about something…" She noticed their scarfs, on which she saw their Explorers badges shining under the sun. "Hey, you're explorers?"

Eevee nodded. "Yeah! We are Team Pokepals!" Eric rolled his eyes as he walked forward.

"We are a new exploration team from the guild up that hill. This morning we got a mission, in which we have to save someone in Drenched Bluff." He said, a smile on his face. Eevee looked at him.

"Yeah! It's our first mission, and it's going to be awesome!"

"Yeah." There was a long moment of silence as the Chimchar didn't answer immediately. "Weeeee should get going…" The conversation had turned awkward in just a few lines, none of them sure of what to say. "That pokemon isn't going to be waiting there forever."

They both began walking away from the crossroads and left town, waving goodbye to this Chimchar as they left for the Drenched Bluff.

The Chimchar didn't respond, her that of pure horror, as if she had seen a ghost. "Oh no…" She said, her voice really low, almost like a whisper.

Eric took in a deep breath as he left Treasure Town for the first time for as long as he could remember. The smell of the sea dispersed and gave way to that of grass from the ample green plains laid before their eyes, as far as the eye could see. To the west, some mountains obstructed their view, the river flowing down from that direction, though it was all too far away and littered by trees that blocked their sight, and to the east, forests and small mounds kept them from feasting on that world's beauty. In front of them, not that far in the distance, they could see a couple of small forests, and deep within one of them a pile of rocks stuck out.

"Is that it?"

"Yep! Told you it was nearby! I brought a map too. " She pulled it out of her bag, which was hanging from her side, then carefully handed it over to him, making sure she didn't bury her fangs into the thin paper. Once Eric got a good look at the map, he was surprised to see how big this region actually was. "The Sinnoh region… Huh. How many more are there?"

She turned around to look at him as they walked, taking it easy at first. "Uuuh… I think six so far. There's a world map back in the guildmaster's room, if you didn't see it. Sinnoh is located to the south east of that map, and since we're kinda close to the south pole winter can get pretty bad in the southern region. But we're in the middle, so the temperature's pretty good here, even in summer. Then you have Kanto and the ETF's headquarters, where the Capital is located, Johto, which is really traditional, Hoenn is a mass of islands to the north of here, almost tropical, and then you have Unova and Kalos, which both share the same continent and have always been at war. It's… a complicated story, but from what I've said things aren't always peachy there, unlike here.. That's all that has been discovered so far."

"So far?"

"Yeah. The world's a pretty big place, and with all that's been government and the ETF have been doing their best to control the situation… but it's hard. But that's why we're here! To help all of those we can on a daily basis!" She was really chirpy, and it was hard for Eric to hold back a smile. If he were to be honest, her excitement was slowly rubbing off on him. Still though, he had a few questions to ask her as they made their way to the Drenched Bluff.

"So… that's it? You just want to help pokémon have better lives? That's your whole reason to become an explorer?" She shot an inquiring glance at him, the Riolu raising his arms. "I mean, this is a job where you apparently endanger yourself constantly so… I'd expect you to have some other motivation. You aren't exactly the… Uh…" He was struggling to put his next sentence into non-offensive terms. "You're not the bravest one of the bunch."

She didn't answer, and instead stopped for a bit, then looked at Eric furiously. "I can't always be a coward, can I? You're being a jerk by asking all of these questions too." She huffed and looked forward again, which didn't really encourage Eric to keep talking, but… He didn't really have anything else to do.

"You asked me earlier about my dreams and said that I was a human. What was that about?"

"Well, for starters, you said it wasn't a dream, but rather a flashback… anyways, humans were ancient creatures that coexisted with pokémon a long time ago… and I mean, really long. Our culture and language seem to have come from them, so we think that they might've been more advanced than pokémon at the time, but our ancestors didn't conserve any texts, so… We have no idea of what they did and why they suddenly up and vanished, leaving us pokémon here." Eric's eyes were glued to her side, and each time she faced him their eyes briefly met before she looked away, blushing. "Stop staring at me like that… I'm a bookworm, ok, what's the problem?"

"Nothing." He looked forward again. "It's just that you really know about a lot of things… hell, I'd dare guess that you know more about me than I do about you." She groaned, realizing what his plan was: guilt tripping her to say something else.

"Alright, you want to know something else about me and my motivations? I'll tell you then…" She sighed. "But only because you're being a pain, understood? After this please don't ask me ever again." He nodded in response, though both knew that it'd be hard to do so if she said something. "I'm trying to figure out what happened to my family. I'm an orphan see, and the Kecleon brothers back in Treasure Town took me in and gave me a place to be and work at. I just… want to find out what happened to them, on top of figuring out what this rock's all about and saving pokémon."

Their pace had slowed down considerably while they were talking, but after those words she hastened her step. "There, happy? Now come on, let's go." This was already going much worse than she had expected, her enthusiasm suddenly gone.

However, Eric was actually rather satisfied with the response, but he still felt bad for pushing her to that point, and quickly caught up to her. "Sorry, I didn't know it was something so personal… Look, I'm pretty sure it'll all work itself out: if we make a name for ourselves eventually someone's bound to hear about us, and that way the answers will come to us."

"Yes, that's the plan I've been mapping out in my head for a very long time… saving others is an added plus. A really rewarding one, and one that I'd do nonetheless… But still an extra. My main goal is getting to that level and getting the answers I want."

"And mine is to find out who I was I guess…" He regretted the fact that this was the only thing on his mind at the moment, because something inside of him was screaming at him to turn back, to not delve into his past and enjoy the moment, but he simply couldn't let that desire die like that. "So, even though we have different reasons, we share the same goals."

"That's why I proposed that we make a team: you have nowhere to go, no idea of where you are or what you want to do… this way, we both can help each other mutually. And… there's also the fact that you did save me from those bullies yesterday, and I simply had to reward you in some way, so…" She shook her head and looked at him. "Just, please don't tell anyone that I'm in this for the fame or they'll get the wrong idea, ok?" He nodded.

"Hey, I'm the same too… And I won't tell anyone anything of what you just told me, so calm down." She smirked, and thanked the Riolu for being so understanding of her position. With both of them feeling a bit better about each other, they hurried over to the forest where Drenched Bluff awaited. While they were traversing through the bushes however, Eric tripped on something, burying his muzzle into the mud underneath their feet.

"Whoa, you alright?" He stuck his muzzle out and wiped the mud off, the smell of swampy water reaching their nostrils and making them frown, but either way he nodded.

"Yeah… what did I step on anyways?" He shifted around and grabbed the object, pulling it out into view: a bag, very much like the one Eevee was carrying, but there was an emblem on it's side: a flame with three slashes going through it. "Is this another team's bag? How'd they get their own emblem?"

"Must be someone important if that's the case… what's inside it?" Eevee quickly took the bag from his paws and rummaged through its interior, making the Riolu's eyes widen.

"Hey now, what are you doing?"

"Looking for anything resembling a badge or identification… that way we have another way to identify the team who owns this other than their emblem…" After a few minutes she groaned and pulled her head out. "No good, just food in there, not even a map." Eric got back up and grabbed the bag to carry it himself.

"We'll turn it in when we get to town. Maybe someone there will recognize it…" He pointed behind the Eevee, directing her gaze to the mound of rocks and moss behind her: Drenched Bluff. "That it?"

"Yup… so close too… think it may be our target's?" She motioned at the bag they had just recovered as they made their way to their first cave.

"So then they're explorers? That makes… no sense. How come an exploration team would send a help request that way instead of asking directly?" She shrugged at his question, unsure of what to answer.

"Guess we'll have to ask them directly… now come on! We're so close, I can taste the rewards! We're rescuing a fellow exploration team Eric, this just got ten times more exciting!" Her peppiness was back once more, and he couldn't help but smile as he followed he to the entrance. Drenched Bluff was nowhere close to the sea, but instead there was a small pond near the rock formation, which went underground. The strange shape of the formation itself, that of a half moon, had probably granted it it's name, as it enveloped half of the pond while the other half kept accumulating dank water, explaining the muddy soil and the odour.

"Quaint little place… And it doesn't seem like we're alone either." Eric tensed up as he said this, noticing a few prying eyes looking at them from the bushes, but they quickly retreated into the shadows of the forest.

"Most likely pokémon that live here… lately there's been some pokémon that just straight up their towns and are now living in the wilderness… some call them primals. They attack you if you're travelling around, and I've heard some really nasty stories… so let's try to avoid them, ok?" Eric didn't even have to look at her to guess she was shaking, keeping his eyes wide open as he inspected their surroundings as they walked into the cave. The wind's gentle nudges and caresses turned into loud howls as they went in deeper, making the fox squeal in fear, getting even closer to Eric. This, not only further proved his point that she wasn't made out for this, and made him feel even more sorry for her, but it also made him blush lightly.

"Uuh… Eevee? Not that close, please… Can't properly move." She looked up at him in refusal, but eventually backed away enough for the Riolu to move his feet freely. She was still uncomfortably close to him, but it was an upgrade from before. The darkness slowly swallowed them, and eventually both were forced to turn on their Luminous Orbs, a huge relief for the brown furred pokémon. She looked absolutely terrified of the darkness… but she hadn't said anything earlier, and didn't seem to have a problem while sleeping in the guild. It lead Eric to believe that she was either afraid of what could be waiting for them in there… or something else.

If they thought the smell was bad enough outside, it was because they didn't know any better. The smells inside of that cave were bringing tears to their eyes, if anything because of how intense and pugnant the stench was. Water had definitely been stuck in that cave for far too long, but there was a certain character to the smell which didn't make it completely unpleasant. They trudged onward through the mud and water, small rays of light slipping through cracks and showing them the way, and it seemed almost magical at times, how the light would disperse itself on the murky's water surface, showing them the areas where the water was deeper and where it was safe. Eventually, they made it out of the water and onto a dry patch of land.

"Thank Arceus that's over… My arms were getting tired." Eric handed their bag to Eevee. After they had noticed the water was that deep, he had grabbed both of and carried them on his head as they trudged across so as to prevent their food from going bad.

"Yeah… hey, there's an opening up ahead. C'mon!" She hurried forward without him and came out to a large chamber. The moment she did however, just outside of the light's edge she could see a quadruped shape scuffling away slowly, sinking into darkness until it completely disappeared. At first, surprise jolted through her, then panic and finally sheer terror as a single pokémon came to mind, disturbing her to the point where she was immobile and stuck in place. So long she was like this that only when Eric got ahead and called her did she finally snap out of it.

"Looks like there's only one way to go. The tunnels gave in." He pointed at their surroundings, and just as he said, most of the other entrances were either flooded or littered with rocks, making them impossible to traverse. The only one which was dry was the one opposite to them, the furthest away from the hole in the ceiling, which Eric then directed his attention to.

"Weird that there's something like this in a cave… almost as if something had smashed it's way in here." He looked at the pile of rubble directly below the hole, but shook his head. "Whatever. Come on, Elly, let's go find our target and get out of here. This place's starting to give me the creeps." Just as he said this she looked at him, alarmed, and rushed to his side before she was left behind.

"So you saw it too?!"

"Saw what?"

"That pokémon! I could've sworn I saw a quadruped head further in… the same way we're going right now!" Eric rose an eyebrow and looked at the tunnel ahead, noticing how the light of their orbs died down the further in they went. He hit the orb with his paw repeatedly.

"Nope, didn't… see… an- What's wrong with this thing?!" He asked out loud, noticing how his orb blinked, and so did Eevee's, which brought worry to their faces. As if on cue, a chill went down their spines as a cold current of air jabbed at their exposed backs, quickly turning on a dime to face the route they had come from. And this time Eric did see the paws slowly back into the darkness, but Elly saw something else: a faint purple light fading into the darkness. She started trembling uncontrollably, and Eric turned around and started walking in.

"Let's go."

"But, I…"

"Eevee let's go!" They both heard steps echoing behind them. "Now!" He didn't have to tell her again, as the Eevee did what she knew best and started running for dear life. Adrenaline was pumping through their veins, unsure of how this opponent could've snuck up on them like this, and they didn't seem to be letting up on their approach. As the lights in their orbs slowly grew dimmer, to the point where they could barely see two feet in front of them, the steps grew louder and quicker, now in a full on sprint as it tried to catch up to them, Eevee's panic spreading to the Riolu. Whatever, or whoever it was, she knew them very well, too afraid to even speak or shout.

The walls around them disappeared as they came out to another opening, and all of a sudden the lights in their orbs went back to normal and the steps vanished. All of that in an instant. It took them a few more hurried steps to process that they were no longer being chased, but once they did they breathed a sigh of relief and sat down together, back to back. "Wh- what was that?"

"I… don't want to know." Was her response, too shaken to say anything else. "Coming here was a bad idea… so much for this being an easy mission." She wasn't being inspiring at this point, and if anything she was only bringing his mood further down, but…

"We're too far in to back down… literally. So let's just do what we came to do here and go back home some other way. Now get up… the floor here's also wet." He said, looking at his paws, which had touched something on the ground. But when he looked at them, he was only greeted by a red fluid, which his mind immediately identified as the crimson liquid that flowed through them and gave them life. "What the… Blood?!" Eevee noticed this, looked down and panicked again, but she recovered in an extremely short amount of time, sniffing the air.

"No… not quite." She looked around, and noticed a trail of it on the ground, exchanging a worried glance with Eric. He waved at her to keep quiet, and when she did so they both clearly heard a quiet groan, as if someone was waking up.

"Is… someone… there?" The voice echoed in the mostly empty chamber, safe for the stone pillars that kept the rocks above their heads, and not directly on top of them.

"H-Hello?" Eevee could barely utter the question as they searched for a source for that voice, and finally both noticed the pair of feet that stumbled out from behind one of the pillars. Their luminous orbs revealed the kneeling shape of a Meowth with a bag besides him, barely able to hold himself up. The reveal made Eevee jump out of her skin, and even surprised her Riolu partner, but the normal type quickly stepped forward.

"No, no wait! Calm down!" He was gasping for air. "Are you the rescue party? An exploration team?" They both weighed their options, unsure if they wanted to answer, but their silence was the only answer the Meowth needed before he cheered like a madman. "Oh thank Arceus, finally! I thought I was going to starve to death in this place!"

"Wait… so you're the one we had to rescue?" Eevee was quite shocked, as she had been expecting someone much younger. "Well, so much for this being an easy task."

"Easy task? Taking down Aipom's gang isn't exactly easy, you hear me? Milly and I failed because of it…" Both of the Team Pokepals members were incredibly confused by all of these names and words that suddenly came their way, which made the Meowth chuckle. "Forgive me, I forgot to do a proper introduction: My name's Mick, leader of Team Emberclaw. Me and my partner, Milly, were on a mission to apprehend Aipom as his gang of thieves, and we got notice that they were hiding out in this cave. When we got here however, they got the jump on us and beat me senseless, while Milly managed to run away. When I came to they were gone and when I tried to leave I heard voices coming down that hallway, so I guessed that's where their hideout was." He pointed down the way they had come, confusing the duo even further. "I'm amazed you took them all out on your own! You look… rather young!"

"Well… Uh, you see Mister Mick… We… uh…" Elly couldn't find her words, and as such Eric decided to step forward and explain who they were, and why they had been elected to do that mission.

"I see… so you are just newbies… and you say Aipom and his crooks aren't here? Really? Then whose voices was I hearing?"

"We don't know if Aipom is here, but there's definitely someone else out there… and it seems that's our only way out of this cave."

"Yeah, that is true… I wouldn't be surprised if they had been waiting outside to get the jump on you two when you got in… We need retrace our steps with caution so as to not run into another ambush."

"Wait… you two are saying we need to go back through that hall!? No way!" Eevee's sudden response caught both of them off guard, the older pokémon looking at her.

"But there's no other way out. Come on, you've got me with you now, so I guarantee they won't get the jump on us." Eevee's response was still a negative one, and Mick's face of disapproval only made her understand that she was giving him a really bad first impression for being an explorer. "You can't back out at the first sign of danger if you want to be an explorer kiddo. Besides, you've got your partner here." He pointed at the Riolu, who was smiling at Eevee, trying to calm her down. "And as a partner, he'll do everything he can to help you… so come on, get up, and let's get out of this place. And when we do we can talk properly, deal?"

Even though they were in an extremely dire situation, the Meowth was keeping his cool extremely well, showing Eevee just how an explorer handled those moments… and it was certainly inspiring for her. Even if her legs were shaking, she stood back up and adjusted their bag before walking back into the tunnel. Eric lead the way, and Mick closed the line. Once again, as they started to make their way through the tunnel the light from their orbs started dying out, and eventually the steps returned.

"Damn it, they're back!" Eric exclaimed, stopping for just a second, making both of his other companions freeze up as well. As they did so, however, Mick hushed them to listen to the darkness.

"It's… gone?" The steps weren't there anymore. "Start moving again." The moment they started moving the steps returned, and when they stopped they disappeared, making Mick laugh really hard. "It was just our echo! There's nothing to be scared of, you two!" His words certainly comforted them, and made the duo look like complete idiots, but he had more to say. "I can't blame you though: your first mission and in a place like this, you must've gotten really nervous. Let's get back to civilization and we can talk about how to keep your cool out in the field, alright?"

They all calmed down and began walking again, keeping an ear out for those steps. And as they finally came out to the next room, the steps disappeared, feeling that grip on their hearts vanishing. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Mick was certainly trying to push them forward, and was being understanding of their condition as newcomers, which was just what they needed.

Eric and Elly laughed, finally relaxing as that ordeal was done and over with. "Ok… let's just get home, call it a day, an-" As they were about to leave through the same route however, they heard voices coming from the other end of the tunnel that lead to the entrance. And this time it wasn't their own.

"Are you sure you saw those two head in here?"

"Yep… Looked like explorers to me, boss, just like the other two we beat up the other day."

Laughter could be heard. "Then let's get in there and do the same! No one will find their bodies so deep inside the cave… this was such a great idea to use one of them as bait!" The voice of who they presumed was their leader sounded familiar to Mick, who frowned.

"Aipom." That name made Eric and Eevee freeze up. "They're coming back. We have to get out of here!" He looked around and stared at the hole in the ceiling, considering that as a possible escape route. Team Pokepals looked for any other alternatives, but it was worthless, as all of the other tunnels had crumbled down, and as such their only possible escape route was that hole.

"How are we going to get up there?!" Eevee asked while in the middle of a panic attack, pacing back and forth and getting as close as possible to them while they piled up on the rocks, trying to get Mick up to the hole. However, one of the rocks shook under their weight and rolled out underneath them, making the two bipeds fall down to the ground with a simultaneous groan.

"Agh, it's no use! It's too far up, and we're all too short!"

"Or perhaps there just aren't enough of you…" All three of them faced the entrance to the cave, and lo and behold, Aipom and his henchmen, three chinglings, a Lileep and an Anorith had caught up to them. The purple monkey had a nasty scar on his chest, which he exposed as he opened his arms and looked at the Meowth. "Mickey Mickey, about time you showed yourself! How long have you been holed up inside of this cave, hmm? Three days almost? I just can't remember… But see, it's given me enough time to think about how much I hate you, you piece of trash." His grin was so wide it was almost sickening, Eric clutching his fist at the sight.

"Aipom you scoundrel… Waiting for my partner to come back so you could finish her off?! You lowlife!"

"Ah, you're too kind. And yes, I was waiting for her to come back… didn't expect them to send fresh meat straight into the grinder though, that's new." He stared at the cowering Eevee and then at the defiant Riolu, frowning at the last one. "Looks like someone didn't get the memo… Oh well, I'll make sure that it's the last thing you all remember." They all backed away, and Eric stepped on something sharp on the ground, quickly glancing down to see what it was on pure instinct. What caught his eye, however, kept his attention there, instead of the incoming danger.

He saw a piece of gold, buried into the rock underneath the rubble. The rock rolling out from underneath their weight had revealed the fragment, which was encrusted into the earth. It looked sharp enough, and most likely could be used as a weapon. Without a second though, whilst Mick and Eevee pulled out their claws, having no other alternative, Eric crouched down and grabbed the fragment and ripped it out. He stumbled back as he did so, the fragment getting out with relative ease, and inspected it: it was much smaller than he had imagined, and knew it was useless as a weapon with that unique shape and size… and yet there was something strange about it, he couldn't quite put his paw on it.

"Oooh, that looks valuable… Thanks for the find, kiddo!" Aipom exclaimed as he and his goons made their way towards them. "I'll be sure to loot it off of your dead corpse once you die of starvation." He laughed at his own plans. "Oh yeah, I don't like getting blood on my hands… so I just let my prey die of starvation. That way I can sleep peacefully at night." Eric readied himself too, gripping the fragment with strength. He'd try to use it as a weapon… but things were definitely looking grim.

Before the fight could begin however, they all noticed that illumination in the cave was slowly diminishing, and with it, the sounds of steps and whispers filled the empty space around them. "Wh- No way, an ambush?!" Aipom shouted, all of his lackeys looking around in a hurry. Eevee began trembling again, scared out of her mind as the whispers got louder. They all looked up and saw how a swirling black mist covered the hole, black as night, making the cave itself fall into darkness. The whispering became louder, almost as if someone was whispering right next to their ears, some twisting around to look behind them, so convinced there was something there. But all they could see was that black mist, twisting and churning in the air, enclosing on them… like a predator around its prey.

All of the guild members were rushing to the Drenched Bluff, across the green hills and along the dirt paths, going through any tall grass patches or running between trees in a forest. It didn't matter, none of them slowed down. They simply couldn't. They had to get there or else those two could easily die, alongside Mick, something that Milly, the Chimchar, wasn't going to allow. She was leading the group just as Chatot shouted from high above, exclaiming something about the cave shaking and trembling. They had no time to waste, and the entire guild marched forward as one unit, trying to close the gap as much as possible.