"That no good, lying, cheap-skate bastard, who does he think he is, defaulting on his payment? If you hadn't stopped me I'd have had Skarmory rip him a new one…" Melissa muttered to herself angrily.
Darcy walked alongside her, careful to stay out of arm's reach. Angry Melissa was not a fun place to be. He faded in and out of what she was saying as she alternated from rageful rambling to sorrowful sobbing.
Darcy had in fact been asleep a whole day; his body needed time to recover from overexerting himself in the fight against the Honchkrow. Melissa had to fly him to an old hotel on Skarmory, a task she was eager to remind him was not easy. It had only been a day since he had left Canalave, and here he was, going to his second job in Sinnoh. The duo were trekking up a hill to the nearby hamlet of Floraroma Town. The area was called Route 204, and was quite a scenic spot. There was water, grass, and sun as far as they could see.
Neither was interested in the scenery though. Melissa was too frustrated for sightseeing, and Darcy was too nervous to sightsee as a result.
"So what were you doing up there, unconscious? You weren't hurt as far as I could see." Melissa began to banter. "Just got scared or something?"
Melissa was only trying to rile him up to get a thrill. Regardless, Darcy could not let her know that he was suffering from a severe heart condition. She would abuse the knowledge, either by refusing to work with him, or by using it to take advantage of him.
"I was pretty winded by the time I got up there, and the Honchkrow knocked me on my back." Darcy quickly came up with.
"Oh really?" Melissa mocked. "Seriously, what happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Darcy said coldy. There was a tunnel into the rock just ahead. He reached for Honchkrow's Poké Ball.
"I guess it must have been pretty embarrassing then," Melissa threw Skarmory's Poké Ball into the air.
"As if you haven't been trying to hide things," Darcy said as Honchkrow flew him over the craggy cliff.
Melissa flew right past him. "Oh really? Like what?"
Their Pokémon gained speed, and somehow, subconsciously, a race began.
"Alright, then tell me about what happened in your old jobs. If you're so good at this, then why did you choose to work with me? Why were you out of work anyways? You're hiding something."
Honchkrow pulled ahead of Skarmory, which was fortuitous for Melissa, because Darcy could not see the telling look on her face. Darcy silently marveled at what he had said. He had never thought about it much, but now he had his doubts about Melissa and what she said about herself.
"What, are you asking me to start sending my resume to some other hunters? You wouldn't get a fifth of the work I get you on your own."
Skarmory pushed ahead of Darcy, not taking enough care to avoid clipping Honchkrow with his wingtip.
"You've played that card before. If you were intending to do that, you already would have. It's a bluff, and we both know it."
Melissa watched as Darcy zoomed by, Honchkrow taking a little flourish as he took the lead. Skarmory gave a sharp yelp at being ousted. Melissa could not think of anything to say though. For once, Darcy had won their verbal joust. It was not a true victory for Darcy though, because it only served to frustrate Melissa more. Her outlet for her anger just beat her at her own game.
"Don't think this is over," Melissa called to Darcy, who had already reached Floraroma Town. Honchkrow was just looking for a place to perch when he unexpectedly and unintentionally flipped upside down, dropping Darcy from the sky.
Melissa did not hold her laughter back. At least he was willing to supply her with humor at his own expense.
"Crow tipping," Gengar explained, "Is like cow tipping, but in midair and funnier. Also, it has an R between the C and the O."
"You're a true genius," Darcy remarked.
Melissa kept laughing. She decided not to dignify what he did with a comment, that just continuously laughing at him would be more fun.
Ten minutes later Darcy disagreed.
Floraroma Town was a small yet old town just currently entering the stages of true modernization. The city had a history of coexistence with nature, and had grown around green industries fueled by savvy investors from its sister, more modern city of Eterna City. Floraroma could boast a fantastic environmentalist status though; all citizens moved around by walking, bicycle, or the new monorail, and it was completely powered by wind power. The power station that made this possible, Valley Windworks, used pioneering new technologies in the spheres of engineering and meteorology to be both efficient and clean.
It was Valley Windworks that had hired Darcy in fact, which made Darcy very curious about what his job would be entailing.
Valley Windworks sat just east of Floraroma Town, nestled among the various windmills that brought clean power to the city. Darcy had to marvel and just how impressive the building was; it gave off a sense of a dream to save the world.
Melissa was the first to enter through the sliding glass door. A receptionist greeted her warmly.
"Welcome to Valley Windworks. How may I…"
"I need to talk with Dr. Jones about some temporary work."
"Of course," The receptionist's smile dropped three degrees. "His office is to the left, down the hall, third door on the right."
Melissa curtly moved as directed. Darcy followed.
Dr. Jones had a cluttered office that extended into his lab. He was an African-American man, tall and slightly chubby, wearing a lab coat. At first he didn't notice that there were two teenagers in his office; he was engrossed in a problem on his desk.
"If only I had the data!" He shouted, looking up. "Oh, perfect timing, if I presume correctly. Would you be Melissa then?"
"Yes I would. Let's talk business. You said you needed Darcy to capture a ghost for research purposes?"
He held up a photograph of remarkably bad quality of what seemed to be a party balloon floating through one of the walls of the building. "We need to study the makeup of this Pokémon's skin for the next generation of windmills, it seems to be completely powered by light breezes. Capture it, and bring it to me. We don't have any funds on hand, but I can offer you stock in the next generation of windmills. Trust me, if you get this thing to me it will pay massive dividends.
"We're going to need a down payment." Melissa said.
"You want me to pay up-front?" He asked incredulously.
"Of course not." Melissa explained. "I would never presume so much on the favor of a client. All I'm asking for is some cash payment. Our last client fell through, leaving us strapped for cash. If you want this Pokémon, you're going to need to throw in some currency."
"Fine," the engineer said. Is 2000 okay?
"9000,"
"5000,"
"7000,"
"6500, and not a Poké more," Dr. Jones finally said.
"Deal." Melissa settled. She quickly moved towards the door. "Come on Darcy, let's get moving." She said coldly. Stress seemed to be getting to her.
They left the building, and Darcy pulled out his Silph Scope. A ghost balloon could be anywhere, conceivably. This could easily be a dead end, a long search with no reward, a wild goose chase. He scanned the skies and found nothing. Maybe if he had a better vantage point he could see it. He put the scope down and looked ahead.
The Pokémon was floating on a nearby bridge.
"That's convenient," he marveled. He discreetly moved closer.
A girl around ten years of age came around a nearby hill and walked over to the Pokémon as well, curious. Darcy could not make out many details, but she had ridiculously styled pink hair that looped into itself and white clothes. It looked like a old style school uniform, but incredibly girly and with no dress code for hair.
The Balloon Pokémon saw her, and immediately floated directly at her. Darcy started to move up. There are different ways to head towards someone, and the way you move always expresses your intent, no matter how hard you try to hide it. This applies not only to humans, but also to Pokémon, even ghost balloons, and the way the balloon was approaching was a dangerous, "I'm going to hurt you," float instead of a "Hey, what's that?" float.
Darcy started running. That girl was in danger, and she did not even realize it. He reached for his Poké Balls, but the ghost had already reached her.
"Hi there!" She said bubbly. "Do you want to play?"
The ghost raised one of its two sinewy tendrils, as if in a show of piece, then suddenly threw his two stringy arms at her, extending them as he wrapped them around her. One arm pulled her shoulders together and clamped over her mouth, while the other tied her hands behind her back and her legs together. Her eyes shot in fear as Darcy called out Honchkrow.
The ghost decided it was time to leave with its package. It slowly ascended into the air, and then jerked back when it reached the extent of its arms, weighted down by the girl. It strained against the weight as best it could, but the petite little girl was too much for it to carry.
"Are you okay?" Darcy asked when he reached the girl, barely standing up.
"Mmmphlgkhn!" She mumbled incoherently and angrily through the heart-shaped hand covering her mouth. She fell over onto her side, dragging the ghost down with her.
Melissa finally caught up. "Oh, wow," she said, looking at the bound little girl on the ground and the balloon struggling to get up. "That's just creepy." She pulled out her Pokédex. "Hmm," she mused. "It's called a Drifloon. They try to carry small children to the underworld…"
"Mmmmmmmmph!"
"But they're not very good at it."
"I'm gonna get you out of here," Darcy consoled, reaching to untie her.
The Drifloon would have none of it though. It rolled in midair, pulling itself up with an Ominous Wind attack. Suddenly the ghost seemed a lot stronger.
"Crud," Melissa said, her eyes still on her Pokédex. "It just got a massive power boost."
The ghost proved it by shooting into the air like a rocket, stopping when he reached the limit of his strings, and pulling himself up anways. The Drifloon floated forward and higher away, before dropping back down.
The antithesis of the fact that a girl was being kidnapped and that the kidnapper was incredibly pathetic made it very hard not to laugh.
The ghost ran away anyways, bumbling along towards the river, the girl he held crying as she slammed into the ground again and again. The balloon got into a rhythm though, and started gaining momentum as he passed over the river, dragging the girl along through the cold water.
Darcy jumped on top of Honchkrow, and Melissa sent out Golduck into the river. She stepped on, bent her knees, and the two chased after the evil clumsy ghost. He was now heading west, downstream, and was actually going very fast, rushing towards Floraroma Town. A few wild Pokémon, mostly Shellos, Pachirisu, and Buizel skittered about. The Drifloon fired Shadow Balls at the local wildlife randomly, throwing them away.
"What's it doing?" Darcy asked Melissa.
"I can't tell,"
"Whatever. Honchkrow, make sure you've got a clean shot, and Dark Pulse."
"You can't! The stream is too fast and she's tied up. She'll drown."
"Then we'll have to make an opening. Honchkrow, swing left and blow it towards the coast with Whirlwind."
The bird complied, gaining speed with a swift pulse of his wings. The ghost, still firing at the wild Pokémon, didn't even notice when a massive gust of wind blew straight for it.
Instead of knocking the Balloon Pokémon away though it simply funneled through the flaps on the bottom of its body and sent it gracefully spinning upwards, the girl dangling beneath it, her clothes clinging to her damp skin as she shivered. She was not having a good day.
"That sure didn't work." Melissa noted dryly.
At least the girl was out of the water now. "I'm popping this balloon." Darcy said. "Catch her."
Honchkrow flew up towards the ghost, still lobbing Shadow Balls at random. Honchkrow was just getting ready for a Sucker Punch when the Drifloon nailed a swimming Lumineon. The ghost started glowing, throwing Honchkrow away in a blast of energy. Melissa's Pokédex once again gave off a high-pitched squeal.
The ghost underwent massive physiological changes. Its arms, still clinging to the girl became shorter and thicker, splitting from two to four arms. Its head grew, thickened, and tapered, the cloud adorning its head shifted, and the flaps at the bottom of its head dilated.
Darcy's quarry had evolved.
By evolving, the Pokémon now had much stubbier arms and could not bind the girl anymore. She took the opportunity to scream for help, squirming as she tried to free herself.
Darcy shook the shock off. He had to attack now.
"Dark Pulse!" he shouted.
The projectile made contact and shook the ghost back. It looked around desperately not being able to properly defend itself with its limbs encumbered, then maneuvered the girl around with his arms. His four arms held the girl upright as she started to calm down, then shoved her upward through the opening his bottom into his head, completely enveloping her torso in his ballooning figure. The girl kicked and squirmed aimlessly against her skirt as she tried to free herself.
Fortunately, the following scream was not a "Oh God, I'm dying!" scream. Unfortunately, it was the much more ear shattering "Oh God, a Pokémon just ate me!" scream.
There was no way that Darcy could get a clean shot now. His opponent had just perfected the concept of a human shield. He'd have to get the girl out of there, without damaging her or the newly evolved ghost, or figure out a way to weaken the ghost without harming her.
The Drifblim brought his four arms to bear and generated Shadow Balls. This was going to suck.
Honchkrow and Darcy drifted along through the barrage of attacks, which emphasized numbers over accuracy, a good strategy against an agile opponent, hampering movement and making dodges into crashes. The damage would be minimal, but Shadow Balls have a nasty habit of exploding on impact, which would cause them to crash, and hit more Shadow Balls. It was worth avoiding.
The battle slowly drifted along towards the northern bank of the river, which now had a much thicker, grimier make up. Hidden behind the trees was a massive Ironworks, which happened to be funded by the same investors that had made Floraroma into the environmental pioneer it was undeservingly known for being.
Honchkrow kept up his aerial acrobatics, controlling his flight with marvelous precision. He was better at avoiding attacks than the Ghost was at doling them out.
That was when the Omnious Wind knocked him back. Honchkrow took a midair tumble, and bounced along the Shadow Balls as if he was in a very violent game of aerial pinball.
"Honchkrow, Whirlwind!"
The bird did as he was ordered and blasted the air directly below him, stabilizing him and letting regain his balance. It wouldn't be long until the balloon tried that again though. Darcy mentally ran through options. He couldn't catch the Pokémon without weakening it, and he couldn't weaken it until he saved her.
A plan formed in his mind. He pulled out an empty Poké Ball. He urged his mount to close the distance between the two combatants, and readied his aim. He couldn't catch the Drifblim in the Poké Ball like that, but he could separate him from the girl with it. He pulled his arm back and gave a swift throw.
A gust of air manipulated by the ghost ricocheted it away harmlessly. The girl started struggling again, and Darcy felt sick to his stomach that if he didn't act fast, she was going to be doing a lot worse.
The two Flying-types meandered over the metal pipes of Fuego Ironworks, through the exhaust and grime they spilled out, the hot air burning against Darcy while the ghost simply rose on the column of air, spinning lightly.
Darcy got another idea. He strafed around the ghost, still firing its energy balls furiously at the Big Boss Pokémon attacking him.
"Get a Whirlwind going!" Darcy ordered, the bird adding his elemental mastery of the winds into his orbit of the ghost. He strafed around and around the balloon, increasing his speed and the force of the winds. The G-forces started to get to his head, but soon enough a veritable cyclone formed, the Drifblim at the center.
Darcy grabbed another Poké Ball and easily tossed it into the maelstrom, and the winds guided it to his mark.
"Honchkrow, dive!" He shouted, anticipating the moment the girl would be separated from her captor.
The ghost was summoned into the sphere and quickly fought his way out, but the girl fell helplessly to the ground below. Darcy increased his speed, watching the girl frantically struggle.
"Kadabra, Confusion!" She shouted as she threw a Poké Ball to the ground ahead of her. The Psi Pokémon emerged and caught her in a net of psychic energy, and she gently fell to the ground.
Darcy turned towards the Poké Ball, he had just thrown. The blimp escaped, furious. He had lost his ace in the hole though.
"Fire," Darcy said smugly. The Big Boss Pokémon charged up a lance of dark energy in his mouth, ready to take down his enemy.
That was when the sky fell. A huge rush of energy and heat, like a massive explosion rushed from the Ghost Pokémon knocking Darcy aside. It used Self Destruct.
Darcy too began to fall to earth, his loyal bird rushing to catch him. A secondary explosion lanced out though, knocking his bird off trajectory.
"Confusion!"
Darcy's fall defied gravity as an odd aura covered him and slowed his fall. He touched ground lightly, the girl he had saved smiling, covered with ectoplasm, drenched in water, but happy to be alive at least. Darcy looked where the Drifblim had been. A sad deflated balloon was strung out on the ground, out of energy or will to fight. Darcy pulled out one more Poké Ball and captured the Pokémon.
The girl introduced herself. "My name is Mira!" She said gaily. "Thanks for saving me."
"The feeling is mutual," Darcy replied, shaking off the near death experience.
She tugged at her hair, its intricate knots lined with solidified mucus. "It spat all over me," she said.
"That's not saliva, its ectoplasm," Darcy explained. "It's basically the energy that Ghosts use to survive. It lets them fight, go through walls, reproduce…"
"Wait, does that mean I'm covered in…?"
Darcy realized what she meant. "Oh,"
Even the scream of a girl inside a Pokémon's mouth is nothing compared to the scream of a girl who just realized what she was covered in.
Darcy started moving back towards the river. He and Melissa had a bounty to collect.
They reached Valley Windworks without incident and found Dr. Jones.
He studied at the specimen carefully for a few minutes, then returned to Darcy and Melissa.
"This is not the Pokémon I asked for. This is an entirely different species. Take it back, its no good to me."
"It's the evolved form of the Pokémon you asked for, Drifloon. It couldn't be helped, and it will probably be more beneficial to your research than a Drifloon would be." Melissa offered.
"I refuse to accept it. The lab isn't prepared to analyze this species, and it speaks poorly of your work that you would pass this off as another Pokémon. I assume you can excuse yourselves."
Darcy wasn't sure if Melissa was going to scream or cry. It was probably going to be a violent combination of the two.
A/N: Bleck. I was not looking forward to this chapter, and I think it showed. Plot points were mangled, a gag I used came out terrible, etc. This chapter was kind of boring, and I've really wanted to work on the upcoming chapters. Season 1 only has 4 chapters left, you know. After that I'm going to put some more focus on schoolwork and try a few other fanfiction projects before getting back into it. I promise though, the next four chapters are all, individually, going to blow the socks off all of the ones previous. I've got epic plans in store, so stay tuned.
Also, I've been favorite eight times now. It's pretty cool. Unfortunately many of those people who have added my story to their favorites have neglected to write any reviews. I'm going to say this as clearly as I can.
IF YOU REVIEW I WILL WRITE BETTER AND FASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm serious. Bolded and underlined serious. If you're going to read this story, you can write a few sentences about your thoughts on it, its not that hard. Thanks.