Disclaimer: Snow White is not the fairest of them all. I played Go Fish with her yesterday and she cheated! :(
So uh, hai. Another late update. I'd apologise, only that's been getting old over the last few months. So instead of fretting over it, we'll just go along with it. Oh yeah, and not that it's very important BUT...I've beaten my record of "number of reviews in a single story" as of now! Woo! 52 reviews! Thanks so much guys! :D Now, to surpass the number of chapters...that'd be 15. :P So keep up with the reviews, feedback, criticism, whatevah...and I'll try to update as soon as I can! -cough- (every three weeks...) -hack-...and, well, with that in mind, we'll continue!
...
Dear Diary,
Well, it's been about a day since I first arrived here with my new buds and two days since we've met altogether, though I must admit it feels a lot longer. I guess this must be because so much has happened in that little amount of time, and it's hard to comprehend it all merely onto paper...but I'll do my best.
So, first off, as their part of the deal, we started up a rescue team. Oddly enough, we were asked to do a mission shortly after to find a kidnapped aron...of course, the mission ended up in success, but sadly I could only say so much for myself. My new partners---Jessie and James, as I've learned to call them---weren't so sharp with their attacks yet. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're perfectly fine, friendly folks...it's just become quite evident that they've got some work to do if they ever want to seek out their friend, or solve any such problems we'll probably have to face. Today I'm bringing them to a dungeon again, only this time I'm going to find us a much easier mission to take care of, if I'm lucky enough to find one on the Bulletin Board---yes, that old thing is still standing, only for how long, I am unsure.
Right now, the two of them are inside, probably messing around with their new bandannas. They came in the mail today, we well as the new team badge and other assortments of "starting items"...I mean, I was pretty sure I told those pelipper that I already acquired a-many good items, but I guess they insisted on it...anyway as soon as my friends were informed of this, they grabbed everything in that mailbox and darted back inside without a thought to spare. I think the two of them are getting along quite well in there, perhaps splitting and sharing the items in a well-orderly fashion. (screaming, yelling, and "breaking" of objects is then heard from inside Cliff's house; Cliff sweatdrops)
Um, OK. Perhaps maybe not as well as I had presumed. I guess I'll just have to wrap it up now, before their bickering gives me another headache. So, with that in mind, I'm just going to finish this up quickly before –
"AAAAAHHHH! Get away from me!" screamed a familiar figure as he zoomed out of the house, waving his arms in the air with a rawst berry clamped in one paw. Cliff sighed.
Too late, he thought to himself, putting away his diary with the unfinished entry, shoving it into a safe pocket in the toolbox in front of him so as no unwanted eyes would spot it. As soon as he did this, he became aware of someone grabbing onto him from behind, using him as a shelter. Another figure emerged, running straight toward them with her own pawful of fruit.
"You threw a berry at me, James!" she cried, yelling in the direction of Cliff, only aimed toward the unfortunate soul behind him. "I can't let you get away with that!"
"But it missed!" whined the shinx, ducking lower. "And besides, you threw a million berries at me---I'm all juicy and sticky, thanks to you! This'll never come out, not even with Bleach, and I can't even change clothes to cover it up!"
Cliff chuckled uncertainly. "Um, OK guys, why don't we just get along and forget all about---"
"Who the heck cares?!" growled the poochyena, almost ignoring or unable to hear the quilava at all. "Fire Weasel can always buy you a new bandanna, and even if he can't, you can just go around naked for crying out loud!"
James gasped, jumping out from behind Cliff. "Naked? No way, that's nasty!" he shouted. "I would never in the right mind do something so horrifying!"
Jessie rolled her eyes. "James, you don't even have a right mind..." She got back to growling. "Plus, unless you were able to notice, we've been naked all the way up until now, and even with that bandanna on, you still won't ever be wearing any pants!" With her target in view, she seized the opportunity to launch a cheri berry into his path. Surprisingly, with much clumsiness, he was able to avoid it without having himself fall on his bum in the process. After regaining footing, he smirked and stuck his tongue out at Jessie.
"Nyah nyah! Missed me!" he teased – only to be then struck with another cheri berry to the forehead. The impact caused him to cry in shock and he collapsed to the ground. Jessie then laughed victoriously, squinting her eyes shut as she pointed at the stricken electric-type. James scowled from his position, but quickly sensed the chance for revenge. His rawst berry was instantly chucked in Jessie's direction, manging to make quite an impressive hit as the remains splattered all over her muzzle and blue juice proceeded to drip off the tip of her nose.
"Ugh! Howdare you!" she scoffed. She brought another berry, an aspear, from behind her back, ready to use her weapon as her offense. However, she was stopped by Cliff before this could happen as he gently grabbed at her firing arm in attempts to calm the feud.
"Guys, guys, would you please just settle down?" he pleaded. "Fighting isn't going to resolve anything, unless it's a fair, well-played battle. Throwing food is simply unnecessary, especially since we could be using them while in dungeons instead of wasting them on our fellow team members." He looked Jessie in the eye and she returned the favour. "Alright Jessie, I'm gonna let go of your arm now and when I do, I expect you two to start behaving a little better, got that?"
"Whatever..." she mumbled inaudibly, rolling her eyes. Cliff slowly disbanded from his hold and backed away. It was silent and awkward for a few seconds while everyone just stood there before Jessie suddenly spun around and shot her aspear berry out at James in a surprise attack. He yelped in response, clutching onto his injured optical.
"My eye! MY EYEEEE!" he screamed, falling backwards. Cliff gave Jessie a quizzical look and she shrugged her shoulders, almost innocently.
"Whaaaat? Weren't quite expecting that?"
Cliff sweatdropped. "Right..." There was no dealing with these two. As he watched James get up, rubbing his eye, he realised both he and Jessie were both wearing their new bandannas. Only, they seemed to have done something more to them. "What's up with your bandannas?" he didn't stop to ask. "Didn't we order white?" Both of them looked down for a second.
"Oh, yeah. Well, they were." Jessie replied.
"They were really boring." James added with a nod, seeming to forget about his sore eye. "Good thing I always carried around those stickers – knew they'd come in handy sometime!"
"Ah, so those are stickers?" Cliff inquired, scratching his head as he observed. "What kind of stickers are those? I mean, a bunch of red-coloured R's? What's that supposed to symbolise?"
"Team Rocket." James beamed proudly.
"No duh." commented Jessie.
"Oh, well...I mean...I guess it's creative." Cliff managed to get out, unsure of what to think. "Sort of..."
"Are you implying that maybe our works aren't good enough for you, hmmm?" Jessie quired with a hint of distaste, putting her face up to Cliff's and causing him to back down a little due to need of personal space.
"Ah, no, not anything like THAT!" Cliff assured, putting up his paws to force the poochyena out of his face in a defensive, but respective manner. "I think it's quite nice. It's kind of like a trademarked logo or something, so I guess it would be good in making us a little more well-known...you know, as our new rescue team, not just me as an individual, you see. Heheheh..." He noticed himself fumbling a bit and stood up tall once more. "Anyway, where's my team bandanna? Decorated much like yours, I presume?"
"Yup." James replied, nodding again. He reached into the mysterious flab of skin and into the imaginary pocket to pull out another white, R-stickered article of clothing similar to his and Jessie's.
"For crying out the window, would you stop doing that?" Jessie asked, almost more of a demand than a question. "The way you just reach in there and pull crap out is just insane – insanely gross!"
James made a weird look. "But I don't have pants! You said so yourself!"
"...that doesn't mean you should improvise..."
"Why not? It's a lot easier than just carrying everything around like a pack mule!" The two of them were face to face in an instant and Cliff had to, once again, pull away the fight, splitting through the middle and separating them before anyone got seriously hurt.
"Alright guys...haven't we fought enough this morning?" he asked, almost humorously. He noticed both of their stares were locked onto one another until he spoke, where they then glanced up at him slowly while still keeping the other in the corner of their eye. When neither of them answered, he gave a stiff sigh and continued.
"Look, save the fighting for on the field." he advised. "If we ever want to make all of this work out, we're gonna have to actually work for it. That means we're going to have to start acting like a team, instead of bickering like siblings. Remember, the longer it takes for us to get through this, the longer it's going to take you to find your friend and get out of this place. That's what you want, right?" He paused to watch Jessie and James roll their eyes, almost like teenagers when forced to listen to their mother. He smirked and picked up his rescue team kit. "Now come on, you two. We mustn't mope around – there's work to be done. A lot of work."
Both dark and electric type grumbled softly, knowing that they had to do what were told if they were to ever get back home and return to their missed bodies during their lifetime. All this, just to simply fix the mess they had gotten themselves into, and get back to the everyday Pikachu-stalking lives they were used to.
What felt like perhaps weeks spent, was only just the beginning.
...
"Yo, Cliff! What's happenin'?"
"Nice new look for you, Cliff. You guys make those bandannas?"
"Did you really fight Team Brutal yesterday, Cliff?"
"Ooh! Cliff! Cliff! Can I have your autograph...please?!"
A swarm of pokemon huddled around Cliff and his team, making a daily walk to the Bulletin Board outside Pelipper Post Office no easy matter. Seems I've been quite missed over the last year, the quilava noted, grabbing for a job offer on the board. He was soon interrupted as Lombre jumped up in front.
"Man, that's soooo wicked! Sick, dude!" he practically screamed. "I mean, Team Brutal? Dang, man! Totally, dang!"
"Eh, Lombre, would you mind stepping down a bit?" Cliff asked politely. Lombre obeyed almost automatically, as if a measly disagreement with such an idol would be a serious crime. Unfortunately, as Cliff's paw went up again, he was met by the faces of a bouncing Weepinbell and a grinning Granbull.
"Team Brutal...we heard! Amazing stuff!" chirped the hyper plant-like pokemon.
"Yeah, that's quite impressive!" added Granbull. "But then again, we must remind ourselves, we are dealing with Cliff here."
Cliff laughed nervously. "Uh, thanks guys. Really." he said, pushing them softly aside. "But right now we've gotta take another rescue. The pokemon in danger has slowed a year ago when the natural disasters disappeared, but lately, the offers are on the rise again. We have to be quick on our feet and get going, so if you'll excuse us -"
"Hi Cliff!" squeaked a small, young voice. Cliff looked down to see the aron from yesterday, looking happier than ever. "Thanks so much for rescuing me yesterday!" She looked over and spotted Jessie and James. "Oh! You're the funny guy who was covered in slime, and the girl who got trapped in ice, otherwise known as The Sliminator and Frozen Popsicle! Hi!" She waved a tiny paw. The two of them sweatdropped.
"So, maybe we are starting to get noticed..." Jessie mumbled sarcastically.
"Yeah," agreed James. "But you have to give credit to those nicknames. They're pretty neat." Jessie was about to whack him upside the head but thought better of it while the kid was still watching them. Instead, she offered a fake smile.
"Well, of course...you have quite the talent for that, now don't you?" she responded sweetly through her teeth.
The aron grinned largely. "Maybe!" she responded.
"Patch," came the deep voice of an aggron who suddenly appeared next to the small aron, who looked up instantly when he spoke. "Get out of that crowd young lady, before you get yourself trampled."
"Daddy!" she squealed, nuzzling her face to his steel-iron body. She then stopped and smiled up at him. "These are the nice people that rescued me yesterday!" she informed, gesturing toward the three. "Cliff is tough! And his friends are really funny!"
The aggron returned the smile, but kept a strict tone. "Yes, I'm glad they came to rescue you. Now, don't go wandering too far away from Daddy from now on. We don't want anything like that to happen again, alright?"
The aron nodded. "Okey." she replied. She began to leave with her father, who suddenly paused and turned around.
"Oh, and...Clifton." he said. The quilava took a couple steps forward.
"Yes?"
"I'm afraid I haven't been able to thank you properly for rescuing my dear Patch last night...it was truly remarkable of you. Her very life could have been in danger..." he cleared his throat. "Anyway, I'm sorry if my behaviour before was a bit out of hand, but it was pretty urgent, and I thank you for taking on the job and bringing my daughter back to me."
Cliff put his paw behind his head. "Heh...no problem. That's what rescue teams do, right?"
Aggron held out his paw to the fire-type, revealing a bag of coins. "I'd like you to take this as a token of our gratitude." he offered hastily. Cliff chuckled and waved it off.
"No, it's OK, I don't need -"
"Please, take it." Aggron pleaded, pushing it to the quilava's chest. "It's only acceptable that I should pay you back for such a marvelous deed." Cliff hesitantly picked up the bag from the steel-type's grasp and nodded.
"Thank you." he said modestly.
"No, thank you." the aggron replied. He looked down at his daughter, who was busy laughing as she tossed a stone around with both paws. "OK, Patch, how about we go to Uproar Forest and collect some chestnuts for lunch?"
The aron almost jumped for joy. "Yay!" She and the aggron both went off in their own direction, leaving Cliff's team and the remainder of the crowd.
"Wow, that little aron is so adorable!" piped Kangaskhan.
"Friend! Friendly friends!" Wigglytuff agreed in a sing-song voice as he danced in circles, wiggling his arms in the air. "La! Lala! Lalala! La dee dah! Do dee lah! Wheeeeeeeee!" He began to spin around in circles with a large apple on his head, between his rabbit-like ears.
Jessie's eyes widened as she watched the singing pink pokemon. "Wow, that dude is even creepier than you, James." she whispered in shock.
"Yeah," he whispered back. "That guy is waaaay scarier than – hey, wait a minute!" Cliff cleared his throat at an exceptionally loud tone, as if to signal to everybody that he was now ready to get back on track.
"Alright guys...performance is over." he informed the group of pokemon huddled around. "We've got what we've come for here, so we're to be on our way. Please, spare us a little space." The pokemon around him groaned and sighed, but did as directed. They all moved away at a small distance, still watching him as he and his newly formed rescue team weaved their way through the narrow opening in the crowd. As they left the Square, the pokemon cheered and hollered.
"Best of luck, Cliff!"
"Get 'er done!"
"Make us all proud!"
"Come back soon! Really soon!"
Jessie rolled her eyes as the yells of encouragement began to slowly fade. "Psychotic townsfolk." she mumbled mostly to herself. James sweatdropped from beside her from the remark, however, Cliff just scrolled his eyes down the slip of paper he was holding as he they walked away. Town Square almost completely disappeared from view as they took to a bright path ahead of them, and Jessie took notice to the quilava, knowing only too well that he was planning in his mind the next arduous mission filled with ultra strong pokemon to beat the crap out of them. She gave a bored yawn.
"So...what stupid job are you forcing us to do today?" she asked in a casual but slightly irritated voice.
Cliff almost completely ignored her annoyed attitude and gave a calm answer to the question. "Well, I managed to pick out a relatively easy job for you. It's right down at Beach Cave – the closest dungeon from town – and, like Tiny Woods, it promises weaker inhabitants, so in the case that you'd ever have to fight any of them, you should be able to pull it off with your amateur level skills."
Jessie's eyes flared up. "Amateur?!" she fumed. "And just what exactly are you implying by that?!" Cliff put his paws up in a defensive stance.
"Hold it...I didn't mean to put it that way." he defended. "I never mentioned you were weak, but it is true that you've only just become pokemon, so I trust you're quite new to the experience of actually battling as an actual pokemon. Plus, after seeing your struggle yesterday, it's proved to me that you need a lot to learn, and the only way to start that is to practice in places where you are capable of taking on missions. I can't do all the battling for you, and it's time you two started to become more familiar with your own moves, so in case of an emergency-"
"Oh, come onnn..." Jessie cut in. "This is ridiculous! We shouldn't have to do something like...like THIS."
"I agree with Jessie." James spoke up quickly. The two of them both looked at him, almost forgetting he was even there. "I mean...well..." he continued, tracing a paw in the sand. "Don't you think we might not be...erm...strong enough, to, you know...go into a cave with...pokemon...? Couldn't we just...uh...practice our, um, moves on a tree? A boulder, perhaps? Or, maybe...maybe a-"
WHUMP!
"Ow! What was that for...?" James demanded, picking himself up after having been pounded in the head with a certain dark-type's fist.
"For being an idiot." the poochyena responded, watching him whimper as he rubbed his sore noggin. "Be glad I only did it to you once. I went easy on you back at the Square, but don't think that's going to give you any more reason to-"
"What? Speak my opinion?!"
"Opinion?" she repeated, with a smirk. "What kind of messed up opinion is THAT?"
"Mine!" James retorted. "Not that yours would be any better, because you're just...just bossy and greedy and...and selfish, and, and, and-"
"Guys! GUYS! Really!" Cliff interrupted desperately. "How many times have I told you guys to buck up and just be nice to one another?! If you're ever going to be a successful team, you've gotta learn to get along with your teammates...shouldn't that be obvious? You'll never get anything done unless you do! Geezzz..." He gave out an exhausted sigh, then before anyone else could reply – or continue arguing for that matter – he went on, bringing the subject back at hand. "Anyway...the beach is right down this path. We're not too far – come on, let's get moving." He gestured them walk and they did, both looking very unmotivated and unwilling to do the task they were being assigned.
Cliff said we're going somewhere like that Tiny Woods place, James thought through his throbbing head as they walked. Wasn't that the place where the pidgey attacked us before? We were hardly a match for them! If these are the weakest they've got, I'd hate to see their strongest! As he fretted worriedly, the poochyena beside him muttered unhappily, also seemingly upset over the ideal. He wondered if she could maybe be just as scared as he was. After all, she got pretty beaten up too, the other day.
He shook his head at the silly thought. Nah, not Jessie, he assured himself. She's too strong to let herself get knocked out that easily. She's more than a match for any pokemon that dares to pick on her. Unlike me... He shook his head again. That's it...I gotta stop being such a wimp. I'm Team Rocket, aren't I? I can do this. Piece of cake! Ahahaha...
He sweatdropped as the cave appeared in front of him, suddenly not feeling so convinced after all. Cliff took this time to stop and look again at the paper in his hands, then up at the cave.
"Well, this is it." he informed. "Beach Cave. Really, quite astounding you know. No one knew about this cave for a long while, because it was hidden completely from view. Pokemon would pass by with no inkling of its existence at all. However," he continued to explain. "As I've heard it, Beach Cave was first found by a rescue team of three rhyhorn who came to train at the beach early one morning. They were tackling and charging at each other when one's horns missed their aim and instead, drilled through this large rock. It created an opening, and inside, was a dungeon. The discovery of Beach Cave lead to an enormous amount of other dungeon discoveries in its time, so there's been a lot more places to explore since I've first joined a rescue team." He smiled at the memory. "But nature, it still awes me – there's always so many mysteries in this world...some of them get solved at some point in time, some don't. Just imagine how many dungeons there still are, undiscovered. It's really amazing stuff." Both newly recruited partners of Cliff's team were staring at him without any much more of a response. He scratched his neck.
"Er...sorry if I went on rambling a bit. Its history is intriguing to me, that's all." He shrugged. Still not getting any response, he again took to the paper in his paws. "So...um...I wonder where our client could be? He told us to meet us here at the entrance of the cave."
Jessie looked left, then right in a quick gesture and, seeing nothing, quickly went for the chance. "Well, no one's here. Guess we can't do the mission, then." she said, trying to sound disappointed, but the eagerness in her tone was not easily covered up.
"Uh-huh." Cliff responded, making it evident that he was aware of the false enthusiasm. He hadn't been with the two of them long, but he had been with them long enough to know that they still hadn't fully accepted the idea of being a rescue team. He almost regretted making the deal with them in the first place, but he also knew that if they ever wanted to find their friend, they would have to train well – and being on a rescue team would certainly help them out a lot on that. No point in turning back now. Instead he gave a taunting smirk.
"You know, there's this little thing called 'patience'." he replied, still looking smug. "If you two decide you don't want to wait around for this mission, I can always find you a harder one..."
James immediately realised what he was indicating. "Oh, no, no – we can wait...no problem, no problem at all!" he persisted, sweatdropping.
Cliff nodded triumphantly. "Good. I'm glad we've come to an agreement on this." The trio was silent for a short moment, before the fire-type thought of something else to bring up while he still had the opportunity to speak. "Hey, you guys have the new Team Badge on you?"
"...team what?" quired James, clearly puzzled.
"Um, you know..." Cliff trailed, trying to put a small explanation into words. "That...shiny orb thing that glows when you touch it and has wings sticking out from both sides?" He instantly realised what he said sounded vague and a bit stupid, but the shinx managed to know exactly what he was talking about.
"Oh, that?" he asked, to be sure, but didn't wait for an answer. "Yeah, I have it! It's right -" He began reaching his paw down to his hindquarters where his valuables were usually stashed into the imaginary pocket, but he looked up to see Jessie giving him a weird glare and he opted not to. "Uh..." he continued, still looking at Cliff as he pulled his paw back up and shrugged. "Yeah."
"It came with all that other junk in the mail." Jessie added, now facing Cliff. "What's it supposed to do, anyway? Knock out foes or something?" Suddenly, the idea of beating up other pokemon began to appeal to her and she grinned, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm...sounds like fun."
"Oh Arcues, no, that's not what it's for!" laughed Cliff, much to the poochyena's disappointment. "There are already other items to take care of that job, such as gravelerocks. Now, the Rescue Team Badge," he continued. "is an essential item for any rescue team as it comes in good use for missions. You know how we had to walk all the way to Apple Woods yesterday for that mission and back?"
"...don't remind me." Jessie murmured. She did not intend on remembering the embarrassing epic failure she had to go through with that Team Brutal – even though Cliff had managed to defeat them on his own, she and James still took quite a beating and must've looked totally pathetic and wimpy at the time. And that glaceon...Jessie tried not to growl. If she ever got her paws on that ice-type again, she swore she'd –
"Well then," Cliff went on, keeping the conversation going. "The reason we had to do that was because we didn't have a Rescue Team Badge...see, I had thrown the old one out after I decided I no longer wanted to participate in rescues and disbanded from rescue activity altogether, but now that we rejoined up, we've got it again, and I can explain to you its extraordinary uses." He paused and then explained further. "What a Rescue Team Badge does, is automatically teleport a team back to their Rescue Team Base...in fact, it's programmed to do the very thing. So whenever you complete a mission, you can simply hold out the badge and all team members nearby will automatically be swept into the light and returned back to base, thus saving a lot of time and effort, especially for dungeons that may be further away. A very convenient tool, that it is."
James's green eyes glittered in amazement. "Whoooooaaaaaa...for real?"
"For fakes." Cliff answered, though he wasn't sure why.
James cocked his head. "Huh?" he wondered aloud. "But you said -"
"Ah, nevermind." Cliff replied, sweatdropping as he scratched the back of his head. He hadn't expected that kind of a reaction. "...yes, for real, it really does teleport you." he cleared up, trying to fix the confusion. "It's a very handy tool. Don't lose it – the first one is free of course, but in the case that it does go missing, we'd have to pay for a new one, and...well, let's just say they don't sell very cheap...it's just...you know, better to keep good track of the one we have."
"Oh." was the only reply he got from the electric-type, who must've felt a bit dumb at his childish questioning of a joke.
"Well then," Cliff said in response. "I guess that clears up most of what we needed to know, eh? Unless of course...you have any questions regarding dungeons, or any other things in particular?" James thought nervously for a moment then raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"Um, well..." he started, not quite sure how to put it into words without sounding unprofessional – which in their case, was a pretty hard thing to do, "About those...moves, we were speaking about. How do we...you know, use them?"
Jessie slapped her forehead. Could that have come out any worse? What little they had left of a reputation with Cliff seemed to have totally vanished at that point.
Cliff continued to scratch his head. It was true they really didn't know how to fight – but where was he supposed to start? He tried to think back from the days when he himself first started training. "Why," he began slowly. "Most of the moves you learn you learn on your own through your own experience, after you kind of get the hang of doing all that...uhh, fighting. Many pokemon only know one or two powers before training so...hmmm...to start? I guess I'd advise probably starting out with basic moves, that way, when we can start focusing on tougher places, even more powerful moves are gained. Heck, before you know it -"
"CLIFF!" screamed a nearby voice. All three immediately turned around to see...what do you know, Lombre again...stopping to pant and clutch at his chest in attempts to regain his breath.
"Urm..." Cliff muttered, a little taken-aback at his sudden appearance. "What's wrong, Lombre?" The water/leaf type took a couple seconds to take in oxygen before speaking again.
"I'm...huff-huff...I'm sorry to interrupt, but...pant...there's a pokemon who wants to see you." he spoke between breaths. "They...pant...insisted on your rescue, Cliff...huff...and...and...pant...I think you're the only one...the only one around who can...who can...pant...help them. Wicked tough...wicked tough dungeon, you see...pant...your help is greatly needed."
Cliff raised his brow. "The only one strong enough, you say?" he repeated. "Where have all the other tough rescue teams gone? I'm sure there must be a couple still operating around these parts. What about the legendary Team ACT? Or, even that newer team that reached Lucario Rank...I heard they could've been even stronger than -"
Lombre sadly shook his leaf-topped head. "No." he replied depressingly, having re-caught his breath completely. "Most of them are no longer around here, so a lot of the pokemon trapped in higher-level dungeons have had to ask teams great distances away from the Square. It's been sad, because a lot of pokemon have to send SOS Mail that may take days, even weeks, to reach the hands of a strong and willing rescue team miles and miles away. But..." he looked up, his eyes filled with hope. "Now that you're here, Cliff, you can help those poor pokemon. They have someone to turn to now that you're here, Cliff. They need you now more than ever."
Cliff let himself look back at his teammates, at Lombre, at his teammates and back to Lombre again. He let his gaze up to the sky and finally sighed. "Alright, I'll take the job." he offered. Jessie and James nearly jumped out of their skins in surprise to his reaction.
"WHAAAAAT?!"
"Tell them," the fire-type continued, seeming to ignore the outburst altogether. "That I'll be there ASAP. I just need to get a couple things together first before I go." The Lombre smiled ear-to-ear.
"Yes! Bless you Cliff...bless you!" He scrambled, getting onto his feet. "I'll let them know straightaway you'll be coming!" With those final parting words, he skedaddled, not giving anybody else a chance to say a word in the matter. With him gone, Jessie and James gave Cliff looks mixed with confusion, upset and, on Jessie's side, a bit of anger.
"What the heck was up with that?!" she shouted without hesitation. "Up to now, you had me thinking we were going to do some easy cheesy mission so you could get us to grow stronger and...this comes up? You can't just decide last-minute to bring us to another insanely tough place where we'll get the pulp beaten out of us! That's just MAD!" Cliff stepped back a little.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa...cool it, you guys are gonna be fine. I wouldn't put you in danger worse than what you've experienced yesterday – that would be just cruel." he informed soberly.
"Hmmm?" Jessie questioned in an irritated voice. "Then what's gonna become of us, then? We just gonna tag along on your pretty little rescue like a bunch of nobodies who don't have anything better to do with their lives? How are we supposed to get this so-called training in then, could you tell us THAT?"
"Easy." he replied, still sounding quite calm. "Because you're staying here." Jessie and James jumped again.
"WHAAAAAT?!"
"Staying here?" questioned James. "Why? What do we do?"
Cliff gave them another smile as he opened his toolbox and placed a couple different berries and seeds onto the ground in front of their feet. "Isn't it obvious?" he replied, as they looked down at the stash. "We've been talking about it for the last fifteen minutes or so. You two are doing the Beach Cave mission from this bulletin." He waved the slip of paper in the air to remind them of where it was and then placed it gently amongst the other items in the small pile.
"What, you mean without you?" asked Jessie.
"Precisely." the fire-type replied. "You guys don't really need my help, do you? I mean, you're not my kids. You seem capable of handling your own responsibilities without me haggling you anyway. Besides, if you learn on your own, you'll get stronger. It shouldn't be too tough." He packed up his suitcase and then pointed to the pile he placed in front of them. "I provided you with a couple essentials like berries and apples in case you need them. Other than that, I think you won't really need much else. Just accomplish the deed and then use the Rescue Team Badge to get back home. Seems simple enough?"
"Well...well..." James stammered, not very intent on his leaving. "What will you do without a...a team badge thing? Don't you need it more than we do?"
Cliff laughed in response. "Eh...I'll survive." he chuckled. "These legs have carried me farther distances than you could imagine back in the days. I might be a little late coming back, but that shouldn't be a problem...I just want you two to have something in case you ever get too lost or anything." He picked up his suitcase and stood up fully. "I'd like to stay and chat, but I've gotta get going now. We can meet up after we're both done and have dinner at my place." He began to leave again.
"Urm...but..." James said, grabbing onto the quilava's leg to stop him. "What about those moves? You told us we should start out with basic moves...what kind of basic moves do you want us to do? I don't even think I know how to use anything!"
Cliff looked down at the two. "Well, both of your species learn similar basic moves, so in the case you ever get stuck, you can help one another out. My advice – start out with a tackle, and take it from there. You'd be surprised how everything else will follow up behind as you go." This time as the fire-type left, he went with no interruptions.
James sweatdropped, not really getting it. "Okaaaayyy..."
"My advice – start out with a tackle, and take it from there..." Jessie repeated in a mocking voice a moment after the quilava had disappeared. "Oh, come on! Who does he think we are, anyway? Kindergarteners?"
"Well...we kind of are." James admitted, quickly regretting what he said. "...I don't mean that in a bad way, really!" he quickly added, regaining himself. "But seriously, he expects us to actually battle and stuff as if we were real pokemon or something. How are we supposed to do that? He says to tackle, but I don't wanna tackle! I'll get hurt!"
"Uhh...unless you haven't noticed," Jessie countered. "We are real pokemon, and it's been that way for the long few days that we've been here..." she rolled her eyes. "Besides, you're the one who was so excited about this in the first place, am I right?"
"Yeah..." he said slowly. "I admit it was cool at first...that is, until I was almost digested by that swalot."
It was Jessie's turn to sweatdrop. "You were almost digested by the weepinbell too."
"That's different! I'm used to that!"
"Haha...right." the poochyena said with a smirk. "So anyway," she spoke up, changing the subject. "We better gather up all this crap Fire Weasel left us and go." She grabbed an apple in her teeth and began to leave as well. James was surprised – not only because she was acting more like a pokemon without even noticing, but also because of the fact that she appeared to be heading in the wrong direction.
"Er, Jessie," he started. "Isn't Beach Cave -"
Jessie placed the apple down to speak. "Over there?" she signaled, gesturing her head to the cave in the opposite direction. "According to what we've been told, yes, it is." James looked even more confused.
"Then...why are you -"
"Going this way?" Jessie again completed, almost as if knowing exactly what he would ask. "Because," she continued with the answer. "The weasel isn't around, right? Who cares if he asked us to do a mission? Now that he's gone...heck, we can do whatever we want. We can ditch this place. Just because he likes to go on stupid missions doesn't mean we have to. I mean, we have the right to refuse so...why not just don't and say we did?!"
James thought it over for a moment. "Hmmm...yeah, you have a point." he remarked. "But then again...what if he figures out that we haven't been doing what he asked? Won't he know?"
Jessie shrugged. "Dunno. What if he does? Is that a problem?"
"Uhhhh...he's kind of...strong..."
Jessie looked unsure for a split second but then came up with another solution. "Eh, no big deal. We can always make up an excuse. Like...the cave was closed due to remodeling. Or that the client person never showed up. Or of course, the classic my shinx ate the bulletin cover-up."
"Hey! I never said I'd approve of doing such a thing!" he scoffed. "Why can't you eat it?!"
"Whatever...sheesh, I was just joking." Jessie said with a paw to her forehead. "Even so, it'd just be an excuse either way. No matter which kind we use, the weasel's so goody-goody he'd probably forgive us anyway. So..." She turned around, ready to leave. "You coming or not?"
James bit his lip. He knew Cliff wouldn't be too happy if he figured out they'd just ditched the job and went off to do whatever they wanted. But then, he also knew that he didn't want to go into a dungeon in the first place, especially not alone...besides, over the years, he had come to learn one major fact that proved true – and that was that it was impossible to say no to Jessie.
"Um...OK." he finally decided. "Just...wait one moment." There were a couple shuffling noises from behind the poochyena and she checked back in curiosity to see what he was doing. Turned out he was trying to stuff the remainder of items on the ground into his pocket whilst trying to balance on three legs. She sweatdropped. Guess if we don't want to lug around some old toolbox, I'm gonna have to get used to this..., she thought disapprovingly.
She continued to stand there, watching and waiting for her partner to finish up. Unfortunately, the hoarding task proved difficult for the electric-type and every time he managed to cram something in, something else fell out. He muttered to himself each time he picked up a falling apple or oran berry in which he then tried to hurriedly store into the mysterious compartment. Jessie become almost impatient enough to get in there and grab some herself so they could finally go on their way – however, before this could happen, someone approached from seemingly out of nowhere, jolting them both up and back into reality.
"Hey! Hey! You guys are a Rescue Team right?" quired a young wynaut in a squeaky, high-pitched voice, cutting right in between the two of them. James, who had been unaware of the approach, let out a short cry of surprise and jumped to his feet, causing a number of fruits and other items to spill to the ground.
"Well...what's it look like to you?" Jessie asked the blue-coloured pokemon in a disturbed voice. The wynaut turn to her with an odd expression and she instantly realised it was still only a child. "Oh! I mean...yeah, sure, we're a Rescue Team and...all of that jazz..." she mumbled, not very enthusiastically. The young psychic type smiled.
"Oh, hurray! Hurray!" he chirped. "I thought no one was going to come! Sorry I wasn't around, I mean...I was getting a little lonely waiting around so I went wandering. Then I was told someone picked up my job offer, so I came here! I hoped you hadn't left yet and now I'm here, and I see that you haven't, so I'm happy! Happy happy happy!"
James grabbed at his fluttering heart, apparently still not yet fully restored from the scare. "So...you were the one who put up this bulletin?" he asked, scooping the paper up with his nose and thrusting it in the pokemon's direction. The kid took one look of it and, when recognising it immediately, looked up and smiled.
"Yup! That was me!" he squeaked excitedly. He bounced up and down. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I am soooo happy! You two came to help me...now I can get it back! My Smiley Charm!"
"Whoa, hold on there, kiddo..." Jessie barged in, not quite understanding. "...the what charm?"
"Smiley Charm." the child repeated. "It is a special item that was made for us wynaut, and it helps boost our defense...it's also really rare!" He then frowned, looking a lot sadder. "But my Smiley Charm...it was very, very special to me. My granddaddy gave it to me and it's my...my personal treasure. I don't know what I would ever do..." Tears started to well up in the youngster's eyes. "...if...if it got lost forever...and I was never able to find it...again..." he sniffed. He began to tremble and sob quietly.
"How...did you lose it?" James asked in a bit of a worried tone.
The wynaut sniffled loudly. "Well," he explained in a shaky voice. "I was just...just going into the cave because I was...curious to see what was inside, was all. And then...and then this big scary pokemon...it came and attacked me!" he cried. "I did not know what to do so...so I tried to protect myself...I thought my Smiley Charm would help, but the mean pokemon snatched it up..." A single tear slid down his cheek. "And us wynaut...we can't really use attack powers...so I couldn't...I couldn't fight them back even if I wanted to...oh, please," he pleaded. "Please, can you help me get it back?"
James glanced down at the bulletin and then up at the wynaut, an unusually wide grin forming on his face all the while. "Now don't you worry, my boy," he said in a deep, heroic voice whilst patting the psychic-type on the head. "We of Team Rocket shall get back your charmy treasurey thing, even if it takes us to the ends of the universe across, deserts, forests, and sea to shining shimmering sea, or my name isn't – Ow!"
Before James could finish his triumphant speech, he was suddenly pulled aside by the ear and away from the upset child. The wynaut stopped crying for a second and cocked his head in confusion, wondering what was going on.
"Jessie, what the heck are you -" James started as they turned fully around.
"Shhh!" Jessie instructing, clamping a paw over his muzzle. "Now..." she began in a low voice. "A better question I would like to ask, is what they heck are you doing? Unless I'm mistaken, we were going to ditch this mission, were we not?" She removed her hold on his mouth and he exhaled sharply before speaking.
"I know, we were," he replied in a whisper. "But we can't just let that kid down! I mean, look at him..." He peered behind his shoulder. "The little guy's helpless. We can't just leave him there...I mean, I know we're from a criminal organisation and all, but it is true that we are rescuers now – sort of – and...I don't know, you'd have to be pretty much heartless not to help in this kind of situation..."
Jessie sighed lowly in response. "Well, what do you suppose we do then?" she asked. "We don't even know what we're doing, to put it bluntly. We'd get the kid's hopes down if we tried and then utterly failed. And...well, face it...we always fail."
"You're right. But this time..." James cleared his throat and spoke in his extra-deep voice again and stood up with his fist raised. "We're fighting on the side of justice!" The wynaut heard the shinx proclaim this before being pushed back down to the ground, causing the psychic type to cock his head the opposite way, still puzzled to what was going on.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, stop talking superhero like that!" Jessie whispered sternly, sweatdropping. "Wasn't the Moltres scenario enough?"
"Uhhhh..."
"Forget I asked." Jessie responded, scratching her head. "Anyway..." she paused for a second. James was...somewhat...right. It would be pretty heartless just to leave the kid there and though she hated to admit, she felt a bit sorry for him too. Plus, if they left, there could always be the chance that the wynaut would follow them wherever they went and heckle them on and on until they did the mission. Cliff wouldn't be too happy about it, and would probably force them into it at some point or another. Yup...they were already in this mess, so they might as well make the best out of it.
"Alright." she said in her regular voice, looking at her partner and forming an all-too-familiar smirk on her face. "If you...insist on doing this mission...we better just get our butts into it and get this thing over with once and for all."
James smiled inwardly to himself, knowing that she was, however reluctantly, in agreement. Both broke out of their inward conversation to face the wynaut, who could just sit there and stare in wonderment.
"OK," she said, looking down at the wynaut. "My friend and I here have come upon our little decision. We'll go with you and help get you your little...charm bracelet thing."
The wynaut smiled. "Smiley Charm." he corrected.
"Yeah...that."
"Oh, thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!" the wynaut shouted in glee. "You don't know how happy this makes me! You two are wonderful! Thank you!"
"Heh...no problem...uh, Kid. Just don't slow us down too much." Jessie responded.
The wynaut grinned once more. "Edwyn. You can call me Edwyn."
...
Darnit. I was really intending on having the dungeon in this chapter. Unfortunately, nothing seems to go the way I want it, so...longer we must wait. X3 Oh, and by the way, the "Smiley Charm" is a real item off PMD2. I did a bit of research during my free time, yes indeedy I did. Be proud of meh. :P