Chapter Eleven: Valley of the Diglett, Part One!

"We're going to the Valley of the Diglett," she announced. Puffster was standing on the stage of her newly-dug Meeting Room, built mostly by Rhino. It resembled an auditorium, but rockier.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAA!?!?!?" Lupo was appalled by the look of it. He was sitting in one of the front-row seats, which was very uncomfortable to sit in.

"What, that's it? This is our first mission?" Ben leaned forward in his chair.

"Correction: it is your first mission and Areo's as well." She looked around. "Areo?"

"Oh, umm, I forgot to take her down," Private Puff admitted, nervous.

"She's been there all night. An army marches on its stomach as a wise Basch once said. ...What are you waiting for? GO DO IT!!!"

"Yes, ma'am!" She scurried off to the living room.

Bo raised his nubby hand. "I'll help."

"Fine, but do not think that if you get on good terms with me I will let you go."

"I just think it would be hard for her to do it alone..." Bo followed suit.

"And as soon as we get Areo down, it's off to the valley."

"Right away?" Lupo asked.

"Of course. I don't pay you for nothing."

"You don't pay us anything!" Rhino ventured to say.

"Anyways...this is a crucial mission. Several Pokemon have been lost and killed in this mysterious valley. No 'mon has returned. If we go and make our name, they will look up to us. Not just those in the town. This is on a global scale. Failure is not an option! Agreed?"

"Yeah."

"Yes!"

"No! But I'll do it if you force me to!"

Areo rolled in, her ball bubbling with heat and fury. "If you do that again I will kill."

"Now for the mission." Puffster pushed the soldier out of the way.

"Wha?"

"Charge! Charge!" A round, cloaked figure repeatedly whipped a massive blue dinosaur with a handy shell, which she was standing on along with a bunch of other cloaked, mostly round figures. Her voice was surprisingly masculine and deep. You might have guessed she was a Jigglypuff, but never would you suspect her to be Puffster. Maybe you would someday, but the point is she had a relatively good disguise.

The Lapras sobbed loudly to himself, his neck imprinted for a few minutes with the scars of this day. A long few minutes. He sadly dropped them off at shore, and they promptly got off. He'd thought of dumping them in the water, but Jigglypuff were inflatable, right? And killing the one who so obviously was not of the Jigglypuff clan seemed pretty useless.

The shore they came to was a regular scenic sandy beach, only directly behind it was a craggy brown cave. Near its entrance was an old sign saying "DANGER! Diglett Ahead". Not even the little Pidgeys fluttering around, who were for some reason incapable of thinking anywhere beyond what an average pigeon of Earth would think, dared venture into the cave. It looked so dark, so despairing. Great, the cloaked Lupo thought, another cave. Three actual missions and two of them are caves. Wait, it's a valley...but a cave. Valley. Cave. Er?

When they were sure only the Pidgeys were looking, they removed their cloaks and walked inside. It was darkness everywhere they looked, except for Areo's oddly-glowing eyes, which served no purpose other than to lure enemies toward them before she replaced her cloak. The stalagmites kept stabbing into their feet, and Bo once couldn't help but scream loudly, and even after a "Sorry" he felt a cold glare from Puffster.

They walked a long while without hearing anything strange. At some point in their walk a ray of light spewed through a hole in the cave wall. Rhino looked at it oddly and Lupo shouted "Light!" and luckily attracted no enemies. Then there was more light. Scattered holes became guiding pathways. Areo could remove her cloak. And then in the light they found...a Diglett.

It popped up somewhere not far ahead, poking out of the ground inquisitively. "DIGLETT," it chirped dimwittedly. The Diglett was a charming creature, appearing to be nothing more than that mole in the arcade machine. Either you would feel guilty for whacking it with a mallet after taking a second to admire its shining black eyes, or whack it even more with a quick glance at its huge red nose.

But the thing that annoyed everybody the most about this creature, what far outweighed its dumb charm, was the fact that you could not see its entire body. Under there it could look like a plain old mole. There could be nothing. Perhaps a bodybuilder's physique. Maybe a terrifying embodiment of horror which must never be seen or spoke of, for the very mention of anything else might kill the speaker? Whatever it may be, chances are it would bother the hell out of anyone you ask.

Lupo gasped. "A Diglett!" She was about to go pet the lovable mole when Rhino grabbed her by the arm.

"Didn't you read the signs?" Puffster growled through her teeth, which were small and barely noticeable behind her lips. "DIGLETT ARE DANGER."

"But I can hardly resist...I just want to know what its lower half looks like. YOU want to know that, RIGHT?"

"Huh. Good point. But it is not a task for you to attempt, for you are weak under the wrong circumstances. Let me handle it." Puffster stepped forward and quickly grabbed Diglett's round head. She tried with all her might to lift it up out of the ground, and the rest of the team joined in...but to no avail. One thing was clear: whatever was under there was either huge or heavy. Or both.

"DIGLETT." It ducked below the ground once more and crawled away - probably - through a tunnel.

"You sure they're dangerous? I could take them in one shot." Lupo revealed her butter knife.

"I think she knows what we should be doing," Bo said, and they kept going.

At last, they were out of the cave and in the valley! Steep gray mountains (which they didn't notice before) stood majestically at either side, and between were awesome green grasses.

"So wait, how could Digletts live here?" Ben ventured to ask.

"Why do you expect me to know?" Puffster snapped. "Digletts are too stubborn and stupid to show themselves or say anything about their lives."

They walked, and walked, and walked, and attempted to gnaw on some grass, and walked, and walked, and, and, and -

"RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!"

To Be Continued...