Chapter 28: Have you been doing anything suspicious lately?
Blitz, Chiaki and Lita were sleeping soundly as the morning sun slowly spread its light across the area… that is, until they were suddenly woken up by the sound of Santos the Delibird's terrified screams. Blitz got up, and looked outside just in time to see Santos running past his house in a panic. Blitz however, remained perfectly calm, since he had a fairly good idea of what was going on.
"Lita, I think mom is here to pick you up," Blitz said, looking over at his younger sister.
"Aw, I have to go home already?" Lita asked, pouting. "I want to spend more time with you, big brother!"
"I know, I wish we could spend more time together too," Blitz responded, nuzzling Lita. "I promise I'll try to write to you more often, though."
"Okay…" Lita replied, sighing. "It's not the same, though…"
"Hello!" Leandra said, as she suddenly showed up at the front door, smiling widely.
"Hey, mom," Blitz replied, waving a paw slightly.
"Oh, um… Hi, Blitz's mom," Chiaki said, timidly waving a paw while trying not to look directly at the many sharp teeth exposed by the Luxray's smile.
"So, how has my little princess been?" Leandra asked, walking up to Lita. "Did you enjoy spending these past few days visiting your brother?"
"Yeah, it was a lot of fun!" Lita responded, nodding her head.
"Good to hear," Leandra replied, before turning to Blitz. "What about you, my little prince?"
"Oh, um… It's certainly been nice having Lita over," Blitz said, glancing around as he rubbed his forelegs together. "Other than that, I guess the past few days have been rather uneventful."
"What are you talking about?" Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly. "Our rescue team reached Silver rank, remember?"
"Ooh, Silver rank? Congratulations!" Leandra commented, patting Blitz on the head.
"Uh… Thanks," Blitz responded, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Well, I should get going now," Leandra said, grinning. "So, you and your friends keep up the good work!"
"Yeah, we will," Blitz replied, nodding his head. "Bye for now, mom. Bye for now, Lita."
"Bye, Blitz!" Lita said, waving her paw. "Don't forget to write soon!"
"Okay, let's head home, Lita!" Leandra said.
The Luxray and her daughter began heading off, and soon had disappeared from sight.
"Well, I guess we should be going somewhere too," Blitz said, looking over at Chiaki. "Sera and Azure may already be waiting for us in the town plaza."
Chiaki nodded his head, and followed Blitz into the main part of the town.
After meeting up with Sera and Azure, the four of them headed for the rescue team HQ to look for some missions. However, when they got into the main room of the HQ, they noticed Mirage's rescue team discussing something. Wondering what was going on, they decided to go investigate.
"The mushroom says no," Cordyceps said, looking up at Megara with his blank white eyes.
"But guys, this is the perfect chance for you two to get to see where I'm from!" Megara protested. "I could introduce you two to my old friends!"
"My apologies, but the mushroom's answer is still no, and as usual, I have to take the mushroom's side," Cordyceps responded. "As you know, we don't particularly like fire, strong heat and similar things of that nature."
"While I don't have the same weakness to fire as Cordyceps does, I'm with him on this one," Mirage said, sighing. "It's not that I don't want to help, but… well, it's a volcano!"
"Oh, come on!" Megara said, looking somewhat annoyed. "Would you be saying the same thing if there was money to earn on this mission?"
"What are you implying?" Mirage asked, crossing her arms.
"Um… What is going on over here?" Azure asked, walking up to the three. "What are you guys arguing about?"
"We talked to Stella this morning, and apparently one of the Axis Tower crystals is hidden somewhere within Mt. Caldera," Mirage explained. "And since that is where Megara is from, she wants the three of us to go retrieve it, but…"
"The mushroom doesn't want to go because our species and fire go together about as well as a Magcargo and the ocean," Cordyceps added.
"You guys don't know what you're missing out on!" Megara protested.
"I'm really sorry, Meg," Mirage said, shaking her head. "But I think it's better if Cordy and I take care of another mission while you go handle this. After all, you know your way around the volcano, so I'm sure you can handle this just fine without our help!"
"Okay, fine," Megara responded, sighing. "I would've liked to introduce you two to some of my friends back home, though…"
"Maybe you can ask them to come visit you here sometime?" Mirage suggested, giving a comforting smile. "Anyways, I guess Cordy and I should go find ourselves a mission, so good luck with finding the crystal!"
"Thanks," Megara responded, nodding her head slightly. "Good luck to you too."
As Mirage and Cordyceps went to look at the mission boards, Megara turned to Sera and her teammates.
"So… You guys have helped retrieve some of the crystals already, right?" Megara asked.
"Uh… Yeah," Sera responded, nodding her head.
"Well, maybe you guys would like to come with me, then?" Megara asked, glancing over at her teammates. "I figure that since Mirage and Cordy didn't want to come, I might as well invite someone else."
"Oh, um… Kind of sudden, but… sure, we'll come along," Sera said, nodding her head slightly.
"Wait, what?" Blitz responded, looking over at Sera. "How are we supposed to explore a volcano without our ears burning off, or something?"
"I think Couture might have something that'll protect you from the heat," Megara said, pointing to the green curtain.
"Well, let's go get that item from Couture, then!" Azure said, grinning. "My water moves will take care of any wild fire Pokémon that think they can mess with us!"
"Uh… Okay," Sera responded, nodding her head slightly. "Come on, guys."
And so, they headed through the green curtain, where the Leavanny was in the process of making a scarf.
"Oh, it's you!" Couture said, smiling as Sera and her teammates came in. "Were you pleased with the Deep Sea Charms I made for you?"
"Yeah, they worked really well!" Chiaki responded, grinning.
"That's good to hear!" Couture replied, still smiling. "So, what may I help you with this time?"
"Well, Megara invited us along on a mission to Mt. Caldera," Azure explained. "So, we're going to need something to protect ourselves from the heat."
"Ah, I have just the thing!" Couture said, looking through a box and pulling out four silver-colored headbands from it. "Here, try these on!"
"Um… How exactly do these help?" Blitz asked, while trying on his.
"They're made with a special fabric infused with a type of magic that makes it so a Pokémon can explore even extremely warm areas and barely feel the heat!" Couture explained, smiling as the rescue team put the headbands on. "They won't protect you from direct fire attacks, nor do they protect from lava."
"Cool," Azure commented, nodding slightly.
"Thanks, Couture!" Chiaki said, grinning.
"You're welcome!" Couture responded, smiling back and waving as the four Pokémon left her room. "When you need anything else, just let me know!"
The four Pokémon quickly met up with Megara, and headed into Kala's room. The Abra was asleep, but that didn't come as a surprise to anyone.
"Hey, wake up!" Megara said, shaking Kala's shoulder.
"Not now, I'm tired…" Kala muttered in her sleep. "I'll teach you more about telepathy later, okay…"
"Kala, wake up! We need you to send us over to Mt. Caldera!" Megara said, continuing to shake the Abra's shoulder.
Kala slowly sat up and opened her eyes, sleepily looking at the five Pokémon before yawning.
"Oh, I thought you were someone else…" Kala said, rubbing her eyes. "Okay, teleporting… Sure… I'll do that…"
Using her power, the five Pokémon disappeared in a flash of light as Kala's power sent them to their desired destination. With her job done for now, Kala plopped back down onto her pillow, and went back to sleep.
Megara grinned as best as a Pokémon with a beak could, as she looked around at the familiar surroundings of the place where she grew up. While there was not much other than rock and magma to see, the way some of the rocks were shaped and the different elevations still made it an impressive sight.
"Whoa…" Sera said, looking around. "This place is really big, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is," Megara responded, nodding her head.
"Hmm… Probably won't be easy to find that crystal, then," Blitz commented, rubbing his forelegs together. "Not to mention that a lot of these areas can probably only be reached by fire type Pokémon…"
"Don't worry," Megara said, grinning. "Just leave those areas to me!"
"So, where should we go?" Chiaki asked, looking around.
"I'll lead the way," Megara responded, motioning for the rescue team to follow her. "Come on, let's go!"
Sera and her teammates followed Megara, seeing as she was the one who knew her way around this place. They occasionally passed by a few fire type Pokémon that Megara greeted as they looked around, and soon they come across a red bipedal clawed lizard and a monkey with orange fur as well as a blue and red pattern of fur on his face that made it look like he was wearing a mask. Both Pokémon's tails had a flame burning at the tip of it, similar to Megara's own tail.
Megara seemed to recognize this Charmeleon and Monferno, and excitedly ran over to them.
"Drake! Inferno! Long time no see!" Megara shouted, getting their attention.
"Megara?" Drake the Charmeleon said, seeming surprised to see the Magmar.
"That's right!" Megara responded, grinning. "Sorry to show up unannounced like this, but I'm sort of on a special mission!"
"Hey, that's fine," Inferno the Monferno said, smiling at Megara. "I certainly don't mind surprise visits, especially not from our old pal Megara!"
"Oh, I've missed hanging out with you guys so much!" Megara said.
"We've missed you too, Megara," Drake responded, smiling at the Magmar.
"Yeah, things are more fun when all three of us are together," Inferno commented, smirking as he looked up at Megara. "By the way, Megara… You look hot."
Drake gave a slight groan, while Megara just chuckled.
"How long have you been waiting to use that one?" Drake asked, shaking his head.
"Oh, come on, look at her!" Inferno said, grinning. "I can tell she's just burning with passion for her rescue team work! Isn't that right, Megara?"
"You haven't changed one bit," Megara responded, chuckling.
"He certainly hasn't," Drake commented, rolling his eyes. "So, anyways… What is this mission you mentioned?"
"Well, it turns out one of the Axis Tower crystals may be hidden somewhere in Mt. Caldera, so I came to investigate," Megara explained.
"Whoa, one of the Axis Tower crystals is here?" Inferno asked, staring wide-eyed at Megara.
"Yeah, apparently," Megara responded, shrugging slightly. "I tried to convince my teammates to come along, but they weren't too fond of places as warm as this…"
"So, who are they, then?" Drake asked, pointing to Sera and her teammates, who had been watching the conversation.
"Oh, they're another rescue team I invited along," Megara responded. "They've been doing a pretty good job helping track down the other crystals so far, so I figured they could help us out."
"Uh… Hi!" Sera said, waving a paw. "I'm Sera, the leader of this rescue team. And these are my teammates, Blitz, Chiaki and Azure."
"Ooh, nice to meet you all!" Inferno said, grinning.
"It's nice to meet you too!" Chiaki responded, smiling.
"So, I'm guessing neither of you have heard anything about this crystal?" Megara asked.
"No, we have not," Drake responded, thinking for a moment. "We should probably let Aidan know about this."
"Yeah, definitely," Megara replied, nodding her head. "Do you guys know where he is right now?"
"This way," Drake said, pointing to a nearby tunnel.
The seven Pokémon began heading through the large tunnel, even if Sera and her teammates were a bit lost as to what was going on.
"So, who is this Aidan?" Azure asked.
"Oh, he's an Arcanine who is kind of in charge around here," Megara explained. "He and a Blaziken named Blaze look after things, making sure all the Pokémon here are happy and things like that."
"Huh, so those Pokémon are sort of like… a pride leader?" Blitz asked, looking down at the ground.
"Something like that, yeah," Megara responded, shrugging slightly.
"Blaze has been acting kind of strangely lately, though…" Drake commented.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Megara asked, looking over at the Charmeleon.
"Well, it's… kind of difficult to explain," Drake responded, thinking for a moment. "He doesn't seem to listen to anyone's concerns these days… and it seems like… I don't know… like he has something on his mind, but whenever someone tries asking him about it, he refuses to answer…"
"Also, the other day, I saw him sneaking around near one of the tunnels," Inferno added, tilting his head slightly. "I tried following him, but I lost sight of him before I could find out where he was going…"
"That is really strange…" Megara responded, looking rather confused.
"Sounds awfully suspicious to me," Azure commented. "I bet he's hiding something."
The seven Pokémon soon reached another section of the area, where a large dog with orange fur with black stripes was talking to some other fire type Pokémon. Once the other fire types had left, he noticed Megara and the others and turned his attention to them.
"Ah, Megara, it's been a while since I've seen you around," Aidan said, giving the Magmar a friendly smile. "So, how have things been for you since you went to Fenix Town? I've heard that you joined a rescue team?"
"That's right!" Megara responded, nodding her head. "I've been doing pretty well, with a lot of successful missions and stuff!"
"Good to hear," Aidan replied, before his expression changed to a slightly concerned one. "I get the feeling that you didn't just come here to visit, though. Is something the matter?"
"Your intuition is pretty much correct there," Megara responded. "Turns out one of the crystals that went missing from Axis Tower might be hidden somewhere inside of Mt. Caldera."
"Is that so?" Aidan asked, stopping to think for a moment. "This is the first I've heard about this… If this is true, we must find that crystal as soon as possible."
"You'll help us find it, then?" Megara asked.
"I'll do what I can," Aidan responded, nodding his head.
"So, um… Have you noticed anything unusual in the past few weeks?" Blitz asked, rubbing his forelegs together as he looked up at the larger Pokémon. "Like, any strange things happening with the volcano…?"
"No, I don't think so," Aidan responded, shaking his head. "As far as I can tell, nothing is wrong with the volcano…"
"Ah…" Blitz replied.
"Are you absolutely sure about that?" Sera asked.
Aidan was about to say something, when a bipedal Pokémon with red feathers covering most of his body walked over. The Pokémon also had gray talon-like hands with three fingers, beige hair-like feathers behind its head and its mouth looked similar to a beak. The Blaziken didn't seem to pay much attention to the Pokémon present as he walked over.
"Oh, there you are, Blaze," Aidan said, looking over at the Blaziken. "Have you seen anything unusual around here lately?"
"… No, nothing unusual at all," Blaze responded, his voice sounding oddly flat. Megara couldn't help but think about Cordyceps when she heard Blaze speak.
"Are you sure?" Aidan asked, giving the Blaziken a concerned look. "According to these Pokémon, there might be a crystal from Axis Tower hidden here somewhere."
"I have seen no such thing," Blaze responded, continuing to walk. "Don't bother me, I'm busy."
The other Pokémon exchanged confused glances, except Azure, who wasn't quite satisfied with the Blaziken's answer and tried running up to him before he could leave the area. Blaze didn't seem to acknowledge her presence, however.
"Are you hiding something?" Azure asked, smirking as she looked up at him.
Blaze ignored her and just continued to walk away. Azure just ran a bit further, trying to get his attention.
"Have you been doing anything suspicious lately?" Azure asked.
The Blaziken just continued walking away without even seeming to notice Azure, much to her annoyance.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, chicken-breast!" Azure shouted as the Blaziken disappeared into one of the tunnels. "How rude…"
"I don't know what is up with him these days…" Aidan said, sighing. "I guess I'll go ask around and see if any of the others have noticed anything unusual."
As Aidan went off to another part of the volcano to ask the fire type Pokémon there if they'd seen anything out of the ordinary, the other seven Pokémon pondered what to do now.
"I think we should help Aidan ask around," Drake said.
"Good idea," Megara replied, nodding her head. "We might be able to learn something faster that way."
The three fire type Pokémon went off to help Aidan, while Sera and her teammates stayed behind, pondering what to do now.
"So… What exactly are we going to do now?" Azure asked. "Without Megara to show us around, we won't exactly know where to go."
"I guess we can explore and look for anything that might seem unusual?" Chiaki suggested.
"Um… We don't exactly know all that much about this place," Sera commented, glancing around. "I mean… Even if we came across something unusual, we might not even realize it since we don't really know all that much about this place…"
"Actually… I think there's something kind of obvious that we're overlooking here," Blitz said. "Megara's friends say the Blaziken is acting different from how he usually acts, right?"
"You think the Blaziken has something to do with this?" Chiaki asked, tilting his head.
"Well, even though I don't even know him… something certainly seemed off about his behavior…" Blitz said, looking down at the ground.
"But… doesn't he help Aidan look after the Pokémon here?" Chiaki asked. "I mean, surely he wouldn't be up to something not good…?"
"Even the most reliable of leaders could…" Blitz said, but stopped before he could finish whatever he was about to say.
Sera looked over at Blitz, wanting to say something, but wasn't sure what to say.
"I think Blitz is on to something," Azure said, nodding slightly. "There's definitely something suspicious going on with that guy."
"So… I guess we should go investigate, then…?" Sera asked, seeming a bit uncertain.
"It's the only lead we've got," Azure commented. "So, we might as well check it out, and see if we can find out what's going on."
"Okay… Let's do that, then…" Sera said, nodding her head slightly. "… Where do we begin?"
"Um… The Blaziken went that way, right?" Blitz asked, pointing his paw towards the tunnel which the Blaziken had left through.
"Yeah, he did," Azure responded.
"Oh. Well, I guess we should also go that way, then…" Sera said, slowly beginning to walk towards the tunnel.
Blitz tried his best to track the Blaziken's scent, although it was difficult to do considering the smoke and smell of sulfur that were mixed in with the air in the volcano. Blitz figured that the Pokémon living there weren't bothered by it, and tried his best to ignore it and focus on trying to follow the Blaziken's scent. Eventually, he lost the trail, and realized that he and his friends were probably lost now, unless Megara or one of her friends happened to find them.
"So… I'm guessing by the look on your face that you can't figure out where he might've gone from here?" Sera asked, looking somewhat concerned.
"Pretty much," Blitz responded, rubbing his forelegs together. "I'm surprised I was even able to get us this far."
"Ugh, maybe I shouldn't have suggested this…" Sera said, sighing. "I'm so sorry, guys… I've gotten us all lost…"
"Hey, it's not your fault, Sera!" Blitz responded, looking around. "Maybe we should just go back the way we…" Blitz trailed off as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.
"What is it?" Chiaki asked. "Did you find something?"
"There's a Kangaskhan rock over there," Blitz responded, pointing a paw at the rock shaped like the kangaroo Pokémon.
"Oh, there is!" Chiaki said, nodding his head. "That's a good thing, right?"
"Well, since Mt. Caldera is marked on our map and Kala can teleport us here, then there must be a mystery dungeon here," Blitz explained, looking around. "And since this Kangaskhan rock is here, then that mystery dungeon is probably very close by."
"Ooh, right," Azure said, nodding slightly. "But how does finding the mystery dungeon of this place help us in this situation?"
"Hmm… Remember how Inferno said he tried following Blaze, but eventually lost sight of him?" Blitz asked, glancing around. "I sort of have a hunch, but…"
"Well, what is it?" Chiaki replied.
"I might be completely wrong here, I mean, we don't even know if this is the area Inferno was following Blaze into…" Blitz said, rubbing his forelegs together. "But if it is… then maybe he lost sight of Blaze because Blaze went into the mystery dungeon?"
"Huh, I guess that kind of makes sense…" Azure commented. "Although as you said, you are just making a wild guess here."
"I know…" Blitz responded, nodding his head slightly. "Maybe I shouldn't even have brought it up…"
"So, what do we do from here, then?" Chiaki asked, looking around at his teammates.
"Um… I really don't know," Sera said, sighing. "I'm not doing a very good job as a rescue team leader today…"
"Sera, don't feel bad," Blitz responded, gently patting Sera's back. "None of us really know what to do at the moment…"
"Hmm… Guess we should try to figure out whether this mystery dungeon is worth exploring or not," Azure said, thinking for a moment. "Man, if only there was some kind of thing we could use to like, talk to Pokémon far away so we could talk to Megara and her friends, or if we could somehow send them a picture of this area with a short message like, "Hey, is this the place you lost sight of Blaze?" and then they could send a message back and say if it was or not…"
"Ooh, such a thing sounds like it'd be quite handy indeed," Chiaki commented, nodding his head slightly.
"We should've just followed Megara and her friends…" Sera muttered, her ears drooping slightly. "Why didn't I suggest that instead of bringing us out here…?"
"Sera, this is my fault just as much as it is yours," Blitz said, sighing. "After all, if I hadn't brought up Blaze's strange behavior as a possible clue as to how to find the crystal…"
"At least you actually did figure something out, though," Sera replied.
"Guys, we can discuss our mistakes after the mission is over," Azure said, glancing at the tunnels. "I say we do explore the dungeon. I mean, the other crystals required us to explore mystery dungeons to get to them, so maybe we need to do that here too?"
"Well… I suppose that makes sense, as whoever hid them would make them difficult to reach from what we've seen so far," Blitz responded. "But… just like my theory, we can't know anything for sure."
"Yeah, that's right," Chiaki said, nodding his head. "I mean, what if the crystal-stealer decided to hide this one in a place that didn't require going through the mystery dungeon to reach, since the rescue teams would naturally assume that they'd have to go through the mystery dungeon after finding other crystals that way?"
"Um… You know, it's only a coincidence that our rescue team has been involved in getting back all the found crystals so far," Blitz commented, rubbing his forelegs together. "We only happened to be in the right place at the right times to learn about Stella's latest visions of a crystal location, and thus going to investigate those places…"
"Oh, right…" Chiaki said, looking down sheepishly. "I suppose the odds of the same rescue team finding all the crystals are kind of slim, huh?"
"Hey, what's going on here?" another voice asked, and the rescue team turned to see Megara and her two friends.
"Megara!" Chiaki exclaimed, looking happy to see her.
"Sorry I left you guys behind…" Megara said, rubbing the back of her head. "I decided to go check on you once I realized that without you guys, I won't be able to get back to Fenix Town since I don't have Mirage's rescue team badge with me…"
"Really, that's your only reason?" Azure asked, giving Megara a look.
"No, of course not," Megara replied, looking down sheepishly. "I'm sorry; I guess you guys were kind of lost without a guide, huh?"
"We were," Chiaki responded, smiling. "But everything is fine now that you're here!"
"Uh… Thanks," Megara replied, returning the smile.
"So, what were you talking about just now?" Drake asked.
Blitz decided to let Megara and her friends know about his suspicions regarding Blaze's strange behavior, and the possible connection to the crystal. The three fire types listened closely, and exchanged concerned glances as Blitz finished explaining.
"What do you guys think?" Megara asked.
"I… suppose it makes sense," Drake responded, sighing. "I guess we didn't really notice before because… well, I guess we didn't want to believe that Blaze would do something like that."
"Inferno, is this the place where you lost sight of Blaze that time?" Azure asked, looking over at the fire monkey.
"As a matter of fact, it is!" Inferno responded, nodding his head. "I guess he must've gotten into the mystery dungeon just before I reached this area."
The seven Pokémon present exchanged glances, and looked towards one of the tunnels.
"Is that the mystery dungeon entrance?" Blitz asked.
"It is," Megara replied, nodding her head. "You guys make preparations, and go ahead into the dungeon. Drake, Inferno and I will go find Aidan, and explain to him what you just told us."
"Okay," Blitz responded, nodding his head.
"We'll catch up to you as soon as we can," Megara said, giving a determined smile.
"Yeah, and when we catch up, things are really going to heat up!" Inferno added, grinning.
"… Good luck, you guys," Drake said, while rubbing his head and sighing at Inferno's attempt at a joke.
The three fire types went off to find Aidan, while Sera and her teammates were left behind to make their preparations for exploring the mystery dungeon. Hopefully, it would lead them closer to finding out where the crystal was hidden, and what Blaze's strange behavior was all about.
End of chapter 28.
