Like chapter 1, if you've already read this chapter on Serebii forums, you may notice that this chapter has gone through some revisions.
Enjoy!
Chapter 2: What happened to you?
As he and Sera walked in the direction of the rescue team HQ, Blitz couldn't help but quietly wonder just what Stella had meant earlier. What exactly what it was that he couldn't see? Sera on the other hand didn't seem particularly concerned about that, and just happily led the way to the rescue team HQ. Blitz looked up at Sera, and couldn't help but smile just a little. Her cheerful attitude at the moment almost made it seem like she had nothing in the world to worry about.
"So… I'm guessing you didn't get any new missions in the mail today?" Blitz asked.
"Nope," Sera replied, turning to look at Blitz with her big brown eyes. "My big sister, and by big sister I mean Amethyst, not Sirena, said she didn't find any letters for me when she went to get the mail this morning."
"Oh," Blitz responded as he nodded his head slightly, the two Pokémon continuing heading towards the rescue team HQ.
The rescue team HQ building stood out a bit since it was among the few buildings that wasn't made at least partially from stone. It was a large wooden building, and probably the biggest building in the town. Above the large main entrance, was a painted wooden carving in the shape of a rescue team badge, a sphere with small white feathered wings on the sides of it. The top half of the wooden badge was painted red and the bottom half was painted white, just like on the real rescue team badges carried by the rescue teams that had just started out.
The rescue team badge currently attached to the treasure bag Sera was carrying looked like the wooden one decorating the entrance to the HQ, but Blitz knew that he and Sera were only a few missions away from gaining the bronze rank, and thus the rescue team badge would soon change to reflect this.
Several rescue teams were already inside when Sera and Blitz entered the main hall, and they were checking the two bulletin boards where missions were posted. One of them had rescue missions, requests to find or deliver a particular item, or escort someone somewhere, while the other board had missions all relating to catching outlaws or retrieving stolen items. Sera and Blitz approached the regular board, which currently had a humanoid Pokémon with dark green blade-like arms, and a red spider-like Pokémon.
"Excuse me, but are you two done? My partner and I would like to look at some missions," Sera asked sweetly.
"Ah, of course. We were just finishing checking this board, so now we're going to check the other one for an outlaw to catch!" the Gallade said, before looking down at his Ariados partner. "Come on; let's go find some foul Pokémon to arrest!"
"Yeah, yeah, just try not to use up all your energy before we actually reach the bad guy this time," the Ariados replied dryly, the bug type not seeming particularly enthusiastic.
Sera glanced at the two Pokémon as they walked over to check the outlaw board, before suggesting: "Hey, maybe we should check out the other board too and try catching an outlaw?"
"Uh… I don't think we're really ready to handle that kind of mission yet…" Blitz replied, nervously rubbing his forelegs together.
"Are you sure?" Sera asked. "I feel like we''ve really been getting the hang of this."
"Well, I guess it's up to you, since you're the team leader and all…" Blitz responded, looking down at the ground. "I just-"
"Don't worry; if you don't think you're ready, we can just stick to one of the missions on this board here and let other rescue teams deal with catching outlaws."
"Are you sure?" Blitz looked up at Sera with his golden eyes.
"Of course I am!" Sera replied, smiling at Blitz. "After all, a good leader must take her teammate's feelings into consideration. That's what my big sis Amethyst told me!"
Blitz gave a sigh of relief, as he and Sera decided to just stick to the regular mission board for now. They looked over the various missions, looking for something that they could add to their job list.
While reading the various job descriptions of the missions, Blitz thought about how some Pokémon seemed to get themselves lost in a lot of strange places. Why would a fire type enter a mystery dungeon full of water Pokémon, and how could a seemingly big and powerful Pokémon so easily be beaten up by smaller Pokémon, especially ones it would have a type advantage over.
In general there were a lot of weird scenarios one would come over in these missions, but for a rescue team the job was to help them, not question what strange series of events caused that must've caused the situation to happen in the first place.
"Ooh, X-Ray Specs? That would be useful..." Sera said, reading one of the missions. "Just too bad we're not strong enough to tackle this one..."
"Meridian Forest, huh?" Blitz commented, as he read through the mystery dungeon description. "Yeah, that is way too tough for us."
"Would've been nice to have those X-Ray Specs, though," Sera responded. "Probably would make missions a lot easier."
"Since you two have already concluded that the mission in question is too difficult for you, the mushroom will take it" a strange monotone voice called out to them.
Blitz and Sera turned around to see an orange bug with a large mushroom growing on its back approaching the mission board, staring up at the board with its blank white eyes.
"Hey, I've seen you around here before," Blitz said. "You're one of Mirage's teammates, right? Or do I have you confused with another Parasect?"
"You are correct, I am indeed Mirage's teammate," the Parasect clarified, still speaking in a creepy monotone. "My name is Cordyceps, by the way."
"I thought Mirage already have a mission she intended to do today?" Sera asked.
"Indeed, but the mushroom thought it might be a good idea to check what other missions were available, in case we find something Mirage might be interested in," Cordyceps explained.
"Well, I think there are some missions with a high reward on here," Blitz said, gesturing to some missions on the board with his paw. "If that helps..."
"The mushroom thanks you for making this observation, this pleases the mushroom," Cordyceps replied, picking off a mission from the board with his orange claw. "Mirage will be pleased as well."
"You're welcome?" Blitz felt a bit creeped out by the Parasect.
"Oh, and the mushroom mustn't forget this," Cordyceps said as he picked off the mission Sera had been looking at. "It is probably better for a rescue team like ours to handle this, since you kids have already concluded that it is much too difficult for you."
"Hey! Who are you calling a kid!?" Sera seemed a bit offended by the Parasect's remark.
"The mushroom is simply making an observation that you two are no where near experienced enough to handle a dungeon like the Meridian Forest," he responded.
"Hey, Cordy! You coming, or what?" a somewhat rough, but still feminine voice called out. The Pokémon turned to see what appeared to be a large duck like creature with flame like patterns on her body. "Mirage is waiting for us."
"The mushroom apologizes for being late," Cordyceps responded as he crawled over to the Magmar. "However, I found some missions that I think Mirage will be interested in."
"What kind of missions?" the Magmar asked as she and Cordyceps exited the building to go catch up to their leader.
"Calling me a kid and saying I can't handle this… How rude!" Sera said, before leaving the building, without even looking at some of the other missions available on the board.
"Sera! Wait up!" Blitz shouted, running after his rescue team partner.
"I hate it when other Pokémon don't take me seriously…" an annoyed Sera muttered as she paced back and forth in front of a wooden sign pointing to the paths leading in and out of town, as well as the paths leading to those of the mystery dungeons that could easily be reached by foot.
"Sera, he didn't really say anything we didn't already know," Blitz said, standing nearby while rubbing his forelegs together. "You and I are not experienced enough to handle Meridian Forest."
"Still, does he think I'm some kid who can't handle big missions?" Sera shook her head, looking down at her red and white rescue badge. "Even if we can't do missions in there, I don't see why we can't at least take a look at Meridian Forest. If we avoid the wild Pokémon, we should be okay."
"Sera, you're not actually thinking of going in there, are you?" Blitz asked.
"Well, I don't see any reason why we can't take a little look at what first few floors are like…" Sera responded,
"Don't do it, Sera. It's too dangerous!" Blitz said, as he could tell what she was thinking, and had to try to talk her out of it.
"But, if I'm extra careful, make sure all our rescue team money is safely in the bank, and take the items to the item warehouse and have Lionel store them for us, only bringing along an Escape Orb, then there's nothing to lose, right?" Sera smirked, as she was slowly convincing herself to do this.
At this point, Blitz realized it was probably no point in trying to talk her out of it. Sera would probably decide to go into the Meridian Forest regardless of what he said to her. He was pretty sure if he tried to talk her out of it now; it would only lead to a long discussion about whether to go or not to go that would just take up too much of their time. He really didn't want to argue with his rescue team leader when she had already set her mind to something. Besides, she had said she should be extra careful, and surely she would be, right?
"Well, okay… I'll come with you, then," Blitz said, feeling as if he was going to regret this the moment he said it.
"You will?" Sera's ears perked up, seeming excited that her partner was willing to come along.
"Y-Yeah… We're a rescue team, aren't we? We stick together…" Blitz managed a smile, even if one could clearly tell that he was very nervous.
"Great! I'll go make the preparations for our exploration, and then I'll meet you at the entrance to the dungeon?" Sera asked, happily wagging her tail.
"I suppose…" Blitz responded, nodding his head slightly while nervously rubbing the rings on his forelegs together.
"All right, I'll see you there, then!" Sera said, before running off to make the preparations.
As Sera ran off, Blitz sighed and slowly began moving down the path which led to Meridian Forest. He just stared down at the dirt road as he slowly moved forward, not feeling confident about this at all. At least Sera only wanted to take a quick look into the dungeon, so he hoped she would be satisfied quickly so they could leave as soon as possible. That is, assuming they didn't get ambushed and knocked unconscious the moment they stepped inside the dungeon.
A few minutes later, the two Pokémon met up and were soon standing in front of the entrance to the Meridian Forest. Blitz felt really nervous, but was trying not to let it get to him. Sera felt a bit unnerved as well when she realized just how small she seemed under the tall trees of the forest. However, she wasn't going to back down, and confidently marched into the forest. Blitz took a deep breath and followed closely behind.
The grass was still wet from the rainstorm the previous night, and a drops of water could be seen dripping down from wet leaves. Blitz looked around at the wet grass and leaves sparkling somewhat in the sunlight that was able to reach it, thinking back to how much it had been raining last night. Being an electric type, he wasn't really afraid of the lightning. The flashes of light and the sound of thunder still could make it difficult to sleep, and Blitz thought about how living alone had it's disadvantages.
His thoughts were interrupted as he felt something cool and wet on his foreleg, realizing that he had just stepped in a puddle. The young Shinx sighed as he lifted his paw out of the puddle, an expression seeming like a mix between annoyance and slight disgust as he tried to shake off the dirty water on his paw.
"Hey, I think I see the stairs to the next floor over there!" Sera called to Blitz, gesturing with her paw towards some grayish stairs. While they looked a bit out of place in the forest, it was just the way mystery dungeons worked.
Blitz was grateful nothing had attacked them yet as he followed Sera up the stairs to the next floor. However, he knew luck like that wasn't likely to last, and had to stay on the alert. They wound up in another maze-like room with walls of trees, and there were two paths for them to follow.
"Um… Which way?" Blitz asked, looking around nervously.
"Hmm… I'm not sure…" Sera said, tilting her head slightly.
The stairs that had led them into this room had vanished, which was also just something mystery dungeons did. Mystery dungeons were constantly changing. Blitz looked around to see if there was anything of interest on the ground, but as far as he could tell, there were no items in this particular area. Sera was still trying to decide which way to go. Blitz wandered near one of the paths, and suddenly heard something. It sounded as if something was moving through the grass, heading towards them.
"Sera, I hear something coming…" he whispered to her, pointing towards the east path. "I think wild Pokémon are moving this way."
"Oh! Well, let's hurry up that path there, then!" she whispered back, and so the two quickly moved up the other path.
The path led them into another room, luckily without any other wild Pokémon in it. There weren't any stairs either, though. However, Sera did spot something laying in the grass and went to investigate.
"What is it?" Blitz asked, watching Sera examine a small seed on the ground by looking at it and sniffing it.
"A Sleep Seed," Sera said, picking it up with a paw and placing it into the bag which only contained the Escape orb they had brought along. "That could come in handy later!"
"Yeah, it probably will," Blitz said, looking around nervously. "Shouldn't we keep moving?"
"Oh, right! Let's go!"
The two moved on, reaching the area with the stairs to the next floor. Blitz also noticed another wonder orb lying on the ground, and went to pick up the blue orb which looked like the Escape Orb they were carrying. Upon closer examination, Blitz saw that it wasn't an Escape Orb, but a different orb.
"I think it's a Switcher Orb," Blitz said as he put it into the bag Sera was carrying. "Think it'll come in handy?"
"It might!" Sera said as she began walking up the stairs, Blitz following closely behind.
The two reached the next floor, where there were two more items on the ground that immediately caught Sera's attention, a pink berry and another seed.
"Ooh! A Pecha berry!" Sera exclaimed as she excitedly ran over to pick up the berry.
Blitz suddenly felt nervous, a different kind of nervous from how he had felt through the rest of the dungeon. Something about the atmosphere was different, but Blitz couldn't figure out exactly what it was.
"Ooh! A Reviver Seed! It's a Reviver Seed!" Sera exclaimed as she picked up the seed and put it inside the bag.
"Are you sure about that?" Blitz asked, as a cool breeze blew through the area, carrying with it a few stray leaves.
"Yes, it's definitely a Reviver Seed and not one of those silly Reviser Seeds!" Sera responded excitedly.
"Okay…" Blitz said, and followed Sera as she began moving down another path.
He wasn't sure how they had managed to get through this maze-like area so far without running into any Pokémon in it, but he figured they had just been very, very lucky so far. Still, the strange feeling wouldn't go away, and Blitz felt like it would probably be best to leave the dungeon as soon as possible. They soon moved into a different room, which was a fairly big section. It appeared to be empty, though.
"Hmm… You'd think a room this big would have something in it…" Sera said, while looking around, noticing some bushes. "Ooh, maybe there's something in there?"
"Maybe…" Blitz said, and began walking over to the bushes. He thought that maybe if he found a good item in there, Sera would be satisfied and they could leave the dungeon.
The young blue lion cub Pokémon began checking through the bushes, pushing away some of the leafy branches, but as far as he could tell, there was nothing there. He continued looking through the wet bushes, not really finding anything. As he was about to conclude there was nothing in these bushes and that it was best to move on, he noticed out of the corner of his eye something red and yellow. He moved over to investigate, gasping once he realized it was an unconscious Mienfoo laying there in the wet grass.
He cautiously approached the yellow and red weasel-like Pokémon laying there, examining its unconscious form. There were no signs of the Mienfoo having suffered any injury, and if there had been a battle there, the traces of it had been erased by the storm. There was no way to tell what had happened to it, if anything. Blitz frowned, unsure what to do about this. He carefully began reaching out his paw, gently pushing the Mienfoo with his paw, being careful not to accidentally give it an electric shock from his paw in the process, especially since the Mienfoo's fur was a bit wet.
All of a sudden, the Mienfoo's eyes shot open, giving a startled yell upon seeing Blitz and trying to hit him with one of his paws. Acting on his instincts, Blitz dodged the attack, stepping back as the bipedal weasel charged at him. However, before it could attack again, Blitz made his fur give off an intense glow, momentarily blinding the Mienfoo. The weasel Pokémon cried out again, before covering his eyes with his paw.
"What's going on?" Sera asked, as she ran over to them, having seen the bright light.
The Mienfoo kept rubbing his eyes, only to suddenly feel a paw being gently placed on his shoulder. He opened his red eyes again, to see Sera trying to comfort him, and seemed to calm down a little as he realized these two Pokémon weren't going to hurt him. As he seemed to come to his senses, the Mienfoo looked around in confusion at his surroundings.
"Are you okay?" Blitz asked, taking a few steps closer. "Sorry about the light, you just startled me, and I did it without really thinking… It's sort of a defense mechanism."
"Oh, it's okay… I did kind of attack you for no reason… Sorry about that…" the Mienfoo sounded distracted, but his apology was sincere. He continued to stare at everything around him, as another gust of wind blew overhead, carrying more leaves with it.
"What happened to you?" Sera asked, gently rubbing the Mienfoo's back with her paw.
"I… don't remember…" the Mienfoo said, examining his own paws.
"How'd you get here?" Sera asked.
"I… don't know…" the Mienfoo responded, rubbing the back of his head with a paw.
"Wait… you don't remember anything?" Blitz asked, tilting his head slightly.
"No, I don't… Heh, that's weird," the Mienfoo said, a small confused smile crossing his face.
"So… You don't remember who you are, how you got here, or what happened to you?" Blitz asked in order to clarify.
"Nope! Not at all!" the Mienfoo replied, seeming to find the strangeness of his situation to be amusing somehow.
"That… doesn't sound good…" Sera said, looking somewhat concerned.
"Maybe we should ask nurse Giselle over at the rescue team HQ if she can take a look at him?" Blitz asked.
"Sounds like a good idea," Sera responded, before turning to the Mienfoo. "What do you say? Want to come with us?"
"Sure!" the Mienfoo replied with a cheerful smile. "It's not like I have anything better to do, or at least, not that I know of!"
Blitz suddenly realized how much the wind had picked up, and more and more leaves were being blown past them. Now he knew why he had felt the way he did since entering this floor, and what was happening.
"Uh… Guys? I think we should get out of here, now!" Blitz called out.
"Why? What's happening?" the Mienfoo asked, tilting his head to the side.
"There's this mysterious force that forces rescue team out of mystery dungeons if they stay in them too long," Sera explained, as she pulled out the Escape Orb they had brought. "No one is sure exactly what it is, but due to the constantly changing nature of the mystery dungeons, we believe it is there to make sure no one from the outside is left inside the mystery dungeon before it changes. Now, get close to me, both of you!"
Blitz quickly moved close to Sera, and so did the Mienfoo, even if he still didn't seem to be particularly concerned about what was happening around them. Sera carefully pressed a certain spot on the Escape Orb with her paws, activating it. In only a few seconds, a blue light from the orb enveloped the three Pokémon and sent them back to the entrance of the dungeon.
"Whoa! That was awesome!" the Mienfoo shouted, waving his paw in the air. "Can we do it again?"
"I don't think so," Blitz responded, rubbing his forelegs together. "I think I need to lie down for a bit, and calm my nerves..."
"I guess we should head back to town, then!" Sera said, wagging her tail happily. "I can't wait to tell other rescue teams about our little adventure today!"
"Not so sure if that's a good idea..." Blitz responded. "And besides, that isn't our main priority at the moment."
"You're right," Sera said, looking over at the Mienfoo. "For now, let's just head back to town, and tomorrow we will take this guy to see Giselle."
"I look forward to meeting her!" the Mienfoo responded, with a cheerful smile.
As they were walking back to town, the Mienfoo realized something.
"Hey, guys? You haven't told me your names yet."
"Huh?" Blitz found it strange that this was one of the Mienfoo's main concerns, but on the other hand, they did forget to properly introduce themselves to him. "Oh, I'm Blitz."
"And I'm Sera! It's short for Serafina!"
"Wow, those are really nice names!" the Mienfoo responded. "Hey, since you two have such great names, maybe you can think of a name for me?"
"You want us to think of a name for you?" Blitz asked, not really sure what the Mienfoo meant about him having a great name. Wasn't Blitz a fairly common name for electric types?
"Well, I guess it might be convenient to have a name to call him by," Sera commented. "But what should we call him?"
Both Sera and the Mienfoo looked over at Blitz expectantly, neither of them having any ideas of their own. However, neither did Blitz, which caused him to quietly panic somewhat as he wondered why the two of them would think he had any names in mind for a Pokémon they had just met.
"Um… How about… we call him… Chiaki?" Blitz nervously blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"Chiaki? You mean after the heroic Mienshao from that set of short stories that used to be in the newspaper?" Sera asked.
"Y-Yeah… It was just the first thing that came to mind…" Blitz said, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I can try to think of something better, but I'm not really good with names."
"Oh, no need to do so!" the Mienfoo responded. "I think Chiaki is a great name!"
"You really think so?" Blitz asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Uh-huh! I can be Chiaki!" the Mienfoo happily replied.
"All right, then. From now on, we will call you "Chiaki"!" Sera announced.
"Yay!" the Mienfoo now called Chiaki responded.
"Well, that's one thing taken care of, but I think there's another thing we need to figure out here." Blitz said.
"Huh?" Sera and Chiaki looked over at Blitz curiously.
"Where is he supposed to stay tonight?" the Shinx asked.
"Ooh, good question…" Sera responded.
"Can't I just stay with one of you?" Chiaki asked.
"Oh, I'm afraid there wouldn't be room for you over at my home," Sera explained. "You see, I have a lot of siblings, and sometimes it feels as if there's barely enough room for all of us as it is."
"Oh, okay," Chiaki nodded his head in understanding, before turning his attention to Blitz. "How about you, Blitz?"
"Hmm… Actually, I wouldn't mind a roommate. I've been living by myself ever since my mother sent me here to train, and it can get kind of lonely sometimes," Blitz responded. "It's not very big, but big enough for two small Pokémon like us. We just have to make an extra bed for you, that's all."
"Really?" Chiaki seemed excited. "It's no problem at all?"
"Not as long as you help keeping things tidy and don't make too much noise." Blitz stated.
"Oh, thank you!" Chiaki responded, excitedly jumped around the two other Pokémon. "I'll be a good roommate, I promise!"
"Well, I guess that's sorted out, then!" Sera commented as the stone buildings of the town were coming into view, the sun slowly going down in the distance. "Whoa, it's sunset already? I better hurry home, bye guys! See you tomorrow!"
"Bye, Sera!"
"Bye!"
Blitz and Chiaki waved good-bye to Sera was she hurried home to her family. Once they could no longer see her, Blitz decided to show Chiaki where he lived. He led the Mienfoo over to a stone hut with several holes serving as a front door and windows carved into it. The hole serving as the front door was surprisingly big for a house where a small Pokémon like Blitz lived, but then Chiaki realized that the reason for this was likely so Blitz could invite Pokémon bigger than himself over to visit.
Chiaki followed Blitz inside, and looked around. There wasn't really much to see in there, apart from a map of the continent hanging on a wall, a big pile of straw that presumably was Blitz's bed, a small wooden table, a vase filled with fresh water standing in a corner, and a basket of berries next to the vase.
"Well, here it is. It's not much, but it has everything I need."
"I think this place looks really nice!" Chiaki responded, smiling at the young Shinx.
"You really think so?" Blitz asked.
"Uh-huh! Thanks for letting me stay with you!" Chiaki said, still smiling.
"You're welcome," Blitz responded, smiling back at Chiaki. "Come on; help me prepare your bed."
The two Pokémon began dividing up the pile of straw into two smaller ones, both of them making sure that both beds would get an equal amount of straw and that both beds would be comfortable enough. After all, they would have to get a good night's sleep so they could have the energy to get a lot accomplished tomorrow. Blitz hoped that Sera wouldn't drag him into another dungeon above their level of experience anytime soon, even if they had managed to avoid getting into trouble this time. And at least they did get some useful items out of it, and they also met a new friend. So, while they hadn't actually gotten any missions done, it had still been a good day.
End of chapter 2