So, here's chapter 3. Like the first two chapters, this one has also gone through some changes, although not to the same extent as the first two chapters.
Hope you guys enjoy it!
Chapter 3: There's a lot of magic in this world.
Chiaki was quite comfortable in his bed, and wanted to just stay in bed a little longer, even if the warm rays of sunlight shining through the windows wanted to let him know it was morning and time to get up. Blitz however was slowly getting up, blue sparks of electricity rippling through his fur as he yawned and stretched.
"You awake yet, Chiaki?" Blitz asked, looking over at the Mienfoo.
"Uh-huh..." Chiaki responded, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. While he wouldn't have minded to sleep for five more minutes, he didn't want to keep Blitz waiting.
"Did you sleep well?" Blitz asked.
"Yeah, very well," Chiaki replied, smiling. "Again, thanks for letting me stay with you!"
"You're welcome!" Blitz responded, smiling at his new roommate. "So, are you ready to head out?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Chiaki said, as he got onto his feet. "Let's go!"
The two Pokémon headed straight for the town plaza at the center of the town, where most of the shops and other services for rescue teams were located. Chiaki excitedly looked around, wondering what each of the various Pokémon working at the different stalls did. He noticed a green Pokémon juggling three apples before catching them in the dish-like lily pad on the top of his head, while next to him was a brown Pokémon with a pointy nose and a leaf growing out of his head that seemed to be busy polishing a wonder orb, not really paying attention to the other shopkeeper. The Lombre noticed Chiaki looking over in their direction, and smiled and waved at him. Chiaki smiled and waved back.
"That's the item shop," Blitz explained to Chiaki, having noticed that the Mienfoo seemed curious about it. "Wade the Lombre sells food, healing items and items that can be thrown at enemies in battle, while Vic the Nuzleaf sells TMs and various wonder orbs."
"A pleasure to meet you!" the Lombre said, nodding his head.
"It is nice to meet you too!" Chiaki responded.
"Hey Wade, has Sera been here yet?" Blitz asked.
"Ah, yes. She stopped by to buy some apples from me earlier," Wade responded, before pointing to the distracted Nuzleaf next to him. "She also bought an Escape Orb from Vic."
"Oh, okay." Blitz said, and turned to face Chiaki. "Come on, let's keep going."
After a quick good-bye to the two shopkeepers, the two continued moving along. However, Chiaki's attention was soon caught by another building nearby, in which a white ferret-like Pokémon with brown lines on its body was busy drawing up an organization plan of some sort. The Linoone seemed to be rather immersed in making this organization plan, even having sort of a smirk on his face that wouldn't look out of place on someone who had just come up with a brilliant master plan to take over the world.
"That's Lionel, he runs the item warehouse where rescue teams store their items so they don't risk losing them," Blitz explained. "Lately, he's been working on this plan to reorganize everything in an attempt to make a more effective system and allow him to faster find the items rescue teams have stored with him when they need them."
"That's nice of him!" Chiaki commented.
"Yeah, he likes coming up with ways to make things more convenient for the rescue teams that rely on him," Blitz said, chuckling a little as he saw the sheer look of determination at the Linoone's face. "He really likes organizing things, and I sometimes can't help but wonder if he perhaps takes these things a little too seriously."
"Well, as long as it makes him and other Pokémon happy!" Chiaki replied with a cheerful smile on his face.
The two kept moving through the town, walking past another stall where a purple cobra was currently talking to a red bipedal ladybug working at the stall, asking the Ledian some questions about opening an account at the bank.
"That's the bank," Blitz explained. "Rescue teams get to open a special account there where they can keep the money they earn from their missions, so that it doesn't risk being lost."
"Lost?" Chiaki inquired.
"Yeah, money and items may disappear if a rescue team is defeated inside a dungeon before they can finish a mission," Blitz responded. "No one really knows why that happens. It might have something to do with how the mystery dungeons are constantly changing, but I'm guessing there's no real way to find out."
As Blitz finished his brief explanation, he and Chiaki walked past another stall which seemed to be run by an odd orange Pokémon with blue lightning bolts for arms.
"That is where we can go to have two or more of our attacks linked together, meaning we can use them both in one move," Blitz explained. "I'm not really sure how that works, but that is what Zap says he does, for a price, of course."
"Cool!" Chiaki responded, like Blitz, he didn't fully understand it, but he thought it sounded really awesome.
The two continued moving, walking past another stall. Looking at it, Chiaki saw that the Pokémon working behind it, a small purple Pokémon with gem stones for eyes, was just casually eating a rock while waiting for customers.
"If we find treasure boxes that we can't open on our own during missions, that is where we can go to get them opened," Blitz commented. For a moment he wondered if the Sableye would chip a tooth, but figured that since the species' diet mainly did consist of rocks and gemstones, they probably had extra strong teeth to prevent just that.
The two walked past a stall that was painted white with blue and red triangle patterns. A white fairy like Pokémon with similar blue and red triangle markings on his body was currently looking after a blue egg with orange spots on it.
"That's the babysitter service, they look after eggs for rescue teams that are too busy to look after them on their own," Blitz explained.
After walking past that last stall, Blitz led Chiaki a bit to the South-East, where a bigger building that looked as if it was partially build from concrete stood out, a sign on top reading: "Find your true strengths here at Heracross Dojo".
"This place is where most rescue teams come to train, and actually one of the main reasons why I'm here," Blitz explained, before he and Chiaki continued moving along. "You see, I was having trouble receiving proper training at home, my mother sent me here, so I could receive proper training at the dojo."
"Wow, there's a lot of great things in this town!" Chiaki exclaimed.
"Oh, you haven't even seen the best part, yet!" Blitz said, smiling. "Come on, before we head to the rescue team HQ, I'll show you the most popular spot in town!"
Chiaki followed Blitz to another building, a rather nice looking café built from wood rather than stone. Inside, were several small wooden tables, a wooden counter and a large spider web on the ceiling with several light crystals in it. Standing behind the counter was a blue rabbit-like Pokémon, talking to another Pokémon resembling a red bipedal crocodile Pokémon.
"You ever wonder why they call it a sandwich when there's no sand in them?" the Krookodile wondered out loud, the Azumarill behind the counter just giving him a weird look.
At one of the tables, there were two other Pokémon sitting, one resembling a giant blue turtle, the other resembling a colorful bird with a bit of a saurian head. The bird was reading a newspaper, shaking his head slightly at the news he read.
"There certainly are some nasty Pokémon out there," the Archeops commented, showing the newspaper page to the Carracosta. "I swear, if any Pokémon like that were to come around these parts, they should be burned on the stake!"
"Dude, they stopped doing that a long time ago," the Carracosta replied.
"… They did?" the Archeops paused for a moment to think, to which the Carracosta just stared at him in confusion for a moment.
"We're not that old, dude."
Chiaki looked around, seeming to find the spider web on the ceiling with the various light crystals in it particularly interesting.
"Well, Chiaki, this is the local hang-out spot in this town, and a popular place for rescue teams to come and have something to drink after a long day of missions!" Blitz explained.
"Ooh, sounds nice!" Chiaki responded. "Do you and Sera come here a lot?"
"Yeah, we've been here a few times," Blitz replied. "Well, I guess we should head over to the rescue team HQ now. It wouldn't be nice to keep Sera waiting for too long."
"Okay! Let's go!" Chiaki agreed, and so the two headed out of the café, just as a small blue mouse Pokémon bounced into the building.
"Hey, mother! Guess what?" the Azurill exclaimed as she ran up to the Azumarill at the counter, who was apparently her mother. Seeing as they were just leaving the area, Blitz and Chiaki didn't get to hear what the Azurill had to say to her mother.
After a short walk, the two of them reached the rescue team HQ. After letting Chiaki stare in awe at the wooden rescue team badge sculpture over the entrance for a few seconds, Blitz led the young Mienfoo inside. Chiaki curiously looked around at the other rescue teams and the mission boards, as Sera walked over, having gotten there a few minutes earlier and had been waiting for Blitz and Chiaki to show up.
"Hey guys!" Sera happily greeted the two, the two Pokémon greeting her back.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," Blitz said, rubbing his forelegs together.
"Oh, it's all right!" Sera said, wagging her tail. "All the missions on the rescue board had already been taken when I got here, so I've sort of just been waiting for them to update it."
"Hey, what exactly is it that rescue teams do?" Chiaki asked. "From the name, I'm guessing you rescue other Pokémon?"
"Well, that just one of the things a rescue team does," Sera explained. "We also explore mystery dungeons, help Pokémon find lost items, help escort Pokémon through dungeons so they can meet with their friends and we catch outlaws! Basically, a rescue team's job is to help others!"
"That is so cool!" Chiaki exclaimed. "I wish I could be in a rescue team!"
Blitz and Sera followed the excited fighting type over to another room behind a pink curtain, in which a pink and cream colored, somewhat plump rabbit like Pokémon wearing a white headband with a small pink cross on it, was examining the very long tongue of a chubby pink Pokémon.
"Hmm… Good, it seems there won't be any lasting damage, although your tongue might be a little numb for the next few days," the Audino said to the Lickitung with a reassuring smile. "It's a good thing your teammate reacted as quickly as he did. Hopefully, you'll be a bit careful about what you do with your tongue the next time you explore an ice dungeon!"
The Lickitung nodded and thanked the Audino, although his speech was somewhat mumbled since his tongue was still numb, before exiting the room to go find his teammates.
"Hi Giselle!" Blitz greeted the Audino.
"Oh, hello there, Blitz!" Giselle responded, smiling sweetly. "How may I help you? Is there a thorn stuck in your paw?"
"Not this time," Blitz responded, before pointing a paw at Chiaki. "We found this Mienfoo unconscious in the Meridian Forest yesterday."
"He doesn't remember anything about who he is, or how he got there, so we were wondering if you could take a look at him." Sera added.
"Oh, is that so?" the Audino nurse inquired. "But why were you two in the Meridian Forest? That place is too dangerous for two young Pokémon like you."
"Don't worry, I had everything under control!" Sera stated confidently. "We didn't get into any trouble at all!"
"Well, that's nice, but a responsible team leader should know better than to go into a dungeon above their team's experience level," Giselle said, sounding somewhat concerned. Sera's ears drooped down a bit as Giselle said that. "Well, anyways, let me take a look at your friend here…"
As Giselle began to check up on Chiaki and ask him a few questions, Sera exited the room, seeming a little bit upset. Blitz followed her to make sure she was okay; letting Chiaki and nurse Giselle talk alone for a bit.
After a while, Giselle exited her office along with Chiaki, to tell Blitz and Sera what little she had managed to find out.
"Well, I'm afraid I don't know what might've caused your friend's memory loss," Giselle said, looking somewhat confused. "He appears to have suffered no physical damage, and I can't really tell if anything has been done to his mind."
"Oh, is that so?" Sera asked.
"Yes," the Audino responded, looking a bit concerned. "So, I recommend having a psychic type Pokémon take a look at him."
"Okay, we'll try that, I guess…" Blitz responded.
"I'm really sorry that I couldn't do anymore to help," Giselle said, adjusting her headband. "Well, I hope you sort things out. Let me know if anything else comes up!"
And with that, Giselle went back to her office, and the three young Pokémon wandered back over to the rescue boards which had just been updated. Sera began to look at what new missions were available, while Blitz tried to figure out who they could ask to examine Chiaki.
"Hmm… Perhaps Stella could help?" Blitz suggested, after thinking about it for a few moments.
"Who's Stella?" Chiaki asked.
"She's the town oracle," Blitz explained to him. "She can predict the future, and she gives pretty good advice."
"Oh, that sounds cool!" Chiaki responded.
"Oh, come on!" Sera shouted, catching Blitz and Chiaki's attention as she stomped her feet in frustration. "All of these missions are above our current skill level! That's so not fair!"
"Um… Maybe we can wait for them to update the board again…?" Blitz suggested.
"I don't wanna wait!" Sera whined, before noticing the stares some of the other rescue teams in the room were giving her. "Uh… I mean, maybe we could look around and see if someone in town has something they need help with?"
Just seconds after she said that, the blue little mouse Pokémon from earlier bounced into the room. The Azurill glanced around at all the Pokémon, smirking a bit as she saw that there were plenty of rescue teams there at the moment. She jumped onto her tail, and tried to get a rescue team's attention: "Hello? I'm looking for a rescue team to take me on an adventure!"
"Oh!" Sera said, quickly running up to the Azurill along with Blitz and Chiaki. "You need the assistance of a rescue team?"
"Yep!" the Azurill responded. "Just a few moments ago, I saw something falling out of the sky, and I think it might've been a Pokémon! I think it landed in the Lush Valley, so I wanted to go check it out, but my mother won't let me go unless I get a rescue team to go with me."
"A Pokémon fell out of the sky?" Sera tilted her head slightly.
"Probably a flying type," Blitz said. "If it fell, I'm guessing it must've suffered a wing injury, or something. And I'm guessing hitting the ground can't be pleasant either."
"Oh my, sounds like we'd better go find that Pokémon fast!" Sera responded.
"Yes! Let's go!" Chiaki said, nodding his head.
"Wait, you want to come too?" Blitz asked.
"Well, yeah. It's not like I have anything better to do today," Chiaki responded, shrugging slightly. "Besides, I want to help others like you do!"
"Is that so?" Sera inquired, an idea coming to her mind.
"Well, yeah. In fact, I would love to be on a rescue team!" Chiaki replied, smiling.
"Well… That can be arranged!" Sera said, grinning.
"It can?" Chiaki asked.
"Yeah! Blitz and I could use some more members on our team!" Sera said, before looking over at Blitz. "Would you be okay with that?"
"Um… I guess so…" Blitz replied, thinking about it for a moment. "But he's not familiar with how missions work."
"Hmm… Good point," Sera responded. "Maybe we should take him along on a mission, so he can see for himself what it's like, and then decide if he wants to join or not?"
"That sounds good to me!" Chiaki responded, seeming even more excited than usual.
"Um… So, are you going to help me, or not?" the Azurill asked, noting that the three had gotten a bit sidetracked.
"Oh! We hadn't forgotten about you, miss…" Blitz paused for a moment, realizing that the Azurill hadn't yet told them her name.
"Azure," the Azurill said. "My name is Azure."
"So, you said you think the flying type landed in the Lush Valley?" Sera asked, her ears perking up with excitement. "That dungeon isn't too difficult for us!"
"Does that mean you'll go with me, then?" Azure asked, bouncing impatiently on top of her tail.
"We're in!" Sera responded, nodding to the Azurill.
"Yes!" Azure shouted out, now bouncing around in excitement. "Let's go on an adventure!"
"Hold on, first we need to double-check to make sure we have all the items we need for…" Blitz realized that the other three Pokémon had already run out the door before he could even finish the sentence, and were already heading off towards the dungeon. "Hey, guys! Wait! Don't leave me behind!"
Blitz managed to catch up to the rest of the group before they got too far, and reminded Sera to double-check their supplies before they went off on their adventure. Once everything was ready, the four Pokémon began heading over to the entrance to the dungeon. As they were walking, Blitz remembered something.
"Oh! We forgot to take Chiaki to see Stella!"
"Huh?" Chiaki said, looking over at the blue lion cub Pokémon. "Oh, don't worry about that! I'm not in a hurry to find out who I am!"
"Are you sure?" Blitz asked.
"Yeah," Chiaki replied, nodding his head. "It can wait. Right now, let's focus on this mission!"
"If you say so…?" Blitz said, tilting his head slightly.
"Okay, we're here," Sera spoke up, the four Pokémon now standing at the entrance to the mystery dungeon. "The Lush Valley is a mystery dungeon that has… eight floors?"
She glanced over at Blitz, who nodded his head to confirm that she was correct.
"Right, there's eight floors," Sera said, keeping her eyes on Blitz for him to confirm that she was remembering the details correctly. "If the Pokémon you saw landed at the very end of the dungeon, we'll be finding it on the eighth floor."
"Well, what are waiting for? Let's go in!" Azure shouted, bouncing on her tail impatiently.
"Yeah, let's go rescue that Pokémon!" Chiaki shouted out.
"Right, let's get to it!" Sera said, and so the four Pokémon entered the mystery dungeon.
The four found themselves on the first floor of the dungeon, the entrance seemingly vanishing behind them. Did it disappear? Or was it still there, but only visible from the other side? Chiaki quickly took note of such oddities of the dungeon, but didn't think too much of it because he was just so excited about getting to see what a rescue team mission was like.
"So, when going on a mission, always make sure to bring the necessary items," Sera explained, pointing to the bag she was carrying. "Which items you need may vary depending on the mission, but there are a few basic items that are always good to have with you."
Sera opened the lid for a moment, giving Chiaki a quick glimpse of what was inside of the bag.
"As you can see, I brought along some apples, some Oran berries and a Reviver Seed, just in case," Sera continued explaining. "You may also have noticed that our treasure bag is kind of small and can only keep a limited amount of stuff, but don't worry about that! As we reach higher ranks, we'll get a bigger one!"
"Excuse me," Azure spoke up. "But, since I'm here for the adventure, do you think you could walk and explain at the same time?"
"Hey, no need to be rude about it," Sera responded. "But you're right; we should get going, since we do have a mission to take care of."
Sera took a few steps forward, glancing around to see if there was anything of interest in the section of the dungeon they were in before motioning for the other three Pokémon to follow her down a path to another room. By pure luck, the first room they entered was the room in which the stairs to the next floor were located. However, there was also a small, light blue elephant in the room, as well as a brown bird with red wings. The four Pokémon that entered their room naturally caught the attention of those two Pokémon.
"Oh, we've caught the attention of two wilds!" Azure shouted out. "Can I fight one?"
"Wilds?" Chiaki tilted his head quizzically.
"A term we use for the Pokémon that live in mystery dungeons," Blitz explained. "They're not like the Pokémon outside of dungeons; they appear to be bound by a set of unwritten rules of the dungeons."
"There are rules?" Chiaki asked, curiously looking over at the Spearow and the Phanpy, the two wilds still standing in the same positions, as if waiting for the four visitors to the dungeon to move first.
"Well, we believe that's the case, but no one knows for sure," Blitz continued explaining. "Their behavior does suggest something like that. When they join a rescue team, they act just like any other Pokémon, which we believe may be part of the rules."
"So, they're bound by this set of rules no one else knows about, until they join a rescue team?" Chiaki suggested.
"Yeah, something like that, we think," Blitz said. "However, none of the Pokémon that have joined a rescue team has confirmed the existence of these rules."
"So, it's against the rules to reveal the existence of the rules?" Chiaki asked once again.
"Sorry to interrupt, but can we please just fight these guys?" Azure asked, seeming rather impatient and itching for a fight.
"Relax, we are going to fight them, you know, to show Chiaki how it's done," Sera said, motioning with her paw for the Azurill to calm down, before turning her attention to Blitz. "Blitz, you want to fight the Spearow? You've got the type advantage, after all."
"Me? Um… Okay, I'll fight the Spearow," Blitz responded, looking over at the two wild Pokémon. "What about the Phanpy, though?"
"I'll take care of that!" Azure shouted out, bouncing over to the blue little elephant in question.
With a gleeful look on her face, the Azurill proceeded to swing her tail around, before smacking the blue ball on the tip of her long black tail into the Phanpy with enough force to send the little ground type Pokémon flying. Blitz, Sera and Chiaki just stared as the little elephant went flying out of sight.
"And that is how I do it!" Azure proudly proclaimed.
Blitz briefly forgot about the Spearow he was supposed to fight after seeing Azure's little demonstration, only to hear a screeching sound as the Spearow was flying at him. The bird Pokémon was preparing to hit the Shinx with an attack of its sharp beak, only to be blinded by a bright light, causing the bird to stop in its tracks. Once the light cleared, the blue lion cub was nowhere in sight. The bird glanced around, trying to figure out where his opponent disappeared to.
Blitz had managed to slip away, and was now crawling through some tall grass, staying low to the ground so the Spearow wouldn't see him coming before he made his move. Blitz crept closer to the bird, waiting for just the right moment. Just as the Spearow gave up on finding the electric lion cub and began turning its attention to the other three Pokémon nearby, it was knocked to the ground as Blitz tackled it. Blitz quickly leaped at the bird again before it had time to get back up, holding it down.
The Spearow struggled under the Shinx, trying to free itself. Blitz simply finished off the battle by pressing one of his paws against the Spearow and zapping him with his electricity, being careful not to overdo it.
"There, it's fainted," Blitz commented, as his teammates walked over. "We'll probably already have left this dungeon by the time it regains consciousness."
With the two battles done, the four Pokémon headed up the stairs to the next floor, with Chiaki complimenting Azure and Blitz on their battle styles as they moved along.
The second floor was mostly spent walking around, occasionally stopping to pick up an item from the ground, while Sera and Blitz explained to Chiaki how most Pokémon tend to have different battle styles, depending on their type, abilities and attacks they were capable of. As they moved onto the third floor, they came across a small purple rabbit-like Pokémon with several spikes on its back. The male Nidoran smirked as it saw the four Pokémon show up, apparently ready for a battle.
"Maybe you'd like to try to fight that one, Chiaki?" Sera suggested. "Careful, though. Those spikes on his back are poisonous."
Chiaki began approaching the Nidoran, figuring that attacking from behind would probably be a bad idea since the Nidoran had those toxic spikes on its back. The Nidoran also had a small horn on its forehead, which Chiaki correctly assumed also was poisonous.
"Uh… How do I fight it without touching the pointy parts?" Chiaki asked, looking to Sera for answers.
"Hold on…" Sera took a quick look into the treasure bag, before picking up a small seed she found on the previous floor, and using her tail to fling it to Chiaki. "You can use this!"
Chiaki caught the seed in his paw, and curiously examined it. He wondered how a small seed like this was supposed to help him defeat the Nidoran. He sniffed the seed, only sensing a faint spicy aroma. Figuring it couldn't do any harm, the curious Mienfoo decided to find out what the seed tasted like, putting it into his mouth. He soon felt a strong heat build inside his mouth, causing him to spit the seed out and watching as it exploded on impact with the Nidoran.
"What was that!?" Chiaki shouted, waving his paws in front of his mouth in an attempt to cool it down.
"That was a Blast Seed! It can be thrown at enemies or eaten to make it explode and damage the enemy!" Sera explained, wagging her tail happily.
"The latter does more damage, for some reason," Blitz added.
"Well, it's certainly a cool item, don't you think?" Azure asked, bouncing on her tail. "After all, who doesn't think it would be cool to spit explosions?"
Before Chiaki could really respond to this, the Nidoran pecked his shoulder with his horn, seeming understandably angry with Chiaki for spitting the exploding seed at him. Chiaki found the Peck attack rather painful, since it was a flying type based attack. Chiaki braced himself for another attack, but it didn't come. It seemed as if the Nidoran was waiting for him to make his next move first, although it also gave the impression that it might attack again if Chiaki took too long to decide his next move. Perhaps this was part of the rules, or was the Nidoran just doing this because it wanted to?
"Don't worry, you can do this!" Sera cheered. "Here, let me give you a Helping Hand!"
Sera jumped up into the air, doing a flip before landing back on the ground, releasing a white wave of energy as her feet touched the ground. The glowing wave reached to her teammates, giving them some extra energy. With the power boost granted from Sera's Helping Hand move, Chiaki pounded the Nidoran with his paw. With the damage it had already taken from the Blast Seed in addition to the Pound attack, the Nidoran fainted.
"Yay! I did it!" Chiaki said, doing a little victory dance.
"Well done, Chiaki!" Sera commented, walking up to him. "And as we all gain more experience, we'll eventually learn to use even more attacks! Oh, and there are also other items besides the Blast Seed that we can use to give us an edge in battles!"
"Walk while you explain!" Azure said, bouncing past the two.
The four Pokémon continued walking through the dungeon, Sera and Blitz explaining various items that could aid in battle to Chiaki, and Azure gleefully sending the occasional wild Pokémon they came across flying with a strike from her tail. As they moved onto the fourth floor, they came across a female Nidoran. The female Nidoran looked a bit different from the males; it had fewer toxic spikes on its back, rounder ears and was blue instead of purple.
"Here I go!" Azure shouted, as she bounced right over to the Nidoran and gave the poison type the same treatment as the other Pokémon she had fought. However, after launching the poor poison type into the sky with her tail, Azure suddenly felt somewhat dizzy.
"Azure? Are you okay?" Chiaki asked, noticing that the Azurill seemed to be stumbling a bit.
"Anyone have a Pecha berry?" Azure asked, wincing in pain.
"Guess she forgot what we said about being careful when attacking a Nidoran physically," Blitz commented, while Sera looked through the bag. "If you're not careful, you might be in for a nasty surprise from the Nidoran's Poison Point."
"Luckily, there are items that can cure poisoning," Sera explained, pulling out a pink berry from her bag that they had also picked up on a previous floor. "Pecha berries cure poisoning, so they can be good to have with you!"
Sera used her tail to fling the berry over to Azure, who caught the berry in her mouth. Azure seemed to perk up a bit again once she had swallowed the sweet tasting berry.
"Higher ranked rescue teams might prefer to carry around Heal Seeds instead, since they work on more than just one thing," Blitz commented, taking some time to explain the various things wild Pokémon could inflict on them and which berries could cure them as they continued walking.
As they progressed through the fourth and fifth floors, Chiaki thought about the various things Sera and Blitz had been explaining to him so far, wondering if he would be able to remember it all. There was certainly a lot to keep in mind, and being on a rescue team probably wasn't as easy as it sounded, but Chiaki still wanted to be on a rescue team. In fact, seeing what it was really like, hearing about the things Sera and Blitz had to teach him was making him even more excited than he was to begin with.
"Hey, how am I doing so far?" Chiaki asked.
"You've been doing very well," Blitz responded, noticing a reddish bipedal cricket like Pokémon sleeping nearby, and pointing it out to Sera so they could make their way around it without necessarily having to wake it up.
"Yeah, you have!" Sera added, making sure to keep some distance between their group and the sleeping Kricketot as they moved along. Azure looked as if she wanted to march up to the Kricketot and challenge it to a fight, but managed to resist the urge to do so.
Chiaki smiled to himself as the four Pokémon quietly walked past the Kricketot so they could get to the stairs, the bug Pokémon staying asleep the whole time, its antennae occasionally knocking into each other, producing a xylophone-like sound. The four Pokémon soon reached the stairs, and moved onto the sixth floor of the dungeon.
"All right! We're getting near the end!" Sera said, happily wagging her tail. "That poor flying Pokémon won't have to wait for too much longer."
"I hope it's not too badly hurt…" Blitz commented, glancing around to see if he could figure out which way they would go next.
"Hey, Azure?" Chiaki looked over at the young Azurill that was happily bouncing along right behind him. "That Pokémon you saw, what did it look like?"
"Huh? Oh, I didn't get a very good look at it…" Azure tried to remember what she saw. "I think it might've been a dragon, but I don't know for sure."
"Ooh, a dragon?" Chiaki inquired, seeming to like the idea of the rescue team potentially saving a dragon type Pokémon.
"Well, it must've been a pretty big Pokémon since I was able to see it from that distance," Azure responded, still trying her best to remember the small glimpse she caught of the falling Pokémon. "Like I said, I don't know for sure."
"Hope it doesn't mind walking all the way back to town when we find it," Chiaki said, thinking for a moment. "Unless Sera brought another one of those blue things she used to teleport us out of that forest yesterday?"
"Oh, we don't need an Escape Orb this time around!" Sera chimed in. "We can just use our rescue team badge to teleport ourselves and the injured Pokémon out!"
"Really?" Chiaki asked. "How does it do that?"
"Magic," Sera responded, picking up some coins she found on the ground. "Rescue team badges contain a special kind of magic, that when we finish a mission, allows us to teleport right back to town!"
"Whoa! That is so cool!" Chiaki exclaimed.
"Oh, it's really nothing out of the ordinary," Sera responded. "All rescue teams have one of those, after all."
"Hey, are those blue orbs magical too?" Chiaki asked.
"Um… I'm not sure how those work, actually," Sera admitted.
"So, they might be magical?" Chiaki suggested.
"I don't see why not," Sera commented, shrugging slightly. "There's a lot of magic in this world."
The four Pokémon entered another room, in which there were three Nidoran, two of them male and one female. On second glance, they realized that one of the two males was asleep right in front of the stairs to the next floor.
"We have to fight more of these?" Azure seemed a bit annoyed, as she didn't want to risk being poisoned again. "Well, let's get it over with."
Azure took a few steps forward, keeping some distance between herself and one of the Nidoran. Her body tensed up a bit as she prepared to use an attack, but only a bit of foam came out of her mouth.
"Oh, come on!" Azure shouted as the foam just harmlessly dripped down from her mouth.
"What were you trying to do?" Chiaki asked, wiping the foam away from her mouth with the baggy skin on his arm, seeing as the Azurill species did not have hands until it evolved.
"I was wondering if I could use a Bubblebeam attack, but I guess I'm not strong enough to pull that off yet," Azure explained. "I should've just used Water Gun, or even a simple Bubble attack."
"Of course you'll figure it out!" Chiaki responded. "You certainly seem pretty strong!"
"Strength isn't everything," Blitz commented, as he dodged the attacks from the female Nidoran that was trying to strike him with her claws. "You also need to keep your head cool, and think before you act."
"Yeah," Sera responded, using Helping Hand to power up her teammates yet again. "And know when to use your items."
"I'll definitely keep that in mind!" Chiaki said as he used Pound on the male Nidoran, weakening it quite a bit, Azure proceeding to finish it off with another strike from her tail.
Blitz continued dodging the female Nidoran's Scratch attacks, ducking from the swipes of her claws and occasionally jumping back. He soon ended up standing against a tree, with the Nidoran smirking, believing she had the Shinx where she wanted him. She raised her paw to attack, only to receive a nasty surprise as Blitz caught her paw, holding it between his front paws and delivered an electric shock to the poison type, knocking her out.
"Two down, one more to go!" Azure shouted, glancing over at the male Nidoran that was still asleep near the stairs.
The four of them slowly approached the sleeping poison type. Sera almost felt bad about having to wake it up, seeing as the Nidoran seemed rather content. She wondered what the Nidoran was dreaming about. Her best guess was that it probably involved a giant pink gummi. After all, who hadn't had a dream like that? Sera was pretty certain each of her five older siblings had had a dream involving their favorite type of gummi at one point.
Sera led her team over to the Nidoran, the poison type slowly opening his red eyes as the rescue team got close. The Nidoran quickly got to his feet and prepared to fight, even if he was likely aware of it was going to be a one-sided one, seeing as there was only one of him against four of them. And it was indeed a one-sided fight, as it just took being tackled by Sera, followed by being zapped by Blitz to bring it down. The rescue team than moved onto the seventh floor, now only having to find one last set of stairs before they reached the end.
After a fairly uneventful floor of just wandering, fighting off a few Pokémon and finding some items that would likely not be of any use to them until later, the four Pokémon finally reached the end of the dungeon.
"I-Is someone there?" a voice called out.
As the rescue team quickly moved over to the injured Pokémon, they discovered that it wasn't a dragon that Azure had seen, but it could easily be mistaken for one at a distance. It was a large gray Pokémon, with big bat-like wings. The Aerodactyl raised his head, looking over the four small Pokémon that were approaching him.
"Did you come to rescue me?" the Aerodactyl asked, looking over at his injured right wing.
"Yeah," Sera responded, walking up to the Aerodactyl. "The Azurill here saw you fall out of the sky, so she asked us to go investigate!"
"Thank you…" the Aerodactyl responded, looking over at Azure. "I was practicing for the annual flying tournament on Wyvern Island, but something went horribly wrong…"
"Don't worry; I'm sure nurse Giselle can fix that wing for you!" Sera responded, trying to give the Aerodactyl a reassuring smile.
"Well, at least the tournament is still a few months away," the Aerodactyl glanced at his injured wing again. "Hopefully, I'll still have enough time to practice after my wing heals…"
"Then we better get out of this dungeon," Sera said, holding up the rescue badge. "The sooner we get you to Giselle, the better!"
Chiaki watched in awe as the rescue team badge began to glow with a golden light, and the wings on the sides of it began to flutter and lift itself up into the air above the five Pokémon. The golden light soon enveloped the five Pokémon, and before he knew it, they were back at the rescue team HQ. With its job done, the badge floated back down into Sera's paws. Chiaki found it pretty amazing to see this magic in action, even though it was probably a common sight to the rescue teams.
Once Sera came running into her office and explained what had happened, Giselle did not waste any time in heading outside to check on the Aerodactyl's wing. Blitz, Sera, Chiaki and Azure watched the Audino carefully examining the wing.
"My, you sure seem to have suffered a pretty nasty injury, Mr. Aeron," she commented.
"Will he be okay?" Azure asked, seeming a bit concerned about the Aerodactyl.
"Oh, don't worry," Giselle responded, smiling to the other Pokémon. "Just leave it to me, and that wing will eventually be as good as new!"
"Thanks, to all of you," Aeron the Aerodactyl responded, managing a smile despite still clearly being in a bit of a gray mood due to what had happened to his wing. "If there is anything I can ever do to repay you, let me know."
The four young Pokémon headed back into town, so Giselle could have some time alone to work on Aeron's wing. All four of them seemed pretty satisfied to know that they had managed to help someone, as well as getting to go on an adventure and see what being a rescue team is about in Azure and Chiaki's cases.
"Well, I better go now, my mother is probably waiting for me," Azure said, happily bouncing on top of her tail. "Thanks for taking me on an adventure!"
"You're welcome!" Sera responded. "Maybe we can do it again sometime?"
"Sure! I'll go on another adventure with you guys anytime!" Azure replied. "See you later!"
The remaining three Pokémon waved good-bye to Azure as she bounced away, before turning their attention to another matter at hand.
"So, do you still wish to join our rescue team, Chiaki?" Sera asked.
"Of course I do!" Chiaki responded. "Sure, there's a lot to remember about fighting and items and stuff, but it's all so awesome! I want to see more! I want to learn more! I want it all!"
"Okay then!" Sera said, giggling a little at Chiaki's enthusiasm. "Welcome to our rescue team!"
"Thanks!" Chiaki replied, grabbing one of Sera's forelegs and excitedly shaking it. "I promise I'll be the best teammate I can be!"
"I know you will," Sera responded, smiling at her new teammate.
"Yeah, you seem to be picking up on this pretty quickly," Blitz added. "Probably won't take long before you've learned everything you need to know."
Chiaki smiled, happy to be on a rescue team. He was happy to know that he would get to go on adventures, go on missions with Blitz and Sera and help Pokémon in need. Perhaps he would even discover who he was that way?
"Should we take Chiaki to see Stella now?" Blitz asked.
"Hmm… I don't know, it's nearly evening," Sera commented. "If I don't go home soon I'll be late for dinner."
"Oh, good point… We'll do it tomorrow, then?" Blitz suggested.
"Yeah, we'll do it tomorrow morning, before we head over to the HQ to find a new mission," Sera responded, nodding her head.
Chiaki was already excited about tomorrow. He would get to meet the town oracle, and go on his first mission as an official part of Sera and Blitz's rescue team. He looked forward to learning new things, helping other Pokémon and making new friends. He had no doubt that being on a rescue team was going to be a fun experience, and every day he would have a new adventure to look forward to.
End of chapter 3.