Chapter 4: Okay, I may not be the smartest claw, but I certainly know how to fight!
The sun was slowly going down, and it seemed like it was going to be a nice and quiet evening. Most of the rescue teams had returned from their missions by now, but a few were still not finished with today's work. Sting and his rescue team were on a mission to track down an outlaw that had stolen several expensive TMs, and it was only now that they were getting close to finishing the mission. They had done a lot of climbing and walking, and had finally reached the floor where the outlaw was supposed to be.
"Are you two doing okay?" Sting asked his two teammates, a pink Pokémon with an oval body and rabbit-like ears and a Pokémon resembling a polar bear with an icicle beard.
"No need to worry about us, Sting," the polar bear responded, the Beartic somewhat enviously glancing up at Sting's wings. "You're lucky you can fly, though…"
"I suppose we can think of this as exercise, though," the pink Pokémon commented, bouncing up the cliffs.
Sting, the Beartic and the Wigglytuff moved onto the tallest cliff in the area, and from there spotted something moving down below. It was a big bipedal Pokémon with yellow fur with black lines and patterns relating to electricity. It also had two long black tails with red tips, and was carrying a sack.
"That's the outlaw described in the mission!" Sting buzzed, and began flying down to the Electivire at a high speed.
"Sting, wait up!" the Beartic shouted, before looking over at the Wigglytuff. "How are we supposed to follow him?"
"We climb down," she replied, and carefully began making her away down.
"More climbing, of course," the Beartic responded, following the Wigglytuff's lead. "At least this isn't Mt. Frostbite, or we'd probably be hit by an avalanche..."
Sting flew towards the Electivire, preparing to strike him with the poison stingers on his arms. However, the Electivire managed to step to the side and avoid his attack, much to Sting's surprise. It didn't take long before Sting realized that it was probably the buzzing sound of his wings that had given him away.
"So… What do we have here?" the Electivire asked, smirking. "Some rescue team leader who came to arrest me?"
"You got that right!" Sting buzzed, pointing a stinger at the outlaw. "Return those TMs!"
"Oh, you mean these TMs?" the Electivire said, holding up the sack.
The Electivire put the sack containing the stolen TMs on the ground, and began walking towards Sting, who was still hovering in the air a short distance away and pointing a stinger at him.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen," the Electivire said, not seeming particularly concerned about the situation. "So, why don't you just buzz off so I don't have to beat you up? Or are you really going to fight me, insect?"
Sting prepared to strike at the Electivire with a Poison Jab attack, only to be electrocuted by the Electivire's wire-like tails before he could make his move. Sting fell to the ground, his wings twitching in pain. Sting's teammates saw this happen while they tried to make their way down to him.
"Oh no, Sting's in trouble!" the Beartic exclaimed. "What do we do, Melody? We've got to get down there fast! This guy is too tough for Sting alone!"
"Hang on, Frosty…" the Wigglytuff replied, having noticed one particular cliff above the two Pokémon that was fighting below them. "I think I have an idea!"
Melody quickly climbed down to said cliff, Frosty following her down to it. He cast a worried glance down at Sting, who was trying to get back up, while the outlaw was slowly approaching him with a sinister smile on his face.
"So, what's the plan?" Frosty asked.
"Well, first of all, you need to step back for a moment," Melody said, before taking a deep breath. She continued to inhale, her rubbery, flexible body expanding as it filled with air. She quickly grew bigger and rounder, her body taking on a more spherical shape.
As Melody finished inflating herself, Frosty noticed a flash of light from below and heard Sting buzzing in pain as the Electivire electrocuted him again.
"Frosty! Quick, give me a push!" Melody shouted.
Below, Sting was once again trying to get back up, but found that he was unable to move. Things weren't going well for him, but he had no intention of giving up.
"Surrender yet?" the Electivire asked, smirking at his opponent, who at this point seemed to be having difficulty fighting back.
"N-No…" Sting muttered. "Besides, even if… you do defeat me… Someone else will come after you and…"
Sting trailed off, as he noticed something above them. Before the Electivire had time to react, he was knocked into the ground as a certain inflated Wigglytuff hit him from above and knocked him down. Melody bounced back up a bit after the impact, before body slamming the Electivire again as he tried to get back up, the second impact knocking the Electivire out.
"You okay, Sting?" Melody asked as she rolled down from the now unconscious Electivire's back.
"I will be," Sting responded, seeming rather worn out and relieved that the battle was over. "Thanks, Melody. I owe you one."
"You're welcome!" Melody cheerfully responded, lightly bouncing a little. "Besides, no one treats my friends that way and gets away with it!"
Frosty finally made his way down to his teammates, and walked over to the sack containing the TMs and picked it up.
"We did it, guys!" he said as he held up the bag. "Now we can return these TMs to their rightful owners, and hand the bad guy over to the police!"
"Yeah," Sting responded as he tried to get back onto his feet. "Thanks to us, things will be a little safer now as there will be one less outlaw to worry about!"
"This was a tough mission, though," Melody commented while deflating her body back to its normal size.
"You got that right…" Frosty replied. "Will be nice to get back to town and get some sleep…"
"Well, let's head back then," Sting commented, as he pulled out their team's rescue team badge, the top half of his team's badge was gold-colored. "So, let's just deliver the things, pick up the reward and call it a day!"
The rescue team badge released its golden glow, enveloping Sting, his teammates and the outlaw and teleporting them out of the dungeon. And so another day of work was over for Sting and his teammates, and they could all head home for some rest. It was going to be a quiet and peaceful night for the Pokémon of Fenix Town.
After the night came another bright and sunny morning. A red and white bird was going around town, delivering mail to the Pokémon of Fenix Town. The Delibird kept the newspapers and letters he delivered inside his white sack-like tail, and he gladly delivered the mail every morning. While it was a lot of work to do, he got to meet a lot of Pokémon through his job. Plus, it made him feel kind of important, since newspapers, letters and the occasional rescue mission addressed to particular rescue teams wouldn't make it to recipients without him. That all made it worth it, he thought.
The Delibird pulled out a scroll with the list of deliveries he had to make today, and smiled to himself upon realizing he was already ahead of schedule. The Delibird walked down the path leading outside of town and to where Stella the Gothitelle lived. He walked up the stone building, and was about to put a newspaper down in front of their door, when Stella happened to poke her head out, having sensed his presence with her psychic powers.
"Ah, hello Santos," she said, smiling sweetly at the Delibird.
"Oh, good morning, Stella!" he responded, before noticing the Gothitelle was holding an envelope in her hand.
"I'm glad you showed up, as I just finished this letter for a certain friend of mine," she explained, handing Santos the envelope. "Can you deliver this to my friend in Silver Woods?"
"Sure! I'll add to my list and deliver it as soon as possible!" Santos replied, storing the letter inside his tail.
"Thank you so much," Stella responded. "I really appreciate it."
"Just doing my job!" he replied, saluting Stella before flying off. Shortly after he had left, Blitz, Sera and Chiaki walked up to Stella.
"Oh! Hello there!" Stella greeted them. "I had a feeling I would get visitors today, but I didn't know it would be you."
"It's nice to see you too, Stella!" Sera responded. "We're not just here to say hi, though. We kind of need your help with something."
"Oh? Well then, come in and let's talk," Stella responded, pulling the curtain aside with telekinesis and motioning for the three Pokémon to enter. Upon entering, the three of them noticed that Bow was standing in a corner, seeming to be deep in thought.
"What was that vision?" Bow muttered to herself, trying to remember a vision she had last night. The Gothorita was soon distracted from her thoughts as she noticed the visiting Pokémon. "Oh! Hey guys!"
"Hi Bow," Blitz said. "How are you?"
"Fine, I guess," Bow responded. "Had this vision last night, but I can't remember what it was… Hey, who's your new friend?"
"Oh, this is Chiaki," Blitz explained. "He's kind of the reason why we're here."
"Yeah, we found him in Meridian Forest a couple of days ago," Sera added. "He doesn't remember anything about who he is."
"Is that so?" Stella asked, watching Chiaki curiously.
"Uh-huh, and nurse Giselle tried to help, but couldn't, so we came to you!" Sera explained.
"I see…" Stella responded.
"Can you help us?" Blitz asked, looking up at the Gothitelle with his golden eyes.
"I'll see what I can do…" Stella said, leaning down and placing her hands on the sides of Chiaki's head. "Don't worry, this won't hurt at all."
Chiaki closed his eyes, and let Stella take a look into his mind. The white ribbon-like feelers on Stella's body began to glow as she established the psychic link between herself and Chiaki. She began examining the Mienfoo's mind, but couldn't find any traces of anything would suggest someone else had done something to his mind. His only memories were the ones from the last two days. However, there was one thing that caught Stella's attention.
"You said you found him in Meridian Forest, correct?" Stella asked.
"Yeah, that's right," Blitz responded.
"Hmm… This reminds me of a vision I had not long ago…" Stella said. "I don't know if there's any connection, but it might still be worth bringing up…"
"What kind of vision was it?" Sera asked, tilting her head slightly.
"I saw a small Pokémon fleeing from another Pokémon," Stella said. "I think I saw the Axis Tower in the distance at one point during the vision, which suggests that those Pokémon were in the Meridian Forest."
"Really?" Blitz asked. "What kind of Pokémon?"
"Unfortunately, I couldn't see the two Pokémon clearly in my vision," Stella explained.
"Oh…" Blitz responded, rubbing his forelegs together.
"Hey, what if he's a human?" Bow suggested.
"What's a human?" Chiaki asked.
"Strange creatures that live in another dimension," Sera explained. "They've visited our world a few times, and apparently there are even some types of Pokémon that first came to this world by tagging along with some of those humans."
"Uh-huh! And there were also at least two instances where a human came to this world, and became a Pokémon and saved the world!" Bow added. "Both of those humans also lost their memories, so I thought it might be worth bringing up!"
"Well, that is a good theory, but I'm afraid there's no evidence to it," Stella replied. "If he were a human, those previous events suggest that he'd at least remember his name and that he was a former human, but Chiaki seems to have no such memories…"
"Oh, okay," Bow said. "Now where was I? Oh, right… Trying to remember that vision…"
"So, I guess you don't know anything else?" Sera asked.
"No, but I will try to get more answers for you," Stella said to the rescue team. "If I have any visions that might give us some more clues, I'll let you know."
"Thanks, Stella!" Sera responded.
"I knew we could count on you!" Blitz added.
After saying good-bye to Stella and Bow, the three Pokémon headed up to the rescue team HQ to find a new mission. As the three of them arrived, they noticed Sting and his rescue team looking up missions on the rescue board.
"Ooh, how about this mission over at the Boiling Alcove?" Melody suggested, pointing to a mission posted on the board.
"No way, that place is way too hot!" Frosty protested. "Don't you remember? The last time we were there, my epic icicle beard almost melted!"
"Hey guys!" Sera greeted the other rescue team.
"Oh, hello there, Sera," Sting responded.
"I see you're looking for missions too," Blitz commented. "What are you planning on doing?"
"We haven't decided yet," Melody responded. "We had a pretty tough mission yesterday, so we're definitely going to take on something a bit easier today."
"Oh, what kind of mission was it?" Chiaki asked.
"Had to track down this outlaw who stole a bunch of expensive TMs," Melody responded, reading another mission on the board. "He was pretty tough, and gave Sting some nasty electric shocks."
"Ooh, sounds kind of scary…" Blitz commented.
"But don't worry, we managed to beat him and get those TMs back!" Melody said with a smirk. "Body slamming that guy into the ground felt so good!"
"Ah, I think I found our mission for today!" Sting buzzed, pointing one of his stingers at a mission put up by an Ampharos that was asking someone to help her find her missing abacus. While Sting and his teammates read through the mission, Chiaki glanced over at the outlaw board.
"Hey, maybe we should try catching an outlaw too?" Chiaki suggested.
"Huh? Y-You're suggesting we go after an outlaw?" Blitz asked.
"Well, why not?" Chiaki asked. "It would probably be a good experience for me."
"But… You only just joined our team," Blitz said, nervously rubbing his forelegs together. "And Sera and I haven't actually taken any outlaw missions yet…"
"Oh, you haven't?" Chiaki inquired, tilting his head slightly. "Well, I suppose sometime has got to be the first, don't you think?"
"Yeah, he does have a point there," Sera responded.
"But… do you really think we're ready?" Blitz asked, clearly still nervous about it.
"Don't worry, Blitz!" Sera said, patting the Shinx on the back with her paw. "We'll choose some outlaw that doesn't look too tough for us to begin with. I'm sure there's at least one of these guys that we can easily take down."
"Well… Okay then…" Blitz reluctantly agreed.
"All right then! Let's find us an outlaw to catch!" Chiaki beamed, and so the three Pokémon moved over to the outlaw board.
They began reading through some of the missions, which included such missions as one from the local police force requesting assistance in catching a trio of kleptomaniac Ducklett, or a mission from a Kadabra asking for someone to go get his spoon back from a Murkrow. There was also another mission from the local police force promising a large bounty for an Emolga that had apparently stolen many unusual things, the list even claiming she had stolen the moon at some point.
"Whoa, how'd she steal the moon?" Chiaki asked, staring in awe.
"Don't you think they're just exaggerating a little…?" Blitz responded.
"Um… Excuse me?" a voice called out, the rescue team turning to see a certain blue rabbit-like Pokémon. "Oh! Aren't you the rescue team that took my daughter on an adventure yesterday?"
"Oh, you're Azure's mother!" Sera responded. "What brings you here?"
"Well, I was working in the café as usual, when I heard some noises from the kitchen," the Azumarill explained. "So, I went to investigate, and saw one of the cooks chasing a Deino that had managed to sneak in through the back."
"A Deino?" Sera asked.
"Yes, a Deino," the Azumarill responded. "I'm guessing he must've found his way in by following the scent of freshly baked cupcakes, and he managed to eat almost an entire tray of cupcakes before he was caught and ran off."
"I see," Sera responded.
"The impression I got is that he didn't mean to do anything bad, but he also didn't try hard enough to stop himself," the Azumarill said. "So, all I really need is someone to go after him and bring him back to me so I can have a little talk with him."
"We could do that!" Sera said, looking over at Chiaki and Blitz. "Right, guys?"
"I suppose…" Blitz responded. "It doesn't sound that difficult…"
"Cool!" Chiaki exclaimed. "Yesterday, we helped Azure with a mission, and today we're helping her mother with a mission!"
"Huh, you're right," Blitz pointed out. "What a strange coincidence…"
"Well, I better get back to the café, so I wish you luck in finding the Deino," the Azumarill commented. "Unfortunately, I don't know where he ran off to, so you may have to ask a few Pokémon around town if they've seen him."
After receiving their mission, the three began taking a walk around town, looking for Pokémon that might know something. They began by asking the Pokémon running the various services, and it turned out the Togetic running the daycare had caught a glimpse of the Deino running towards the path leading to the mystery dungeons closest to town, but he couldn't offer any directions beyond that. They headed down the path, hoping to run into someone who might have seen which dungeon the Deino went into. They soon came across a blue bipedal Pokémon with webbed hands and feet, and a pointy duck bill.
"Excuse me, sir?" Blitz asked. "Have you seen a Deino anywhere around here?"
"Quack?" The Golduck responded, tilting his head slightly.
"We're looking for a Deino that was apparently headed in this direction," Sera explained. "Did you by any chance see which dungeon he went into?"
"Quack!" the Golduck replied, nodding his head.
"Oh, you did?" Sera asked. "Well, where did he go?"
"Quack!" the Golduck responded.
"Um… What?" Sera asked.
"Quack!" the Golduck said yet again.
"Uh… Sorry, sir, but we don't understand your accent…" Blitz said, rubbing his forelegs together.
"Quack?" the Golduck thoughtfully held a webbed hand to his chin for a moment, before having an idea and pointing a claw at Sera's bag. "Quack!"
"Huh?" Sera responded, before realizing what the Golduck was getting at. "Oh! I get it!"
Sera pulled out the map and rolled it out on the ground, the Golduck then pointing a claw at a cave marked as a mystery dungeon on the map.
"So, he went into the Granite Grotto?" Blitz inquired.
"Quack!" the Golduck responded, nodding his head.
"Okay, got it," Sera said, rolling the map up again. "Thanks for your help, mister Golduck."
"Quack!" the Golduck cheerfully responded, waving good-bye to the rescue team as they headed off for Granite Grotto.
At the entrance to the cave the three Pokémon took a quick look at the supplies they had brought along.
"Hmm… This should be enough, shouldn't it?" Sera asked.
"I suppose," Blitz responded. "We don't really have any items that can cure confusion, though. Since this is a cave, I'm guessing there will likely be Zubat inside…"
"Well, we'll probably be okay," Sera said, closing the lid. "After all, how hard can it be to dodge a few of their sound wave attacks?"
"Depends on the situation, I think…" Blitz commented as the three of them entered the cave.
The three of them found themselves on the first floor of the cave, Blitz deciding to provide them with some light inside the dark cave by making his fur glow. They began walking down the rocky path, the walls of the maze also pretty much just consisting of rocks.
"So… How many floors is this place, again?" Sera asked as she led her team into one of the rooms.
"Ten," Blitz responded. "How far in do you think the Deino went?"
"There's only one way to find out!" Chiaki shouted, picking up some coins from the ground.
"Yeah, let's keep going," Sera replied.
The three of them kept on moving, Blitz serving as their living flashlight and illuminating their path to the stairs. Moving onto the next floor, they found a few more useful items on the ground, and added them to their supplies, the three continued heading over to another room, only to come across two blue bats with pointy ears and no eyes.
"Of course there had to be Zubat," Sera commented.
"Shame my Flash attack won't work on these guys," Blitz commented. "I don't really feel like fighting them, but I guess we have to…"
"Well, let's just finish them off quickly so that it won't be a long fight, then!" Sera commented, using her Helping Hand attack to give Blitz and Chiaki a power boost.
"If only they'd come a little closer to the ground…" Blitz muttered while waving his electrified paw at one of the two bats flying just out of his reach.
"Do we have any Blast Seeds?" Chiaki asked. "I bet if we threw one of those at them, they'd come tumbling right down so we could hit them with an attack!"
"Ooh, good idea, Chiaki!" Sera responded, looking through the bag. "Except we don't have any Blast Seeds with us at the moment…"
One of the Zubat screeched and swooped down, preparing to sink its fangs into Chiaki. Chiaki quickly knocked the Zubat to the ground with his paw, and then placed one of his feet onto one of the dazed Zubat's long thin legs to hold it down.
"Guess we'll just have to do it like this, then!" Chiaki responded, knocking the Zubat out.
Following Chiaki's lead, Blitz waited for the other Zubat to swoop down, before knocking it out with his electrified paw. The three of them continued exploring, the rest of the second floor being mostly uneventful apart from finding a few items and fighting a couple of more Zubat. On the third floor, the three of them began talking about how they would handle the Deino.
"While he may not be that bad of a Pokémon, he'll probably get frightened and start up a fight with us anyways…" Blitz commented. "Do you think we can use any of the items we have with us to make things easier?"
"I suppose the Sleep Seed we picked up earlier can be helpful," Sera replied. "Hey, Blitz? Don't you like; know an attack that works pretty well against dragons?"
"Huh? You mean my Ice Fang attack?" Blitz asked.
"Yes! That's the one!" Sera responded. "If I remember correctly, you also know how to use Fire Fang, right?"
"Whoa! That sounds awesome!" Chiaki chimed in. "Could you show me those attacks sometime?"
"Um… I guess I could…" Blitz responded. "I don't like using them in battle, though..."
"Why not?" Chiaki asked.
"… I'd rather not talk about it, if that's okay with you," Blitz replied.
"Oh, that's okay!" Chiaki responded. "You can tell me about it later!"
Blitz sighed, not really having anything to comment on Chiaki's obliviousness. Chiaki clearly didn't understand that Blitz had no intention of revealing why he refused to use his Ice and Fire Fang attacks on other Pokémon. There was only one Pokémon in all of Fenix Town that knew, and that was Hercules, the Heracross running the local dojo. Blitz's mother had apparently known Hercules when she was younger, and had sent Hercules a letter explaining the events that had lead to her deciding to send him to Fenix Town to train with him.
"Ooh, there's the stairs!" Sera called out, bringing Blitz's attention back to the mission.
After getting to the stairs and moving onto the fourth floor, the three Pokémon came across another Pokémon resembling a rock with arms. While the Geodude was a bit difficult to take out without any attacks that were effective against rock types, the rescue team was at least glad to have some variety after all the Zubat. Of course, there were still plenty more Zubat to fight.
"Still no sign of that Deino…" Sera commented, looking around. "Did he manage to get all the way to the end of the dungeon?"
"He might have…" Blitz responded while hitting another Zubat with his electrified paw as it swooped down at them.
"Well, at least we're almost halfway through this dungeon!" Chiaki optimistically replied.
"Right, so let's just keep on moving!" Sera said.
The fifth and sixth floors went by, more items found, a few wild Pokémon fought and not much else happening. Sera continued to lead her teammates through the seventh floor, keeping an eye out for any other items that would be useful in a battle against an outlaw, even if they had probably already picked up enough items for the fight. Maybe she too was a little nervous about the upcoming fight? Not as much as Blitz was earlier that day, but maybe just a little? Well, even if a tiny bit nervous, she still felt fairly confident and didn't have any doubts that her team could handle this little mission.
As they entered another room, they noticed a yellow snake-like creature with tiny wings on its back and a drill-like tail sleeping in a corner. The rescue team quietly snuck past the sleeping Dunsparce without much difficulty, and after quickly checking the room for items, moved onto the next room where they found the stairs leading to the next floor. Upon walking up to the eighth floor, they came across a small round Pokémon with metal armor covering most of its body except for its dark gray underbelly.
"Huh, didn't know there were Aron in here," Sera commented, as the small steel type walked closer.
"I think they only appear on the seventh-to-ninth floors of this dungeon, but I could be wrong," Blitz responded, blue sparks of electricity rippling through his fur as he began charging electricity for his next attack. The electricity building up causing his fur to stand up, as his body's glow gained an electric bluish tint to it.
"Do I have any other attacks I can use?" Chiaki wondered out loud while looking at his paws. "Just using Pound gets kind of repetitive…"
"I wouldn't be surprised if you did know another move or two that could be used to give you an energy boost or something like that," Blitz responded while zapping the Aron with his paw now being charged with extra electricity.
"Well, how do I use it?" Chiaki asked.
"Um… I doubt it would be a move I can use, so you'll have to figure that out on your own," Blitz responded.
"Oh, okay! I'll see what I can do!" Chiaki replied, knocking out the Aron with his Pound attack.
They continued moving through the eighth floor, Chiaki occasionally stopping to see if he could figure out how to use another one of his attacks. However, his attempts, which mostly consisted of grunting and making silly poses, didn't really do anything at all. He wasn't really sure how he would know what he was supposed to do to use an attack. Hadn't Blitz said something about a place in town where rescue teams could train? Chiaki made a mental note to ask Blitz about that later as they headed towards the stairs.
They moved onto the ninth floor, and there was only one more set of stairs to find before they reached the end of the dungeon. The long walk through the dungeon had given the three of them plenty of time to mentally prepare themselves for the battle that was probably ahead of them, but were they really ready?
At the end of the mystery dungeon, a small blue skinned dragon with black fur concealing most of his face except his mouth was trying to find his way out. Unfortunately for the Deino, there was nothing but walls in the direction he had been trying to go. The dragon Pokémon kept pushing his head against a wall as he tried to walk on, but eventually figured he wasn't going to be able to get anywhere.
"Yep… This is definitely a dead end," the Deino said to himself.
The young dragon attempted to move in another direction, only to end up bumping into another wall. He tried to walk a bit further while pushing his head against the wall, but still no progress.
"Another one?" he muttered, tilting his head in confusion.
He kept pacing around the cave, continuing to bump into the rocky cave walls. He eventually realized that he wouldn't be finding an exit this way, and laid down on the cave floor, unsure what to do.
"I'm really lost, aren't I?" the Deino muttered. "Is this how it ends for me? Stuck in a cave, forever alone?"
The Deino moved his head around, thinking he faintly heard something. Unbeknownst to him, Sera and her rescue team had just made it to the last floor.
"Oh, there you are!" Sera said.
"Ah! Who's there?" the Deino exclaimed, startled at the sudden sound of another Pokémon's voice. "Are you a ghost? Please don't eat me…"
"Huh?" Sera said, tilting her head in confusion. "No, I'm not a ghost…"
"Are you sure?" the Deino asked.
"Of course I'm sure!" Sera responded, taking a step forward along with the rest of the rescue team. "I'm the leader of a rescue team, which River sent to find you!"
"River?" Chiaki inquired. "Oh, is that Azure's mother's name?"
"Yes, it is," Blitz responded, nodding his head.
"Huh?" the Deino responded, before realizing what was going on. "Oh! Is this because of the cupcakes? Are you here to punish me!?"
"Hey, relax," Sera said, trying to keep the dragon calm. "We just-"
"Don't hurt me!" the Deino shouted, spitting a purple fireball at the rescue team. The three Pokémon quickly leaped out of the way, Blitz accidentally intensifying the glow of his body for a moment. However, the Flash attack failed to affect the Deino in any way, seeing as the dragon did not have very well developed eyes under the black fur and therefore was blind in his current form.
"Looks like your Flash attack won't have any effect," Chiaki commented, stating the obvious.
"Hey, where are you?" the Deino asked, firing another Dragon Rage attack in their general direction. Blitz and Chiaki managed to dodge the attack again.
"Well, it looks like we do have to fight…" Blitz commented. "So, let's all try attacking from different angles!"
"Okay!" Sera responded, as the three of them began moving closer to the Deino.
"Which angles will you be attacking from?" the Deino asked.
"Why would we tell you that?" Chiaki asked, while Sera used Helping Hand to power up him and Blitz.
"I don't know…" the Deino responded, sniffing the air in an attempt to pick up on the three Pokémon's scent and figure out their current positions that way.
Sera ran past the Deino, her tail brushing against the little dragon. He tried to hit her with another Dragon Rage, only to be tackled from the side by Blitz. Even though the attacks hadn't done that much damage, the Deino knew he was in a tough spot. The young dragon type Pokémon took a deep breath, taking a moment to concentrate, even as Chiaki hit him with his Pound attack. The Deino took a moment to listen in order to get a better idea of his surroundings and where his opponents were.
"Okay, I may not be the smartest claw, but I certainly know how to fight!" the Deino shouted, before exhaling a Focus Energy-boosted Dragonbreath attack which managed to hit and instantly knock Blitz out, much to Sera and Chiaki's surprise. With Blitz knocked out, he could no longer provide the light for his team and the cave went dark.
"No, Blitz!" Sera shouted. "This is really bad!"
"Don't we have an item that could provide some light, or something?" Chiaki asked.
"No, we don't…" Sera responded, her ears drooping slightly.
"Oh, I actually hit one of them?" the Deino said, seeming surprised. "Cool."
The Deino fired another Dragon Rage, which Chiaki managed to avoid by jumping out of the way and letting the ball of purple fire hit a wall. The purple flare of the fireball suddenly gave Chiaki an idea.
"You missed me! Try again!" Chiaki shouted.
"Oh, okay…" the Deino fired another fireball in the direction of Chiaki's voice, but Chiaki managed to dodge the attack yet again.
"Keep trying!" Chiaki shouted.
The Deino kept firing more purple fireballs at Chiaki, who kept evading the attacks and then telling the Deino to try again. After a few moments, Sera realized what Chiaki was doing and what she was supposed to do while he kept the Deino distracted. During the brief purple flashes where it was possible for her to see her surroundings, Sera ran over to Blitz's unconscious form and gave him a Reviver Seed.
"Blitz, wake up!" Sera whispered to him, hoping the Deino wouldn't hear her and figure out that Chiaki was just distracting him. The Shinx slowly opened his golden eyes, groaning a bit.
"Ugh… I think he got that phrase wrong…" the dazed Shinx muttered. "It's "sharpest claw", not "smartest"…"
"Blitz, are you okay?" Sera asked, still whispering as to not draw the Deino's attention away from Chiaki. "Come on, we need some light…"
"Just a moment…" Blitz said, before closing his eyes and letting his fur shine again.
The Deino didn't realize that Blitz's glowing fur was now lighting up the cave again, and that the rescue team now had regained a bit of an advantage. Chiaki grinned as he saw that his plan had worked perfectly. He continued keeping up his distracting of the dragon type while giving Blitz and Sera some time to quietly plan out their next move. Sera pulled a small seed out from the bag, showing it to Blitz.
"If we can just fling this into the Deino's mouth, then the battle should end pretty quickly," Sera said.
"Agreed," Blitz responded. "We may need Chiaki for that, though."
Sera nodded and waved her paw for Chiaki to come over. Chiaki quietly moved over to his teammates, letting the Deino fire a few fireballs at a random cave wall for a few moments.
"Chiaki, do you think you can throw this Vile Seed into the Deino's mouth?" Sera asked.
"Sure! Just leave it to me!" Chiaki responded, taking the seed.
"Hey, where'd you go?" the Deino asked, realizing the voices weren't coming from the direction he had been randomly firing in.
"Oh, I'm over here! Just turn around!" Chiaki shouted while Blitz and Sera moved out of the way.
The Deino turned around, and now Chiaki just had to wait for the right moment. The Deino soon opened his mouth to inhale in preparation for another attack, and at that point Chiaki quickly flung the seed right into the Deino's open mouth.
"Urk!" the Deino accidentally swallowed the seed. "What just flew into my mouth?"
"Now, attack!" Sera shouted, as she ran towards the Deino and tackled him, followed by Blitz doing the same and then finally Chiaki running up and hitting the Deino with his paw.
The Deino was knocked onto his back, and he realized that their attacks were now doing more damage to him than they had done earlier in the fight. It took a few seconds to realize the seed he had swallowed had to have been a Vile Seed, which had lowered his defenses as low as they could go.
"Maybe you'd like to give up now?" Chiaki asked, giving the Deino a friendly smile, even though the dragon could not see him. "We'd be fine with that."
The Deino considered his options for a moment. He could keep fighting, seeing as even though they had an advantage now, he was still stronger than they were. However, then it occurred to him that if he did defeat the rescue team, then how would he get out of the cave? Would he be trapped there forever, alone and with nothing to eat but rocks?
"… Okay, I surrender," the Deino said, turning over onto his stomach and sadly laying his head down on the rocky cave floor. "I guess you can go ahead and take me to jail… It's nicer than being stuck in a cave with nothing but rocks, I suppose. It'll be an awkward conversation with my mother though, since she works there as a therapist…"
"Hey, relax!" Sera said. "We're not going to arrest you!"
"Oh, you're not?" the Deino asked. "Thanks, that's really nice of you…"
"Of course, we're not going to just let you off the hook either," Sera commented. "You'll have to come with us, and have a talk with River."
"Yeah, I guess…" the Deino replied. "I did something wrong, and have to make up for it…"
"Why'd you do it in the first place?" Blitz asked.
"Oh, you see… There were these Pokémon who wanted to find this treasure, but couldn't because it was like, hidden and stuff," the Deino explained. "So, they asked me to help them sniff out the treasure, but I kind of got distracted and ended up getting all of us chased out of a cave by an angry Ursaring who thought we were trying to steal her supply of delicious honey."
"Oh… I'm guessing those Pokémon weren't too happy about that, huh?" Sera asked.
"You got that right…" the Deino replied. "They got mad and yelled at me for messing it up, and that made me feel bad… I tend to eat when I'm upset…"
"Oh, I see…" Sera said, comfortingly patting the Deino's back.
"Can we head back now? I'm tired of this cave…" the Deino commented. "There's nothing to eat in here but rocks, and I don't think rocks are good for me..."
"Okay then, let's head back!" Sera said, as the rescue team badge began hovering above them.
"Thanks for finding me, whoever you guys are," the Deino said, smiling at the three Pokémon. "My name's Frederick, by the way."
"Oh, you're welcome!" Sera responded. "My name is Sera, and I'm an Eevee! And my teammates are Blitz the Shinx and Chiaki the Mienfoo."
"It's nice to meet you!" Blitz said.
"What they said!" Chiaki added, shaking the Deino's paw.
"It's nice to meet you too!" Frederick cheerfully responded.
The floating rescue team badge soon released its magical golden light, teleporting the four Pokémon out of the dark cave.
In the meantime, at the café, River had just taken a few customers' orders, when Bow suddenly came running into the building.
"River!" the Gothorita shouted, leaning on the counter and taking a moment to catch her breath.
"What is it?" the Azumarill asked.
"I had a vision last night!" Bow explained. "I saw a Pokémon sneak into the back and steal some cupcakes, so I thought I'd come over here and warn you!"
"Oh, um… I appreciate the thought, but you're a bit late," River responded. "That's already happened."
"Oh…" Bow said, sighing. "I did all that running for nothing, huh? If only I'd remembered sooner…"
"It's okay, Bow," River said. "Sera and her teammates are already out dealing with it for me."
"Oh, okay…" the Gothorita responded. "Well, that was all I came for, so… guess I'll head back home now. Bye!"
And with that, Bow left the café. Only a few moments after the Gothorita left, Sera, her teammates and Frederick stepped through the door.
"We're back!" Sera announced as they entered the café.
"Oh, welcome back!" River greeted them. "I see your mission was a success."
"Uh-huh!" Sera replied. "We found Frederick and brought him back here, just like you asked!"
"Well done!" River said, before looking over at the Deino in question. "So, your name is Frederick, huh?"
"Yeah…" he responded, nodding his head slightly. "Sorry about eating those cupcakes… You're not going to send me to jail, are you?"
"Oh, of course not!" River replied, petting the Deino on the head. "However, we do need to sort out what to do now, since you do owe me a bit of money for those cupcakes."
"Oh! I could work here to work off the debt!" Frederick suggested.
"Ah, so we had the same idea," River commented. "So, I'm guessing that's okay with you?"
"Sure, and even if it weren't, my parents would probably tell me to do it anyways," Frederick replied. "Hey, if I do a good job, do I get free dessert?"
"Hmm… We'll see about that," River responded, giving a small chuckle.
"Hey, where's Azure?" Chiaki asked, having noticed that the Azurill wasn't there at the moment.
"Oh, she went to buy some White Gummis, after she realized how much money she had saved up from her allowance," River explained. "Oh, and speaking of money…"
River picked up a small bag and produced 300 coins from it. She then handed those coins to Sera, since she was the leader of the rescue team.
"Here's your reward for finishing my mission!" River said.
"Wow, thanks River!" Sera responded, happily wagging her tail.
"We'll try to spend it wisely," Blitz added.
"Hey… Our rescue team badge looks different!" Chiaki exclaimed, pointing to the rescue team badge. The top half of it had changed color, and was now bronze colored.
"Hey, you're right… It does look different!" Sera responded, her ears perking up. "Wow, does that mean what I think it does?"
"Yeah, with that last mission, we must've gotten enough experience to advance to Bronze rank!" Blitz said.
"Awesome!" Sera shouted out, happily wagging her tail.
"Sounds good, but what exactly does it mean for us?" Chiaki asked.
"It means we can do tougher missions now!" Sera said, smiling proudly. "Also, we'll get a bigger treasure bag!"
"Ooh! Let's go pick that up right now!" Chiaki shouted excitedly.
And so, after saying good-bye to River and Frederick, the three of them headed back to the rescue team HQ to pick up their new treasure bag. With their new rank, bigger challenges were sure to come their way soon.
End of chapter 4.