Chapter 9: So, you need some help with this plant problem?
Another new day had begun, and rescue teams were getting ready for another day of work. Blitz, Sera and Chiaki had already met up in a quiet spot where they could talk privately, and were now discussing the situation and the decision they were about to make. After several minutes of talking, it seemed the three of them had reached an agreement.
"So… We're really going to do this, then?" Sera asked.
"I guess so…" Blitz responded, nervously rubbing his forelegs together.
"All right then…" Sera replied. "Let's go make our preparations, then."
The rescue team spent several minutes going around town making the necessary preparations, trying to figure out which supplies to bring along and rearranging the treasure bag several times before they were satisfied with the selection of items. After stopping by the bank to deposit the leftover money after they had bought some extra supplies at the shop, the three of them began heading up to the rescue team HQ.
Before reaching the HQ, Sera decided to fill Chiaki in on some more details about Harmony Forest, and pulled out the map.
"The Harmony Forest is there," Sera said, pointing her paw at the map. "As you can see, it's a little further away from here than the dungeons we've been to so far."
"It is a somewhat unique place in that there are multiple small mystery dungeons within the forest, connecting the different areas of the forest," Blitz explained. "We enter the forest through a regular mystery dungeon."
"I see," Chiaki said, looking at the map. "Are we going to walk all the way there? Because it looks like it would take a while to get there, even if we walked really fast..."
"Oh, don't worry," Sera said, winking. "There is another, much faster and easier way to get there."
"Ooh, what is it?" Chiaki asked. "Can you show me?"
"You'll get to see once we get to the HQ," Sera said, wagging her tail.
"Okay!" Chiaki replied.
The three continued heading up to the HQ, when Blitz suddenly noticed a certain Elgyem floating over in their direction.
"Chiaki, your friend is here," Blitz said, pointing to the Elgyem.
"Oh, hi Elina!" Chiaki said, walking over to her. "Did you come to wish us good luck?"
The Elgyem shook her head, before pointing to herself with both hands, and then pointing to the rescue team.
"You want to come along?" Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly. "Oh, that's nice, but I don't think that's really necessary."
Elina looked down at the ground, seeming a bit disappointed.
"Hey, don't worry," Chiaki said, comfortingly patting the Elgyem's shoulder. "We can handle this! So, you can just stay here and relax, and then I'll tell you all about how it went when we get back, okay?"
Elina looked up at the Mienfoo, unsure how to respond.
"See you later, Elina!" Chiaki said, waving good-bye to her as he ran over to join his two teammates, as they walked into the wooden building.
Elina looked up at the rescue team HQ for a few moments, before floating back into the main part of town so she could make some preparations…
Blitz and Sera led Chiaki over to a purple curtain, and into a room behind said curtain. The first thing Chiaki noticed inside the room was a large map painted on the wall in the back of the room, with mystery dungeons marked on it similar to the smaller maps rescue teams carried. There was also a wooden desk in the room, but Chiaki couldn't see anyone behind the counter. However, he could hear a light snoring, and Sera led him over to show him what was behind the desk.
And behind it was a yellow humanoid Pokémon with small pointy ears, sleeping on a somewhat worn-out looking dark green pillow. Sera carefully poked the brown armor-like pad covering the Abra's shoulder, causing the psychic type to sleepily open her eyes and sit up.
"What day is it…?" the Abra sleepily mumbled while rubbing her eyes.
"Chiaki, this is Kala," Sera said, pointing her paw at the Abra. "She can use her teleportation powers to help rescue teams reach destinations that are too far away to walk to when we need to get there fast!"
"Cool!" Chiaki responded.
"So, where do you want to go today…?" Kala muttered, yawning and stretching.
"Harmony Forest," Sera replied, smiling and wagging her tail. "Can you send us there?"
"Sure, no problem…" Kala responded, closing her eyes and hovering in mid-air as she concentrated on sending the rescue team to their desired destination.
Soon the rescue team were enveloped by a green light, and disappeared from the room. With her job done, Kala lay back down onto her pillow, going back to sleep.
The rescue team materialized in front of the entrance to the Harmony Forest in a green orb of light, Chiaki looked around in awe at the sudden change of surroundings. As far as he could tell, there were many tall trees ahead. He wondered how different this forest was from Meridian Forest.
"Well, here we are!" Sera announced, wagging her tail happily. "So, should we just go ahead and get this search started?"
"I suppose…" Blitz replied, nervously rubbing his legs together. "Are you absolutely sure we have everything we need?"
"Nervous?" Sera asked, grabbing one of Blitz's front paws with her front paws. "It's okay; you're not the only one."
"Sera…" Blitz looked up at his teammate.
"I'm a little nervous too," Sera said, giving a reassuring smile. "But as long as I've got you and Chiaki by my side, nothing will stop me!"
"Yeah, we're in this together!" Chiaki responded, grinning. "Just think of this as another mission!"
"… You're right," Blitz responded, smiling back at his teammates. "Let's do this."
"That's more like it!" Sera said, before entering the mystery dungeon with Blitz and Chiaki following closely behind.
Trees made up the walls of the maze; while the floor was mostly grass with occasional wild flowers visible. Sera noticed some coins lying in the grass, and picked them up, before leading Blitz and Chiaki down one of the paths leading to another room within the same floor. The Harmony Forest was a pretty big place, so finding the crystal probably wouldn't be easy. Where within the forest could it be hidden?
And that wasn't even the only question related to this strange situation. How and why had the crystal ended up here? Why had the Pokémon that stole the crystals not just kept it? But it was probably better to just focus on finding the crystal now, and ask questions later. Finding the stairs, and moving onto the next floor, the rescue team had to fight a small Pokémon covered in cotton, with two green leaves at the sides of its body.
They had to fight another one on the way to the stairs, and soon found themselves on the third floor. The third and fourth floors were fairly uneventful, only a few more items to be found and a few more battles. However, on the fifth floor, the rescue team came across a strange sight. Several strange, thick vines were blocking one of the paths out of the room they had just arrived in.
"Huh?" Sera said, tilting her head and poking the vine with her paw. "What's this?"
"I don't know…" Blitz replied. "There usually aren't any obstacles like this one in mystery dungeons…"
"Can't we just climb over it?" Chiaki asked.
"Nah, let's just take the other path over there," Sera responded, moving over to another path which wasn't blocked off.
There didn't seem to be anything else out of the ordinary on that floor, and the rescue team moved onto the sixth floor, where they had to fight off some round ladybug like Pokémon and some yellow green-spotted mushroom-like Pokémon. Chiaki discovered he could make an opponent flinch by striking it quickly. However, it seemed the attack only worked as long as he caught the opponent off-guard. According to Blitz, this attack was called Fake Out.
"Wow, I figured out a new attack all on my own!" Chiaki exclaimed happily.
"Congratulations," Blitz replied. "It should be a useful move once you're mastered it. Maybe we should head back to the dojo so you can practice once we're done here?"
"Hey, how many floors is this dungeon, again?" Sera asked, looking around.
"Fifteen, I think," Blitz responded. "And I think the smaller ones within the forest itself are at five floors, or so."
"Okay…" Sera said, realizing that they might have quite a bit of walking around to do today. "How many of the smaller dungeons are there?"
"At least three," Blitz responded. "I'm not entirely sure if that's the exact number."
"Oh," Sera replied. "So, we might have to walk through at least thirty floors?"
"Possibly," Blitz said. "Depends on where the crystal is."
"Yeah…" Sera responded. "Good thing we brought a few apples in case we get hungry from all that walking."
The rescue team continued travelling through the dungeon, Chiaki practicing his Fake Out attack more as they went along. On the tenth floor of the dungeon, they noticed several strange vines sprouting from the ground near the walls, similar to the ones blocking the path back at the fifth floor.
"Strange…" Blitz commented. "What's up with these vines?"
"I don't know…" Sera responded. "At least they're not in our way this time."
The rescue team continued heading through the floor, until they found the stairs and moved onto the next floor. Blitz was getting the feeling that these vines didn't belong in the forest, and wondered where they might've come from. There was definitely something strange about it…
Back in town, Wade and Vic were going about their usual business. Mirage had just sold a Gold Ribbon to Wade, and gotten 2000 coins in return. The Zoroark briefly looked through the items in her treasure bag to see if there was anything else she could sell.
"Hmm… I guess there's nothing else here really worth selling," Mirage said, closing the bag. "Well, better go find myself some missions. I've still got to make some money even with the whole crystal crisis going on. I can't let my family down, after all."
And with that, Mirage and her teammates left the stall, just as a certain Elgyem hovered up to the shop, waving to get Vic's attention. The Nuzleaf, however, seemed to be too busy polishing an orb to notice. Wade gave Elina a friendly smile, and then lightly shook Vic's shoulder to get his attention.
"Hey, Vic," Wade said. "I think you have a customer."
"Oh," Vic replied, putting the orb down on the counter. "Well, hello there. How may I help you?"
Elina pointed a hand to the orb on the counter.
"You want to buy that Blowback Orb?" Vic asked.
Elina shook her head in response.
"No?" Vic replied, thinking for a moment. "Oh, you want to see what other orbs we have for sale today?"
Elina nodded her head in the affirmative, and Vic brought out a selection of different orbs. Not that one could really tell the difference between them at first glance, since they all looked the same.
"As you can see, we have a nice selection of orbs today," the Nuzleaf said. "See anything you like?"
Elina carefully looked over the orbs, until she saw something that caught her interest. She pointed her hand to one of the orbs displayed, and Vic took a look at it.
"Ah, you want this Mobile Orb?" he asked, picking it up. "That'll be 150 coins."
Elina produced a small bag, and telekinetically picked up the coins she had brought with her, hoping she had enough coins to afford the orb…
Sera, Blitz and Chiaki had reached the final floor of the mystery dungeon, and were getting close to the stairs. There was only one problem: Strange vines were blocking the path leading to the room with the stairs.
"Not this again!" Sera exclaimed. "How are we going to get to the stairs?"
"Is there another path?" Chiaki asked, looking around.
"I don't think there is this time…" Blitz said, thinking for a moment. "But, maybe I can use my Fire Fang attack to burn these?"
"I thought you didn't like using that attack?" Sera asked.
"Not on other Pokémon," Blitz replied. "However, I'm okay with using it to get rid of this obstacle."
"Go for it, then!" Sera said, wagging her tail enthusiastically.
Blitz walked up to the blocked path, getting onto his hind legs while holding onto the vines with his forelegs. He then opened his mouth, and his fangs began glowing with an orange light. Blitz felt heat quickly building up in his fangs, and bit down on the plant. To his surprise, the attack barely had any effect.
"It didn't work?" Sera asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Why didn't it work? Isn't fire usually super effective on plants?"
"Yes, it is," Blitz replied, examining the bite marks he'd left on the plant. "This plant, however, seems to have some sort of resistance to fire…"
"Cool," Chiaki said. "You know, except the part about it being in our way, and all…"
"Hey, what about your Ice Fang attack?" Sera asked. "Ice is also super effective on plants, right?"
"It's worth a try," Blitz replied, and once again prepared to sink his fangs into the vine.
This time, his fangs began to glow with an icy blue glow, and there was visible mist from Blitz's breath as his fangs got colder. Blitz bit down on the vine once again, and part of the vine quickly became coated in ice.
"I think its working!" Sera said, her ears perking up in excitement.
"Yeah, but they're still in our way," Chiaki pointed out.
"Not for long!" Sera replied, getting three Blast Seeds out of the treasure bag. "Here, let's take one each, and then we'll use them to break these vines apart!"
"Good idea, Sera," Blitz said, as he and Chiaki each took one of the three seeds. "We'll probably do the most damage if we use them all at the same time. Ready?"
The three of them walked up the frozen vines, popped the Blast seeds into their mouths and at the same time, spit the exploding seeds at the frozen vines. The explosion managed to break them apart to make an opening big enough for the three of them to walk through.
"We did it!" Sera said, happily wagging her tail as she ran over to the stairs along with her two teammates. "Now, let's get moving and start looking for that crystal!"
The three Pokémon then walked up the stairs, exiting the dungeon and entering the deeper parts of Harmony Forest. However, they were surprised at what they saw as they entered the area, as several strange vines similar to the ones they came across inside the mystery dungeon appeared to be laying on the ground, with some of them seeming to have wrapped themselves around trees.
"What is with these vines?" Sera asked, poking at one with her paw.
"I don't know…" Blitz replied, looking around. "This is really strange…"
The rescue team began looking around, not knowing that they were being watched from the trees. A trio of monkeys with green and yellow bodies and a small green bush like growth on their heads curiously watched the rescue team, before exchanging glances.
"Rescue team!" one of the three Pansage said, excitedly pointing to the three Pokémon below.
"Think they can help us?" asked one of the other two, scratching its head.
"Yes, they might be able to help us!" responded the third one, excitedly swinging on the branch it was holding. "We should take them to see the leader of our tribe!"
"Ooh, good idea!" the first Pansage replied, clapping its hands. "Let's follow them!"
The three Pansage playfully started following the rescue team exploring the forest below by moving from tree to tree; by extending their green tails into long whip-like vines and using them grab onto branches and swing to the next tree. Blitz soon noticed the shadows of the three Pokémon above them, and stopped to look up at the three Pansage. Sera and Chiaki soon noticed as well, and the Pansage began making their way down to the rescue team.
"What's up with them?" Sera wondered.
"Maybe they can help us find the crystal?" Chiaki suggested, smiling as the three Pansage made their way down from the trees.
"I suppose we should find out what they want…" Blitz said, as the monkeys reached the ground and approached the rescue team.
"Hi!" one of the three Pansage said, waving to the other three Pokémon. "You're a rescue team, right?"
"Yes, we are," Sera responded, tilting her head slightly. "What can we do for you?"
"A strange plant showed up in the forest a few days ago!" the Pansage said, jumping up and down.
"And its vines are like, growing and going all over the place!" one of the other two said, pointing to some strange vines that seemed to be slowly crawling up a tree.
"And they're getting in our way, and that's really annoying!" the third one said, stomping on the ground. "We can't get to the Pansear and Panpour tribes or the place where we grow berries without taking a lot of detours, even having to go through mini-dungeons and have to deal with wild Pokémon slowing us down!"
"What can we do to help?" Chiaki asked, immediately jumping at the opportunity to help the Pokémon of Harmony Forest.
"Oh, you will help us?" one of the Pansage asked, happy at the Mienfoo's eagerness to help.
"Thank you so much!" one of the other two Pansage said, clapping her hands.
"Come with us!" the third one said, motioning with his hand for them to follow. "You should come meet our tribe's leader, and help us work out how to get rid of the plant with him!"
"Okay!" Chiaki replied, smiling at the trio of grass monkeys.
"Hold on a minute," Sera said, looking over at her teammate. "Chiaki, we were supposed to be searching for the crystal, remember?"
"But these Pokémon need our help!" Chiaki replied. "And since we're a rescue team, we should help them!"
"Well, I guess you have a point there…" Sera responded.
"And besides, if we help them, maybe they will help us?" Chiaki pointed out.
"I suppose having some Pokémon that know the forest help us search would make things a lot easier," Blitz commented.
"Okay, then," Sera said, smiling to her teammates. "Let's help these Pansage sort out this plant problem!"
"All right, let's go!" Chiaki said, and followed the Pansage trio.
The Pansage trio led the rescue team further into the forest, explaining that they were going to bring them to their village. There, they would meet with the Pansage tribe leader and try to come up with a way to get rid of the mysterious plant. On the way, the rescue team saw more vines laying across the ground, or wrapping themselves around trees. After a while, the Pansage trio stopped walking.
"We're here!" one of the three Pansage said, grinning at the somewhat confused rescue team.
"Uh… What?" Sera responded, looking around. "I don't see any village here."
"Silly Eevee!" one of the other two Pansage said, pointing up towards the treetops above. "Our village is up there!"
"Your village is in the top of those trees?" Chiaki asked.
"Yep!" the third Pansage replied, nodding her head.
"Um… How exactly are we supposed to get up there?" Blitz asked, rubbing his forelegs together. "I don't think we're as good at climbing as you Pansage are…"
"Oh, don't worry!" one of the Pansage responded. "We have another way to get you up there!"
"Just wait right here," one of the other two said, and started climbing up a tree along with the other two Pansage. "We'll be right back!"
The monkey Pokémon quickly made their way up the trees, while the rescue team waited for them to return, curious about how the Pansage were going to get them up there. Soon, the rescue team saw the three Pansage slowly making their way down to them by lowering what appeared to be a wooden cage-like structure held up by vines.
"What's that?" Chiaki asked, as the bottom of the wooden cage-like structure touched the ground.
"Like it?" one of the Pansage asked, opening the wooden door. "We use this to bring visitors up to our village!"
"Assuming they're around the same size as us," one of the other two Pansage added, while holding onto one of two rotating levers on the sides of the wooden structure, which were used to make the vines pull it up. "We can't really bring bigger, heavier Pokémon up there."
"And even if we could, it would probably not be a good idea," the third Pansage commented, giggling a little. "Well, get in, will you?"
"Um… Okay…" Blitz responded, and got onto the cart with Sera and Chiaki.
Once all three were on board, the Pansage shut the door and the other two began rotating the levers to pull the cart up. Blitz looked down at the ground, feeling more nervous the higher up they got. Chiaki on the other hand seemed to find this experience rather exciting, and found it pretty awesome that the Pansage had been able to build the contraption that was bringing them up to the treetop village out of things found in the forest.
Soon, they reached the village, with several small wooden huts built on thick branches, and several rope bridges connecting the village.
"Awesome!" Chiaki exclaimed upon seeing the village.
"Welcome to our village!" one of the Pansage said, opening the wooden door on the cart to let the rescue team out. "Follow us; we'll take you to our leader!"
The six Pokémon stepped onto one of the rope bridges, the Pansage trio leading the way. Blitz couldn't help but feel a bit nervous as he looked down and saw just how far away from the ground they were. The slight swaying of the bridge didn't help, even though the rope bridge was secure. After walking across a few rope bridges, they finally found the tribe leader. He looked like a bigger Pansage, with a much bigger bush-like growth on his head.
"Ooh, is that a rescue team?" the Simisage asked, smirking.
"You must be the Pansage tribe leader," Blitz said, still a bit nervous.
"That's right," the Simisage responded, giving the rescue team a thumbs-up. "The name's Haru and it is your pleasure to meet me!"
"Right…" Sera replied, not particularly impressed. "So, you need some help with this plant problem?"
"Ah, seems the Pansage there have filled you in on some of the details," Haru responded, the three Pansage covering their mouths with their hands and giggling. "Normally, such a situation wouldn't be a problem for me, but the way this plant is spreading just isn't natural."
"Yeah, we saw," Sera commented. "It even got into the mystery dungeon."
"We've been at a loss of how to deal with the thing," Haru said. "However, thanks to me, we may now have found the root of the problem!"
"This tribe sure is lucky to have a leader as humble as you," Sera replied, rolling her eyes.
"Why, thank you!" Haru responded, not detecting the sarcasm in Sera's voice. "Anyways, as I was saying, I sent a team of Pansage to search for the plant that all these freaky vines spread from, and not long ago, they found it in the middle of the forest!"
"So, what is the plan?" Blitz asked, rubbing his forelegs together.
"We're still working on it," Haru replied. "What we do have so far, is that we need to find a way to destroy the roots of that thing."
"Hey, weren't the vines we came across in the dungeon weak to ice?" Chiaki asked, looking over at Blitz.
"Ice, you say?" Haru responded, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Uh-huh!" Chiaki replied, nodding his head. "Blitz here used his Ice Fang to help us break through some vines blocking our path!"
"Well, seems you kids may just have stumbled onto the solution to our problems!" Haru responded, snapping his fingers. "Thank you so much!"
"Ooh, really?" Chiaki asked.
"We need to use ice to break those roots, but surely that will be easier said than done," Haru said. "First, let's all head over to where the plant is."
"Uh… Okay?" Sera replied.
"As long as that lets us go back down to the ground, I'm fine with that," Blitz said, knowing he would feel less nervous once they got down from the tree.
Once the rescue team, Haru and the trio of Pansage got down from the tree, they began heading for the center of the forest. To get there, they would first have to walk through a mini dungeon with five floors. Haru decided to lead the way through the dungeon, which Sera only agreed to because he was more familiar with the forest than she was.
"So, what brings you guys into the forest, anyways?" Haru asked.
"Well, we are searching for something very important," Sera replied. "And according to the town oracle, it might be hidden somewhere within this forest."
"Oh, is that so?" Haru responded. "And what would this important item be?"
"One of the eight missing crystals of the Axis Tower," Sera replied, causing Haru to stop in his tracks for a moment.
"Wait, what!?" Haru exclaimed. "The Axis Tower crystals are missing!?"
"Yeah," Blitz replied, keeping his gaze on the ground as they walked. "Apparently some Pokémon stole them a few days ago…"
"Who would do such a crazy thing!?" Haru asked, clenching his fists. "I swear, if that Pokémon were to show itself around this forest, I would give it a piece of my mind!"
"Yeah, whatever," Sera responded. "Anyways, maybe you and your tribe could, you know, help us search?"
"Of course," Haru replied, grinning. "Once we've dealt with this plant, I'll assist you guys in finding this crystal, and with my help, you'll find it in no time!"
"I'll help too!" one of the Pansage said.
"Me too!" one of the other two responded.
"Me three!" the third one said.
"Thanks!" Sera replied, wagging her tail. "Searching will be much easier with the help of Pokémon that know the forest like you guys do!"
"Yeah," Haru responded. "I don't like to brag, but I do know the forest pretty well."
The other six Pokémon started snickering a bit at that statement, although Haru didn't understand what it was they found so amusing. The Simisage did do a good job leading the group through the dungeon, knocking out some of the Pokémon they came across on the way with a kick or a strike from his thorny tail. He then proceeded to talk about the Acrobatics attack afterwards and how it was only one of the many attacks he had mastered.
"A tribe leader has got to know many different attacks to be able to defend his tribe, you know!" Haru said, confidently stepping up the stairs to the next floor.
"Is he always like that?" Chiaki asked one of the three Pansage, seeming a bit amused at the Simisage's behavior.
"Oh, yes," the Pansage responded. "But he's still a very good leader."
"Yeah," another Pansage replied. "He really does care about our well-being, even if he does sometimes talk about himself too much."
"The tribe elected him to be our leader for a reason, after all," the third one added.
"All right, we're here!" Haru said, pointing to the final set of stairs in the dungeon.
Haru led the Pansage and the rescue team up the stairs, where they found themselves in front of the large parasitic plant growing in the center of the forest. The rescue team was surprised at just how large the plant was. It almost looked like a huge green tree, except it had many vines sprouting from the top of it, and slowly growing longer and seeming to be crawling through the forest.
"What is that thing?" Sera asked, staring up at it.
"We have no idea," Haru replied. "We're not even entirely sure if it's a real plant."
"So, we need to destroy this thing before it spreads its vines any further, right?" Blitz asked, looking a bit discouraged. "How are we going to do that?"
"Don't worry, kid," Haru responded, smirking. "You see, I came up with a plan while we were walking through that dungeon!"
"Of course you did," Sera replied, rolling her eyes slightly. "So, what's your great idea?"
"I haven't worked out all the details yet, but that is why I want you three to head over to the Pansear and Panpour tribes, and bring their leaders here!" Haru said, smiling at the rescue team. "I hope you don't mind me asking this?"
"I guess not," Sera responded.
"Of course, I could do this without their help, but things will go a lot faster if those two and a few members of their tribes help out," Haru said, his eyes darting back and forth while a nervous smile seemed to cross his face for a brief moment. "Y-Yeah… That's right…"
"That, and you can't use any ice type attacks," one of the Pansage pointed out.
"Yeah, that too," Haru responded, glancing around.
"Just give us some directions, and we'll be on our way!" Chiaki said with his usual cheerful smile.
"All right," Haru responded, pointing in a direction. "If you head that way, you will after a short walk come across another mini dungeon. And after clearing it, just keep walking straight ahead, and you should eventually reach the Pansear tribe's village."
"Okay, thanks," Sera replied, before turning to her teammates. "Let's go find this Pansear village!"
And so, the rescue team headed off to find and ask the leaders of the Pansear and Panpour tribes for help, while Haru and the Pansage stayed behind to bounce around a few ideas on how to deal with the plant while they waited for the rescue team to return. The rescue team had not come any closer to finding the crystal, and it remained to see if they would be able to help the tribes find a solution to the plant problem. It was now clear that their mission in Harmony Forest had only just begun.
End of Chapter 9.