Chapter 20: There was no way I was missing out on that!
Princess Blithe cheerfully swam around in circles, while her brother prince Somber was quietly brooding in the corner. She was certain someone would come to save them soon; they just had to wait a little longer. As she cheerfully hummed to herself while swimming around, she noticed a certain Alomomola swimming towards their cell, carrying a few blue and purple gummis.
"Thought I'd bring you some gummis," Sophie said in a bored tone, placing the gummis on the floors where Blithe could reach them and pull them in through the bars with her tentacles. "Don't eat them up all at once."
"Yay! Thanks, Soapy!" Blithe responded, happily picking up the gummis.
"It's Sophie," the Alomomola replied, looking rather annoyed.
As Sophie swam away, Blithe swam over to her brother, showing him the gummis.
"Look, Somber! Soapy brought us our favorite gummis!" Blithe said.
"She did that just because these guys need us alive," Somber responded, taking one of the purple gummis. "Once they've gotten what they want, they'll get rid of us."
"Oh, cheer up!" Blithe replied, smiling at her brother. "I'm sure a rescue team is coming to rescue us as we speak!"
Blithe happily began eating one of the blue gummis, while Somber slowly began eating the purple gummi. While the Frillish prince wouldn't admit it, the taste of the purple gummi did lift his moods, even if it was only a little.
Out by the Radiant Reef, Sera, Blitz, Chiaki and Azure were still staring into the whirlpool, being careful not to get too close as they tried to figure out what they were going to do now. They knew a crystal from the Axis Tower was located somewhere at the bottom of the chasm the whirlpool was blocking off, but had no means of getting there.
"Hmm… Maybe one of those underwater rescue teams knows the move?" Sera asked, figuring that it would only make sense for the rescue teams of the deep branch to know the attack that could allow them to deal with the whirlpool.
"Probably," Blitz responded, having reached the same conclusion. "Odds are one of those higher ranked rescue teams, like the one we met with earlier, might have at least one Pokémon that knows what to do."
"But aren't they out looking for the missing prince and princess?" Chiaki pointed out. "How are we supposed to find them and bring them here?"
"Hmm… What exactly happened to this prince and princess you're talking about?" Azure asked.
"They were kidnapped, and some Pokémon is apparently holding them for ransom," Blitz explained.
"Ah, well in that case, finding them shouldn't be too difficult!" Azure responded, grinning.
"Huh?" the other three Pokémon said in unison.
"Well, bad guys tend to hang out in dark places, right?" Azure replied, smirking. "So, if we head into the deeper, darker parts of this ocean, we might come across one of the rescue teams that are searching for the kidnapped Pokémon and the kidnappers' hideout!"
"Are you sure about that, Azure?" Blitz asked, rubbing his forelegs together. "While you may be onto something, your logic seems a bit flawed..."
"Maybe, but I don't see any of you three coming up with anything better," Azure responded.
"I guess that's true," Sera replied. "We don't really have any better leads in regards to where to look…"
"So, let's try my idea, then!" Azure said, grinning. "Trust me; I'm sure there will be at least one rescue team there."
"Oh, okay, let's go," Blitz responded, sighing.
And so, the four began swimming away from the Radiant Reef and the whirlpool, and began heading towards the darker areas in the deeper parts of the Sapphire Sea.
Meanwhile, in the underwater cave, the Tentacruel was attempting to come up with a plan for how to deal with any rescue teams that might come across their hideout. All he had was a vague idea of defeating the rescue team, and then relocating to a different area. Except how would they get to another area unnoticed, not to mention the problem that they didn't even have another location in mind that they could relocate to if something went wrong?
"Still trying to think of a way to deal with the possible rescue team threat?" the Starmie asked, snickering a little. "I can't believe you haven't just given up and delegated the task of coming up with such a plan to me yet."
"Shut up, you oversized purple throwing star," the Tentacruel responded. "I didn't ask you for your opinion."
"Does anyone want to hear my opinion?" Missile asked, smiling at the other two.
"Your opinion on what?" the Starmie inquired. "Do you even know what we are talking about?"
"… Are we talking about yogurt?" the Sharpedo responded. "I like mine with fruit at the bottom!"
"And that's why you're not in charge," the Starmie replied, turning away.
"Both of you, shut up," the Tentacruel said, glaring at the two.
"What's going on in here?" Sophie asked, as she swam back into the room.
"Not much, Soapy," the Tentacruel responded, rubbing the two big red orbs on the sides of his bell with two of his many tentacles. "These two idiots are getting on my nerves."
"Which two idiots?" Missile asked, looking around. "There's nobody else but us in here!"
"I see…" Sophie replied, rolling her eyes.
"I'm just saying that I could come up with a plan much quicker if you guys would let me be the leader of this group," the Starmie said.
"If you're so intelligent, then how come you've barely done anything to contribute to this plan?" Sophie asked, giving the Starmie an annoyed look.
"I came up with the trap we used to trap those two," the Starmie responded. "And I helped out when we set it into motion, didn't I?"
"And after that?" Sophie asked. "Seriously, even Missile has been more helpful than you have!"
"I like to help!" Missile said, grinning.
"Oh, fine," the Starmie replied. "Since you admit to so desperately needing my help with your plans, I will provide a list of locations where we can move to if any of those rescue teams force us out of our hideout."
The Starmie swam into another part of the cave, causing the Tentacruel to sigh in relief.
"Thank you, Soapy," the Tentacruel said. "Now I can finally have some peace and quiet while sorting out our plans…"
"You're welcome," Sophie responded, looking somewhat annoyed. "But seriously, how many times do I have to tell you guys? It's Sophie!"
"Isn't that what he said?" Missile asked, tilting his entire body quizzically.
Sera, Blitz, Chiaki and Azure were now searching through a darker area of Sapphire Sea, Blitz having to gradually increase the brightness of his glowing fur as things gradually got darker the further they went. So far, they hadn't seen any signs of any other rescue teams.
"Maybe this was a bad idea…" Blitz muttered, looking around nervously.
"Hey, since we're here, let's keep looking around some more first before giving up," Azure responded, glancing around. "Surely there has to be at least one rescue team around these parts… I mean, if I were a bad guy, a place like this is where I'd put my hideout."
"Unless the bad guys thought it was too obvious, and put it somewhere else?" Chiaki commented. "Or, they did put it here, because the rescue teams thought it would be too obvious to put it here, and thus they haven't bothered to check this area yet?"
"Again, do either of you guys have any better ideas?" Azure asked, looking around at the other three Pokémon. "… So, let's keep exploring a little more."
The four Pokémon continued moving forward, when suddenly the scenery changed to that of a dark underwater maze, with many rocky walls.
"… Did we just enter a mystery dungeon?" Sera asked, looking around.
"Yeah, looks like it…" Blitz responded.
"Well… At least we've all recovered our energy from the last one," Sera said, taking a quick look at their items. "And we still got some good items here, even if we're a little low on healing items."
"Don't worry," Azure responded, smiling. "There are probably some healing items in this dungeon for us to find."
"Let's keep going then," Sera said.
The four Pokémon moved further into the mystery dungeon, fighting more wild water Pokémon and gathering more items. As she added the items to their inventory, Sera noticed that they had somehow ended up with quite a few Quick Seeds. She wasn't sure if they even needed that many, but figured that as long as there was still room for more items, it wasn't really a problem.
They continued going deeper and deeper into the dungeon, unsure of what they would find on the other side…
After ten floors of tough battles against wild water type Pokémon, gathering up some random items and general exploring, the four Pokémon found themselves in front of a hole leading into what appeared to be an underwater cave. The four were unsure of whether to enter it, or continue exploring another part of the area.
"I get a bad feeling about this place…" Blitz said, rubbing his forelegs together.
"That's a good sign that we're on the right track, isn't it?" Azure asked.
"That's… an interesting way to look at it, I guess…" Blitz responded.
"Still, we don't know what awaits us if we enter the cave," Sera said, looking around. "Then again, I suppose we also don't know what awaits us if we explore more of this area and don't enter the cave…"
"So, how do we decide, then?" Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Hmm… Let me try something," Azure said.
Azure closed her eyes and tried to use her ears to determine which way to go. She listened for anything that might be worth investigating. After a few moments, she managed to pick up on something.
"I think… I hear voices coming from inside the cave," Azure said, peeking inside the cave entrance. "Can't hear what they're saying, though."
"Okay…" Sera responded, glancing around. "So… Should we go investigate that, or…?"
"Sounds risky…" Blitz commented, rubbing his forelegs together.
"So?" Azure asked, shrugging slightly. "It's not like we've got any other leads."
And with that, Azure swam inside the cave before the others had the chance to stop her. After exchanging a few concerned glances, the rescue team went in after her.
The Starmie was in the process of making the list of other possible places they could relocate to if a rescue team were to find their hideout, when it suddenly sensed something with its psychic powers. The ruby in the center of its body flashed, as the Starmie realized what it had picked up on.
"Intruders…" the Starmie muttered, the ruby flashing once more.
"What!?" The Tentacruel said, turning towards the Starmie.
"It's a rescue team, although they don't seem particularly powerful," the Starmie explained, the ruby flashing once more. "From what I can tell, it's just some surface dwellers that don't know what they've gotten themselves into."
"I don't care who they are!" the Tentacruel responded. "Just get rid of them!"
"I'll get right on that," the Starmie replied, turning to Missile. "Come on, Missile. Let's give those intruders a warm welcome."
"Ooh, sounds nice!" Missile responded, swimming alongside the Starmie as the two headed into one of the tunnels. "What kind of snacks should we serve?"
"Not that kind of warm welcome," the Starmie replied.
Sera, Blitz, Chiaki and Azure swam deeper into the cave, the rescue team having caught up to the Marill by pointing out to her that they couldn't swim as fast as she could, and without Blitz to provide some light, Azure wouldn't be able to see very well in the darkness if she went too far ahead in this area. As they continued going further, Azure's ears began to pick up on the sound of cheerful laughter.
"This way, guys," Azure said, pointing in the direction the giggling was coming from.
The four Pokémon continued swimming down the tunnel, following the sound of laughter. Eventually, they reached the cell where Somber and Blithe were kept.
"Yay! It's a rescue team!" Blithe said, cheerfully twirling around. "We're saved!"
"Are you sure?" Somber asked, looking over his shoulder at the four Pokémon. "They don't look particularly powerful… They probably can't get us out of here."
"You two must be the royal twins we heard about from one of the underwater rescue teams earlier," Sera said, curiously looking at the two jellyfish behind the bars.
"Guess my intuition was right," Azure commented, looking around. "Although, I expected there'd be at least one rescue team around here…"
"Well, we're here," Chiaki pointed out.
"Oh, that's right…" Azure responded, blinking. "I… guess that counts?"
"Are you going to save us now?" Blithe asked, smiling at the rescue team.
"We would, but…" Blitz responded, rubbing his forelegs together. "How do we do that?"
"I don't think I'm strong enough to break these bars," Azure said, examining the bars. "And we don't have a key, so…"
"We're going to be stuck in here forever," Somber muttered, staring at a wall. "There's no way we're ever getting out…"
"Hey, relax," Sera said, glancing around. "We'll think of something, okay?"
"Oh, don't mind him!" Blithe responded, smiling cheerfully. "My brother is just being silly!"
"What are we supposed to do, though?" Blitz asked.
"We're not going to let you do anything," a voice said, and all six Pokémon turned to see a certain Starmie and Sharpedo emerging from the other direction.
"I knew we were doomed," Somber commented, looking at the Sharpedo and Starmie with a rather bored look on his face. "The rescue team doesn't stand a chance against them."
"Don't listen to him!" Blithe shouted, giggling a little. "I know you can take them down!"
Blitz and Sera exchanged nervous glances, while Chiaki and Azure assumed a fighting position. The ruby in the Starmie's center flashed as he prepared to deal with the intruders, while Missile was just there next to him with a goofy grin on his face.
"Blitz, what do we do?" Sera asked, hoping her teammate would have any ideas of how they could get themselves out of this situation.
"Hmm… I don't know…" Blitz responded, observing the opponents. "They look tough, but… if we use the items we have wisely, then we might have a shot."
"Good enough for me!" Azure said, smirking. "Let's take them down!"
"Not if we take you down first!" the Starmie responded, the second star on his back spinning fast as he began charging up an electric attack.
The Starmie then fired a bolt of bright blue electricity from the ruby in his center, aiming for Azure.
"Watch out!" Chiaki said, swimming in front of Azure and using Detect to block the attack.
"Whew, thanks," Azure responded, sighing in relief. "Hey, can I borrow some Quick Seeds? I sort of have an idea."
"Sure," Sera replied, getting three Quick Seeds out from the bag and handing them to Azure with her tail.
"Thanks," Azure responded, smirking as she ate the seeds and then with the increased speed swam up to Missile and carefully tapped him on the nose before quickly swimming away. "Tag, you're it!"
"Ooh, I love this game!" Missile said, before cheerfully chasing after the Marill.
While Azure kept the Sharpedo distracted, the other three Pokémon had to figure out how to deal with the Starmie. Chiaki managed to keep his Detect up as the Starmie began trying to hit him with Psychic attacks, but was uncertain of how long he could maintain it. Luckily Sera and Blitz didn't waste any time, Sera using Helping Hand to power up her teammates and Blitz trying to find an item to throw at the Starmie to distract it long enough for them to get some hits in.
Azure seemed to be enjoying herself as she let the Sharpedo chase after her, even if it was a bit difficult to keep swimming faster than him even with the speed boost from the Quick Seeds. However, as Missile started closing in on her, she realized that the effects of the Quick Seeds were starting to wear off.
"Uh-oh," Azure said to herself as she realized she was slowing down.
"I've got you now!" Missile cheerfully announced, and used Aqua Jet to propel himself towards the Marill.
Azure quickly moved to the side, while Missile was moving too fast to slow down and continued shooting forward until he crashed into a wall.
"Ooh, that must've hurt," Azure said, wincing slightly.
Azure turned around to check on how the rescue team was doing. While they were making a good effort, the three were certainly having some difficulty fighting the Starmie. The Starmie's long-ranged attacks made it difficult for them to get closer to attack, and they had to move quickly to dodge the various attacks.
"Hmm, I've got to help them somehow…" Azure said to herself, thinking about it for a moment before she suddenly heard something moving behind her.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Missile asked, seeming somewhat dizzy, but otherwise didn't seem too fazed by hitting the wall. "The game's not over yet!"
"Huh?" Azure responded, before smirking as she thought of something. "Oh, right! Come and catch me, if you can!"
"I'll get you this time!" Missile said, swimming somewhat wobbly towards the Marill.
With what was left of her speed boost, Azure quickly began moving towards the other four Pokémon, occasionally glancing behind her to make sure Missile was able to keep up with her. She carefully observed the fight between her friends and the Starmie, trying to get closer and to find just the right moment.
"Hey, aren't you going to come and get me?" Azure asked, turning around and wiggling her tail at the Sharpedo. "Come on, you've got a clear shot here!"
"Ooh, I wish I had a cute tail like that…" Missile muttered, distractedly watching Azure's tail for a few moments.
Sera, Blitz and Chiaki were struggling to move fast enough to dodge the various psychic, electric and ice attacks fired from the Starmie's ruby. Blithe was watching the battle, while Somber didn't really seem to care.
"Looks like they could use some help," Blithe commented, glancing over her shoulder at her brooding brother. "Maybe we can do something?"
"I doubt it," Somber responded, glancing at his sister. "Besides, it doesn't really matter what we do, since we're doomed anyways."
"Oh, stop being so silly and come help me!" Blithe said, cheerfully grabbing one of her brother's tentacles and pulling him over. "All right, let's do this!"
Blithe and Somber's eyes began turning dark as they both started charging up ghost energy for an attack. They then both simultaneously fired black beams of ghost energy from their eyes at the Starmie, but their combined Night Shade attacks didn't seem to do much other than annoy the Starmie.
"And just what do you two think you're doing?" the Starmie asked, his ruby flashing in annoyance as he turned towards the Frillish.
"Told you it wasn't going to work," Somber said to Blithe, leaning against the bars with a resigned look on his face.
The Starmie realized he was leaving himself open to attack as long as he faced the Frillish, and was confused upon realizing his opponents didn't seem to be taking the opportunity to attack. He quickly turned around to see the three of them, as well as a certain Marill swim out of a path as a certain Sharpedo sped through the water towards him. The Starmie only had time to register what was about to happen, before Missile collided with him and continued propelling them forward until they both crashed into a wall.
"Awesome! It worked!" Azure said, grinning. "Can't wait to tell Frederick about how I beat a psychic type by hitting it with a shark!"
"Good job, Azure!" Chiaki commented, smiling at the Marill.
"So… Now that that's over with, how do we free those two?" Sera asked, looking over at the two still imprisoned jellyfish.
"Maybe one of those baddies has a key?" Azure suggested, and began swimming down to the two water types.
However, she quickly turned around and swam away as Missile suddenly began moving and turning around. Apparently, only the Starmie had been knocked unconscious by the impact, while Missile was still up, albeit seeming rather disoriented.
"Ugh… That wasn't fun…" Missile mumbled, before glancing back at the unconscious Starmie with a slightly confused look on his face. "Is he it now?"
"I suppose he would be, if he hadn't fainted," Azure said, shrugging slightly. "But hey, why don't you give it another try? The effect of the Quick Seeds has worn off, so you can probably catch me this time!"
"All right…" Missile responded, trying to keep his balance. "Third time's the charm!"
Azure swam in front of the locked door to the cell, and the Frillish quickly caught on to Azure's plan and moved to the side. Once Missile attempted his Aqua Jet attack for the third time, Azure moved out of the way once again, causing the Sharpedo to ram into the door on the cell, knocking it down.
"Yay! We're free!" Blithe exclaimed, cheerfully twirling around.
"For now, at least…" Somber muttered, glancing around.
"Hehe… I can feel my teeth growing back…" Missile mumbled, chuckling a little before losing consciousness.
"Well, let's get out of here before he wakes up again," Azure said, sighing in relief. "Man, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to dodge him a third time, but I pulled it off!"
"And you did it awesomely!" Blithe responded, swimming up and happily wrapping her tentacles around the Marill, hugging her tightly.
"You're welcome," Azure replied, trying to push the Frillish off her. "But loosen your grip a little; you're kind of hurting me."
"Come on, guys," Sera said, motioning for the other Pokémon to follow her further into the cave. "We need to get moving!"
"Isn't the exit the other way?" Blitz asked, quickly glancing around as the others began following Sera. "… Or is it? I could've sworn that's the way we came from, but now I'm not so sure…"
"Blitz, hurry up!" Sera said, looking back at him. "We need your glowing fur to see the way ahead!"
"Oh, right!" Blitz responded, quickly swimming up to the others. "Hope there's a way out of this cave up ahead…"
The six Pokémon eventually reached a larger room within the cave, with a few tunnels they could swim through. However, they weren't sure which one would lead to an exit. And before they could figure it out, many gray tentacles suddenly shot out from above them and formed a cage around the six of them.
"Hey, what's happening?" Sera asked, glancing around as the tentacles surrounded them, before looking up and noticing the Tentacruel above them.
"I knew we wouldn't be able to escape from here…" Somber muttered, not really seeming to be alarmed by the situation.
"The blue Frillish is correct," the Tentacruel said, snickering. "You are not going anywhere."
"Don't be so sure about that!" Blithe responded, grinning. "We've already beaten the Starmie and the Sharpedo!"
"Shut up!" the Tentacruel replied, before noticing that a certain Alomomola was starting to make her way towards one of the tunnels. "Soapy! Where do you think you're going!?"
"Well, since these guys found our hideout, and apparently beat those other guys, I can already tell things aren't going to end in our favor here," Sophie responded, glancing back for a moment before entering one of the tunnels. "Also, I'm tired of you guys getting my name wrong, so I'm out of here! … Good luck!"
"Soapy, get back here, you coward!" the Tentacruel shouted as the Alomomola fled. "Ugh… Whatever… I don't need her help to take care of such a weak looking rescue team!"
"Who are you calling "weak"?" Sera asked, glaring up at the Tentacruel.
"Sure wish I had another shark to launch at this guy now," Azure muttered, kicking one of the tentacles.
"Quiet!" the Tentacruel shouted, seeming rather annoyed. "Perhaps a taste of one of my poison attacks will shut you all up…"
Blitz realized they had to get out of there quickly, before the Tentacruel could fire his attack at them while they were unable to avoid it. While he normally didn't like using his fangs against other Pokémon, he decided to make an exception this time and bit down on one of the Tentacruel's tentacles. The Tentacruel screeched in pain and flinched for a moment, allowing the group of six to get out of the tentacle cage.
"Good job, Blitz!" Sera said, grinning.
"Thanks," Blitz responded, wiping his tongue with his paw in an attempt to get rid of the taste.
"Now, let's take this guy down!" Sera shouted, using Helping Hand to power up her allies.
"I'll try out one of my newest attacks!" Chiaki said, smiling.
Chiaki then closed his eyes for a moment, and clenched his paw. The paw began glowing, and shot out star shaped rays at the Tentacruel.
"Nice shot, Chiaki!" Azure said, smirking as she charged at the Tentacruel and prepared to slam her tail against him.
"Enough!" the Tentacruel exclaimed, and grabbed Azure's tail with one of his many tentacles before it could strike his bell.
"Hey, let me go!" Azure shouted, trying to pull her tail out of the Tentacruel's grip.
The Tentacruel began extending his many, many tentacles, trying to grab onto the other five Pokémon. They moved as fast as they could through the water in an attempt to dodge the tentacles, but it was proving difficult when there was so many of them.
"We need to find a way to stop him from waving those around!" Sera said, glancing towards Blitz. "Do you have any ideas?"
"First of all, cover your eyes!" Blitz responded, before intensifying the glow of his fur to a brightness that momentarily blinded the Tentacruel and made it loosen its grip on Azure's tail enough for her to free herself.
"Thanks!" Azure said, grinning.
"You're welcome," Blitz responded, before turning back to Sera. "Sera, do we have any more Quick Seeds?"
"I think so…" Sera replied, checking their items. "There's not many left, though."
"Do you think it's enough to- Sera! Watch out!" Blitz quickly swam over and pushed Sera out of the way as a blob of poisonous sludge nearly hit her.
"Hey, leave my friends alone!" Chiaki shouted, and fired more star shaped rays from his fist at the Tentacruel.
"Sera, you okay?" Blitz asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sera responded, using Helping Hand to power up her teammates some more. "Thanks."
Azure and Chiaki continued doing their best to keep the Tentacruel busy, while Blitz attempted to figure out how to distribute the remaining Quick Seeds.
"Only three left…" Blitz muttered, thinking for a moment. "What would be the best way to use these?"
In the meantime, the Tentacruel had managed to force Chiaki and Azure up against a wall, using his tentacles to trap them. Chiaki used Detect to protect himself as the Tentacruel began firing more of his long ranged attacks at him and Azure. Chiaki just hoped he could keep himself and Azure safe until Sera and Blitz had decided on their plan.
"Looks like Chiaki and Azure are in a bit of a pinch," Sera said, glancing over at them. "We better make up our minds fast!"
"All right, I think I have an idea…" Blitz responded, whispering something into Sera's ear.
"Hmm, sounds good," Sera replied, nodding her head.
"Can we help too?" Blithe asked, swimming over to them while dragging Somber with her.
"Shouldn't you two be hiding?" Blitz responded, looking at the two.
"Oh, we may not be as strong as you guys, but if there's any way we can help, we'll gladly do it!" Blithe replied, giggling a little. "Isn't that right, Somber?"
"Does it matter if we help?" Somber asked, still in the same morose tone as before. "We're probably going to be defeated anyways."
"You're so silly!" Blithe responded, cheerfully hugging her brother. "Come on, let's help the rescue team!"
The Tentacruel was firing Water Pulse attacks at Chiaki, knowing the Mienfoo wouldn't be able to dodge them for much longer. Azure was preparing to take the attack for Chiaki once his Detect failed; knowing that being a water type herself would allow her to resist the attack somewhat. However, she then noticed Blithe and Somber swimming up behind the Tentacruel.
"What are you two doing?" Azure asked. "You should let us handle this!"
"Hmm?" the Tentacruel said, ceasing his attack for a moment and turning slightly to get a look at what was behind him. "Ah, there you are."
"That's right!" Blithe shouted, cheerfully waving a tentacle. "Come and get us!"
"This won't end well…" Somber muttered, not seeming to have much faith in their plan.
The Tentacruel snickered, and began turning around to grab the Frillish twins, allowing for Chiaki and Azure to swim away unnoticed. However, before the Tentacruel could wrap his tentacles around them, Blitz used Flash to momentarily blind him once again. The Tentacruel screeched in frustration again, and covered its eyes with a tentacle. Once the brightness had faded somewhat, the Frillish twins were out of sight.
"Where did they go…?" the Tentacruel muttered, looking around.
"Hey!" Azure shouted, swiftly swimming up to the Tentacruel. "This battle's not over yet!"
The Tentacruel attempted to trap Azure again, but the Marill quickly evaded his tentacles, swimming a little faster than she did earlier. Sera and Chiaki swam past as well, also seeming to be swimming faster now. The Tentacruel tried firing off a few Water Pulse attacks at them, but they managed to swiftly dodge his attacks.
"Hmm, where's the fourth one and the Frillish twins?" the Tentacruel said, looking from side to side.
The Tentacruel suddenly cried out in pain as Blitz suddenly rammed into his bell from above, hitting him as hard as he could with his Spark attack. Blue sparks of electricity were still arcing off the Tentacruel even after Blitz's attack was done, and it seemed the jellyfish Pokémon was now having difficulty moving his tentacles.
"Look! It seems he can't move!" Sera said, smirking. "Let's get him!"
Sera swam towards and tackled the Tentacruel at a high speed, seeming a bit surprised at how well she was able to pull off a Quick Attack since it wasn't exactly an attack she was meant to use underwater. Azure followed up with her Rollout attack, striking the Tentacruel while rolling at a high speed, and then hitting him again with more force. Chiaki decided to stick to his Swift attack for now since it let him attack from a distance, and continued firing star shaped rays at the Tentacruel.
Once the other three had finished their attacks, Blitz finished the Tentacruel off with another Spark attack from above. The unconscious Tentacruel sank to the floor, as the Frillish twins came out from their hiding spot.
"You did it!" Blithe exclaimed, swimming up and hugging Blitz tightly. "That was so awesome!"
"Ugh… Thanks…" Blitz responded, wheezing slightly as Blithe squeezed him a bit too tightly. "But don't do that, please… I-I need most of my internal organs to live…"
"I'm just glad the fight's over," Sera said, sighing in relief.
"Yeah, I suppose that battle did take a lot of energy on our part," Azure commented, grinning. "That was certainly some awesome teamwork we pulled off at the end there, though!"
"Everyone okay in here?" another voice called out, and the six Pokémon turned to see the Lanturn from the rescue team Sera and her teammates had met with earlier.
"Oh, we're fine!" Chiaki responded, smiling and waving at the Lanturn.
"Well, that's good to hear," the Lanturn replied, smiling as his teammates swam over carrying Missile and the Starmie. "It also looks like you managed to get most of the work here done before we got here, so good job!"
"Thanks!" Sera responded, wagging her tail happily.
"There was one more Pokémon working with the Tentacruel," Blitz said, rubbing his forelegs together. "But she chose to flee rather than stay and fight."
"Hmm, I see," the Lanturn responded. "What species?"
"An Alomomola, sir," Blitz replied.
"All right, then," the Lanturn responded, nodding slightly. "We'll keep an eye out for her."
"Finding her probably won't be easy," Somber commented, looking away. "There are many Alomomola in the sea, after all."
"Dude, can't you cheer up a little?" Azure asked, giving Somber a somewhat annoyed look. "I mean, we just saved you and your sister! At least show some gratitude, if nothing else!"
"Oh, don't listen to him!" Blithe said, cheerfully twirling around. "We're both very grateful that you saved us with your awesome rescue team skills!"
"Anyways, my team will take it from here," the Lanturn said, as his teammates picked up the Tentacruel. "We'll bring these outlaws in to the deep sea police, and escort the Frillish twins back home to their parents."
"However, we will make sure you are rewarded for helping us with this case," the Lumineon said, with a friendly smile. "If there's anything we can help with, let us know!"
"Hmm…" Sera said, exchanging glances with her teammates. "Well… Do any of you happen to know the Whirlpool attack?"
After leaving the cave and dropping off the outlaws at the deep sea police force's office, the two rescue teams and the Frillish twins headed over to where the whirlpool and the third crystal was. The Kingdra went down to the whirlpool in order to retrieve the crystal, while the other eight Pokémon waited for the sea horse Pokémon to emerge from the abyss.
"Is he okay down there?" Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Don't worry, he can handle it," the Lanturn responded. "He knows what to do when it comes to whirlpools."
"That's a pretty big vortex," Blithe commented, watching it intently. "Look at it going round, and round, and round, and round…"
The Pokémon continued observing the whirlpool, and soon noticed that it seemed to be getting smaller, and eventually it subsided completely, at which point the Kingdra swam up from the abyss, carrying the blue gem in his tail.
"All right, got it," the Kingdra said, handing the crystal over to Chiaki. "Here you go."
"Thanks!" Chiaki responded, smiling at the Kingdra.
"So, that's three of the Axis Tower crystals retrieved," Sera said, grinning.
"It's so pretty!" Blithe commented, giggling a little.
"There's still five more out there, right?" Somber said. "And if those aren't found… we're all doomed."
"You really are a "glass half-empty" kind of guy, aren't you?" Azure responded.
"Well, thanks again for your co-operation," the Lanturn said, smiling at the rescue team before turning to the Frillish twins. "All right, time to take you two back home."
"Okay!" Blithe responded, cheerfully waving to Sera and her friends as she and Somber began swimming away with the underwater rescue team. "Bye-bye!"
"Try not to get into too much danger on your next missions," Somber said, half-heartedly waving a tentacle.
And after waving good-bye to the underwater rescue team and the royal Frillish twins, Sera and her friends decided it was time to return to the surface and hand the crystal they had retrieved over to Stella for safe-keeping.
It felt good to be back on the surface, even if took them a little while to get their fur dry after getting out of the water and back on land. After heading back to Fenix Town, and dropping off the crystal at Stella's house, the four Pokémon decided to head over to the café to relax a little before calling it a day.
"We sure had a lot of fun today!" Chiaki said, smiling at his friends.
"Well, it was certainly quite the adventure…" Blitz responded, sighing. "I'm pretty tired from all that swimming and fighting underwater, though…"
"Yeah, me too," Sera replied, nodding her head slightly. "Maybe I'll allow myself to sleep in tomorrow…"
"And Azure, I'm really glad you showed up when you did!" Chiaki said. "We probably couldn't have done all this without you!"
"Hey, it was the perfect opportunity for me to try out the new moves and such that I gained when I evolved into action!" Azure responded, grinning. "There was no way I was missing out on that!"
"Well, I look forward to seeing more of what you can do now," Chiaki commented, smiling. "We should go on another adventure together again soon!"
"Oh, yeah, about that…" Azure said, nervously tapping her hands together. "There's something I kind of wanted to ask…"
"Oh? What is it?" Sera responded, as she, Blitz and Chiaki all looked at Azure expectantly.
"Well… I was wondering…" Azure took a deep breath, before finally managing to ask the question that had been on her mind. "Can I join your rescue team?"
"Huh? You want to join our rescue team?" Sera asked, seeming a bit surprised.
"Well, we've had so much fun when going on adventures together, and so I've been thinking about becoming a full time member for some time now," Azure explained.
"Why haven't you mentioned this before?" Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly.
"For some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to ask about it," Azure replied, chuckling a little. "Probably wouldn't expect me of all Pokémon to have trouble with that, huh?"
"I admit, that seems a bit unlike you," Blitz responded.
"Yeah…" Azure replied, clearing her throat. "But anyways, now that I've evolved, I feel that I'm ready. So please, let me join your rescue team!"
"What do you guys think?" Chiaki asked, looking to Sera and Blitz with a hopeful look. "She can join, right?"
"Well, the four of us worked pretty well together today," Blitz responded, smiling at Azure. "I guess the experience she already has from previous adventures with us might've helped her figure out what to do so quickly, even though she was in a new body she was still getting used to."
"Good point," Sera said, nodding her head. "If one thinks of it like that, then I guess she's practically a member of our team already!"
"Does that mean I'm in?" Azure asked, grinning while looking expectantly at the other three Pokémon around the table.
"You're in!" Sera responded, grinning and holding out her paw. "Welcome to the team!"
"Yes!" Azure replied, high-fiving Sera. "Oh, this is going to be so awesome!"
"Since you have some skills the rest of us don't have, I have a feeling having you on our team will open up some new opportunities for us," Blitz said, smiling.
"All right, that Silver rank is looking closer than ever now!" Sera commented, grinning. "The four of us will take this rescue team to new heights, I'm sure of it!"
"I bet missions will be even more fun now that Azure is with us!" Chiaki said, cheerfully clapping his paws.
"Aw, thanks guys!" Azure responded, blushing somewhat. "I promise I won't let you guys down!"
And so, Sera's rescue team had earned a new member, and another one of the Axis Tower crystals had been retrieved. It had certainly been a good day for the Bronze rank team, and with the cheerful laughter and conversation between them, one might almost think that those four friends didn't have anything to be concerned about.
It was just too bad that things weren't as well as they seemed.
End of Chapter 20.