"Alright, we're surrounded, and probably gonna leave with some bruises or somethin', but we're gonna see this through," Sia stood tall, as did the ever present spikes in her fur.
"Right!" Both Tuff and Buff yelled, preparing for the worst.
Team Hope's first mission is equally nerve wracking and exciting, much to Sia's chagrin. As the trio stood back to back against the curtain of eyes glaring at them, one fluttered closer. A Vivillion, whose grimace appeared much more like a grin and eyes glazed over at its targets.
"What…it's just bug Pokémon," Sia unclenched her scarf, chuckling at the seemingly mundane Mon before her. "This should be ea-"
But she couldn't finish her sentence, as a cloud of dust scattered across her and the Rattata brothers. Sia sneezed at the sudden attack, her composure wavering at the strange technique. The Vivillion's assault continued as it rushed headfirst into Sia, taking advantage of her confusion. With a quick turn, Sia swished her tail like a metronome, preparing to counter with Tail Slap. Before it knew what hit it, the Vivillion was seeing stars as it clung onto the foliage it landed in.
"Alright! That was amazing, big sis! A-achoo!" Tuff bounced around, sneezing all the while.
Sia shook herself and her scarf clean of the mysterious powder. "Don't get cute yet, here come some more!"
On queue, a couple of Larvesta marched forward with embers erupting from each horn. Acting as one, Tuff and Buff assumed a stance, swiping their claws together until they began to glow with a blinding aura. They leaped into the sky, slashing downward at their foes with full power. The Larvesta retaliated with an attack of their own, blasting small embers from their horns. The brothers hadn't noticed the powder from their fur sprinkling below, colliding with the embers. Nobody could have guessed the size of the explosion that erupted from the dangerous combination.
Sia felt her chest collapse at the sight. "Tuffen, Buffer! Ugh, they just don't know what they're doing!"
But to her surprise, the brothers had attached themselves to the bugs, cleaving claw marks all over Larvesta before jumping away to another target. Their attack weakened several Larvesta despite the reckless nature of it. Though a direct onslaught wasn't enough to take down those bad bugs. They inched closer, blazes pouring and eyes seething with rage. As the Larvesta closed in, so did the other silhouettes, looming over Team Hope. Angry bug-types chirped and chattered at their next potential meals. Sia frantically looked in every direction, noticing their surroundings appearing to be a hallway of sorts with several directions to choose from.
"I've had enough. Thought I wouldn't need to use my spray," Groaned Sia, as she lifted her backside skyward. "They won't want to follow us after this!"
The brothers knew full well what that pose meant, and covered their snoots with their bandana scarves. Puffs of gray clouds billowed from Sia, smothering the area in darkness and a powerful odor. One whiff of her Smoke Screen is all it took for the attackers to scatter in every direction.
Sia pulled the brothers by their tails with her fangs. "Quick, let's go!"
"W-wait, ouch! Not so rough, my scarf's coming off my face," Buff cringed for his nose.
"Where are we going?!" Tuff whined.
But the only thing Sia could hear was the stomping of her own feet as she dashed through corridors. Any stray bug-types were flattened by Sia's mighty dash. As the trio blasted through the first floor, the brothers occasionally struggled from their metaphorical sister's vice grip, catching any loot lying around the dungeon's floor. Eventually, Sia came to a crawl upon reaching what appeared to be stairs suspended by willpower of existence alone.
Sia wheezed and coughed, trying to catch her breath. "Well, we made it. Almost. You guys alright?" She began rummaging in her satchel for the mission note.
"Still in one piece, I guess," grumbled Buff, tending to his fur.
"That was something els- yowch!" Tuff recoiled, his front paw had turned a dark red.
Sia winced at the singed paw in front of her. Must've been from that explosion, looks kinda bad. Maybe a berry can help a little, she thought. After retrieving the mission note, she snatched a spare Oran berry, and offered it to Tuff, who happily feasted upon it.
"Let me be the first to say, that was completely awful," Buff puffed his cheeks at Sia.
"I thought you said this would be easy…" Tuff raised his paw to Sia as well, meekly waving his injury in her face.
"Shut- No, I guess I'd be total junk for shutting you up this time, you guys are right. I knew this would be dangerous, and I still made you guys come along anyway." Sia shrunk into her long scarf. "Bad call on my part."
Buff felt him and his brother's words weigh down Sia. "Well, since we're here already, may as well finish what we started."
"Y-yeah. Onto the next floor, if you guys are ready," Said Sia.
Both brothers nodded in agreement, despite what they truly felt about the mission. Team Hope continued forth with severe caution, dealing with minor fights as they traversed the twisting dungeon that is Puny Plains. Along the way, they had acquired some Poké and other berries scattered across the floors. Sia held onto any finds that looked useful. She kept those to herself. In no time at all, the trio reached their client in a seemingly random location on the fourth floor. The Pidove assumed a fighting stance before noticing Sia's satchel, prompting it to stand down.
"You must be a rescue team! Are you here with the item I requested?" The Pidove glanced around, checking out Team Hope.
"Yeah, we're Team Hope. I'm the leader, call me...Stunky. You're Pidove, right? Gonna need proof that your our client," Sia sat in front of the client and pulled out the stamp page and the stamper, flipping the page on its back. "Here, step on this, in a corner or something."
The Pidove obliged, leaving a talon mark on the page as proof of a mission well done. Sia retrieved an Oran berry, and gave it to the client, who happily snatched it away.
The Pidove tore into it immediately. "Ohh, thank you so much! I guess this also counts as a rescue, I nearly fainted in this place! Did you know the bug Pokémon here could make explosions?"
"We, uh, found out the hard way," Sia felt the glares of the brothers stab into her back.
"Y'know," Buff stepped forward, slinking towards the client. "I feel like we need a little extra compensation for a job well done. I mean, my dear brother over there got a nasty burn fighting off those snug bugs."
"W-what? The note agreed to 600 Poké and a blast seed…" The client retorted.
Sia turned to Buff with a stern frown. "What the heck are ya talking about, we already agreed to what we'll get by taking the mission, dummy."
"But that's no fair!" This time, Tuff spoke up. "We could've gotten severely injured, or worse!"
"Shut up, you two, or I'll make you with a blast of mine, you got that?" Sia got up, pointing her tail at her teammates. Tuff and Buff could only huff and scowl back.
The Pidove didn't pay no mind, immediately returning to its berry. As it finished up, Pidove retrieved the agreed upon payment and handed off what it promised. When it reached Sia's paw, a mysterious beam pulled the Pidove away into the unknown. Soon after, the beam came back for Team Hope, and they found themselves back at the entrance to Puny Plains with Pidove flying away.
Sia turned back to the brothers, brow furled. "What was that?"
"What?" Buff glanced away.
"That. Why did you try to haggle the client? You know what they write on their notes is the agreed payment."
"I mean, was it really fair to receive just that? Tuff got burnt, you and I got a few scuffs and scratches that are just plain eyesores...It kinda felt like robbery."
"Don't be a knucklehead, Buff. We can't just change the rules when we want to. We gotta follow Rescue Team rules and just do a good job. And guess what? We did, the client got what they wanted, and we got paid."
Buff blew his mustache-like whiskers in annoyance. "Yeah, whatever."
Sia grit her teeth, tail swishing slowly. "Don't get all tough with me, buddy boy. You guys agreed to make a team with me, so we're sticking it."
Tears ran down Tuff's face. "What'd I do?"
"Huh? Ugh, not you, the word!" Sia yelled. "Look, we got places to be pretty soon. That other team wanted to meet us back in town, and even if we don't really know them yet, we don't wanna be rude...anymore than we already have been. C'mon."
Despite the slight struggles they faced, Team Hope had completed their first mission. Though Sia didn't want to show it, she was proud that her ragtag team made it through. She puffed her fur and let a small grin slip through at the success. Tuff and Buff could only groan and moan at the idea of entering another dungeon some time soon. Willing or not, Team Hope made their way back to Twiligleam City as the afternoon sun made the sky a bright blue.
With their final mission of the day going well, Team Harmony found themselves planted on a bench near the entrance to Twiligleam City. Oh, dang, she fell asleep already! Must've been pushing herself too much, Flint pondered, cheeks melting off his face. He felt caught in a whirlpool of his own thoughts as Meira leaned against his shoulder, drifting into dreamland. Can't ever get her to stop once she gets going though! And I guess I don't mind her sleeping on me one bit. Maybe we could get something to wake her up at Granny's when Team Hope arrives. Thinking of, I wonder how their mission went?
While Flint lost himself in his mind, he hadn't noticed Meira squeaking out a small yawn in front of him, kicking back her legs. She extended a root towards the dirt with her stretch. "Whatchu thinking 'bout, Flint?" She smiled and shut her sleepy eyes, unaware that her stretch caused her snoot to be an inch away from Flint's.
His cheeks rivaled Meira's in redness, as he froze in place. "M-Meira! Didn't notice you'd waken up."
"Yep. Guess I shouldn't have gotten up so early today, hehe," She backed away, eyes revealing a frazzled Fennekin before her. "Oh, uhh, S-sorry, Flint." She figured he wasn't a fan of her drool seeping onto his scarf.
"Oh no, don't worry 'bout it, Meira!" He retorted, hiding his redness behind a smile. Flint hopped from the bench as well to stretch his own limbs, twigs bouncing awry with his movements. As some twigs fell to the ground, mini embers scorched around them. No matter how much he shook them away, new ones would appear to replace them, seemingly out of Flint's fur itself. "Gee, it's still hard getting used to that. 'Least they're good for something, I reckon."
Meira nodded in agreement as she looked back at her roots. "I'm sure we'll figure it out someday. We've made it through weirder stuff, Flint!"
The duo found themselves eyeballing the road out of the city, waiting for their groupies to arrive. And as Team Harmony found themselves regrouping, Team Hope was approaching in the distance, Sia marching tall. Her teammates hardly trudged behind her, looking for excuses to take a break.
"Hah, here they come now! C'mon, Flint!" Meira squealed.
As she noticed her new acquaintances, Sia quashed her pride for a moment, hoping to look as professional as possible. Tuff meekly whined at his burn while Buff glanced around in annoyance. Flint found himself holding his tongue regarding Team Hope's mission considering the bleak demeanors of the team in front of him. Meira would do no such thing, she had to know what went down for the rookies.
Notes: Revisions can be hard. But it feels good to reduce clutter.
(Old Notes) This chapter came out a little quicker than expected due to my excitement regarding action. It can be difficult to write good action, since you have to try and "show" more than just "tell". If you'd like, I would love some feedback / criticism, especially towards the dual focus of Teams. After chapter 4, it'll likely become more subtle. Also hoping to finally touch upon what exactly is going on with Team Harmony soon enough.