Chapter 5: Team Helix!?
Naga traveled south-west for two days, through more rocky barren mountains and hills, with nothing but tall grass for vegitation. Not a single pokemon, animal, or person in site. 'Nothing to report on the Frontier Tracker' ,he thought,'Maybe I should have traveled north'.
Naga's water supply was starting to run low. He hadn't thought to refill it while he was in Crowlerville, and he suspected he could probably ration it out to last another two days. He hoped he could find a water source or town by then, but he didn't see anything in site in the barren rocklands he found himself in.
"Allright, QB, I think it's time to set up camp," Naga said, releasing Jynx from her pokeball and setting down his backpack,"My legs are sore. I need to find something to ride, preferably a pokemon, that way I could use them to fight too." Naga decided to take a seat on a nearby rock, but the moment his butt hit the seat he was met with a rocky fist in his face, knocking him off.
"DUDE!" He heard a gravely voice yell, as the boulder opened eyes. It was a Geodude!
"Cubone, help!" Naga yelled. If cubone really was a ground type, then his attacks would be super effective against the rock pokemon.
Cubone swung his bone club and hit the Geodude square on the gnoggin, forming a crack down it's forehead, revealing a beautiful menagerie of gems inside of it. The Geodude quickly rolled away from the scene.
After dinner, some stargazing, and journal keeping from Naga, the gang got ready to head to bed. Naga put Jynx in her pokeball and put it in his backpack, curling up with Cubone in his sleeping bag.
That night, Naga had a dream, a terrifying dream where he was held captive by an evil computer god, as one of the last people on the planet, toyed with and made to go long periods of time without food, but unable to starve to death. He couldn't make out who anyone else was, except one. In the cage next to him was Jynx, but she looked horrifying, with other pokemon parts grafted onto her.
Naga woke up that morning in a cold sweat! 'It was just a dream,' he thought to himself, but the feeling still lingered, as he packed up his sleeping bag. When he went to grab Jynx's pokeball he couldn't find it? He ripped apart his backpack, emptying it all out and repacking it twice before admitting to himself that it was gone! He panicked,"Cubone! Someone stole Jynx!" He paused for a moment thinking. There was no one else around for miles, who could have taken it? "I bet it was Kappa! He's probably been following us!" Naga looked around for any sign of him, and yelled "Kappa, come out here you goon!" but was met with nothing but echoes.
Cubone pulled at his pant leg and shook his head, waving his bone around to make a 'no, no' motion. Cubone got on all fours, getting close to the ground, putting his ear to it, smelling around, smudging the dirt under him. After a few moments he found extremely faint footprints, and urged Naga to follow him.
"What is it buddy? You see a sign? I can't see it. Footprints?"
Cubone shook his head.
"How many?" Naga asked.
Cubone tapped the ground once.
"One?"
Cubone shook his head up and down.
Naga followed cubone for about 20 minutes before coming upon a small hill, in the side of which was what would have naturally probably been a cave, but instead there was a metal wall, with an electronic door, keypad, and camera.
"Some sort of secret bunker, all the way out here?" Naga asked. As he looked over to Cubone he felt a hand grab onto his collar, while another went over his mouth, keeping him from screaming as it pulled him back behind a large boulder.
When the hand let him go, he saw two men; One dressed as a cowboy with blond hair and two pokeballs on his belt, the other was a rugged middle-aged man in a trenchcoat with dark brown hair, he looked pretty good for his age all things considered.
The cowboy spoke,"Keep your voice down, that camera picks up audio."
Naga was confused, he thought he was gonna get kidnapped by whoever owned that bunker but clearly these guys were on his side, or at least, not on the side of the people who owned the bunker. "Who are you," he asked as Cubone caught up with them.
"My name's Flint, and this is Looker," the cowboy said,"We're here on a mission to investigate Team Helix."
"Team Helix? Those are the guys in Vespa city who do genetic research, right? They're just a normal lab, what's the problem?"
"That's what they want you to think," Looker spoke,"I originally came to the Merigo region to investigate the whereabouts of a criminal don on the lamb, the leader of team rocket, but when I got to the region I started hearing word of Team Helix, and they're no good. If the rumors are true, they're kidnapping and stealing pokemon and running horrible inhumane experiments on them to complete their goals. So, I switched missions."
"I'm out here as a frontiersman, but I found this place cause I was looking for my missing pokemon. I bet Team Helix are the ones who stole her!"
"I wouldn't be surprised," Looker replied,"But right now we can't get in there to check the place out."
Flint spoke again,"Our plan right now is to wait until a team helix member opens the door, and rush in."
"Is it just the two of you?" Naga asked.
"Sadly," Looker said,"I'm an international police officer, but I was only sent here to investigate one man. They let me change my investigation, but they refused to alot me any more men or resources to help out. I hired flint here as a um,"He paused, not wanting to incriminate himself,"Some hired muscl-"
"I'm a mercenary," Flint said,"But I have a conscience. If I knew what Team Helix was doing and Looker hadn't hired me, I'd still be here."
"Well, mind if I join ya for now? I gotta get my pokemon back anyway."
"Sure, you'll be waiting here a while though."
"That's fine, we can get to know each other's skills while we wait," Naga said,"What about you, Looker. You're the leader here, what skills do you got?"
"Oh," Looker seemed surprised and unsure of what to say,"Well, I'm an investigator, so I'm pretty smart, quick on my feet. I have Koffing as a partner. He can float, and shoot toxic gas. Normally my position as an interpol officer would be a boon, but out here there is no law except might makes right."
"Well I,"Flint spoke,"Am a pokemon trainer, meaning my mon' know how to fight! Well, more like I fight with them. I got two pokemon; a Remoraid and a Honedge," he said releasing his two pokemon. Remoraid looked like a fish and a gun at the same time, with a barrel-shaped middle section looking like a revolver, and fins in the shape of a trigger and sight, but it's head looked like a normal fish. Honedge was a floating sword, with an eye. "Remoraid can shoot water at high pressure, and Honedge can increase the power of my swings tenfold! While Looker might be quick on his feet, metaphorically I'm quick literally!"
Naga spoke last,"Well, my stolen pokemon, Jynx, is a psychic. But cubone here is a real tough trooper, plus he's got good senses, and we have this cool team wrapping technique to tie our opponents up!"
They spent the rest of their time taking turns on who was looking out, while two of them rested. Eventually they spotted someone approach the door. He wore gray pants and a black shirt, with a gray jacket that had the team helix logo on the back and smaller on the front. He opened the door, and the team took this as the moment to strike!
"Now, Koffing, smoke screen," Looker commanded, as his pokemon engulfed the entrance in smoke, making it impossible to see. Flint released Remoraid and shot his water gun attack into the cloud, hitting and knocking out the team Helix member. The three men quickly ran through the entrance, with Looker grabbing the unconscious grunt, Koffing and Cubone in toe.
The first hallway as they entered was empty, with a T-shaped intersection ahead of them. There was a door to their right as they first entered as well. The base seemed similar to a lab, sterile with mostly metal or white walls. Looker dragged the unconscious grunt into the room to their right, which was a mudroom. Looker tried to hide the body behind some jackets, while he stripped the grunt and changed into his clothes as a disguise.
Looker came out to see the other two, the entrance closed behind them. "Allright, you two," He spoke,"If we get caught, I'm a guard who captured you two, got it?"
They nodded, as they continued on. They were lucky that they had that plan in mind, because the moment they turned the corner to the right of the T-shaped intersection, they encountered two other Team Helix members, with pokeballs at the ready.
"OH, No worries about the ruckus, I just caught these two trying to sneak in behind me!" Looker said,"I'm taking them to the uh brig immediately!"
"Yeah, uh, newbie, the dungeon is that way,"the Team Helix member pointed the opposite direction of where they were going.
Looker switched directions and continued further into the base. When he reached the door labeled 'dungeon' he noticed, right across the hall, was a door labeled 'pokemon storage'. The choice was pretty clear, and he opened the pokemon storage door. Inside was a large room with all walls but one being lined with glass terrariums, holding stolen pokemon, with their pokeballs in a slot in front of each box. Naga clearly saw Jynx being held in one. There were also two men sitting in the center of the room in metal chairs just chatting to each other. One was a standard Team Helix grunt, with medium length purple hair and dark bags under his eyes, he seemed kind of annoyed as the other man talked to him. The other man was a large imposing muscular man, with a beard and mohawk. He had the standard team helix pants on but was shirtless, with a scarred upper torso.
"I'm telling you Taru," The large man spoke,"You're like a brother to me. Team helix took me in when I was at my lowes-" they both looked over to see Looker, Naga, and Flint. "Oh," The large man spoke,"I think you got the wrong room. The dungeon is across the hall. Say, I haven't seen you around before, are you a new recruit?" He asked. Taru looked at the group and could immediately tell what was going on, Looker's group looked terrified because they knew he knew, but stayed silent as the large man continued talking. "My name's Brick, It's good to meet ya. If you just got transferred you'll probably be working under me, but no worries. If you got any questions I'm here to help."
"Dude, are you serious?" Taru asked Brick,"These guys are clearly intruders!"
Looker quickly sprung to action and commanded the team. "You two fight these guys, I'll start grabbing the pokemon to free them!"
"Muda, go!" Taru said, sending out his round dark-blue frog pokemon. It had white gloves and a large balck and white spiral on its belly. It was clearly a Poliwhirl, yet he had a nickname for it.
"Uh, what!?" Brick panicked,"Whismur go!" His pokemon was a purple and yellow bunny-like pokemon with clown eyes. "Let's try this intro again!" He said, sounding more serious,"I'm a Team Helix squad leader and I will not let you take these pokemon back! You can't break through this brick wall!"
Naga was facing Brick, and Flint was facing Taru.
Taru commanded his pokemon,"Muda, sound the drums of war with your belly drum!" The pokemon slapped at it's own stomach, hurting it but fueling his fighting spirit to help him attack with more power!
Flint pulled out Remoraid and shot his water gun attack at Poliwhirl, but poliwhirl just opened up his mouth and drank the water. "You friggin' moron!" Taru yelled at Flint,"My Poliwhirl can absorb water, you're just healing him back up!" Flint put away Remoraid and pulled out Honedge, wielding it like a sword! He ran at Muda and swung Honedge down at him! The Poliwhirl caught the blade between his hands above his head, and the two engaged in a battle of strength, both pushing the balde.
As Naga sent cubone forward to battle, Brick seemed to be fiddling with something in his ears. 'Hearing aids',Naga thought,'is he turning them off?'
Naga quickly realized why Brick did what he did, as, when Cubone landed a solid bop with his bone club on Whismur's head, Whismur let out an extremely loud cry! It wailed as loud as a shotgun blast, causing everyone in the room with normal hearing ability, Taru and his Poliwhirl included, extreme pain. As most of the men stopped to cover their ears, Flint powered through it, landing a blow on Poliwhirl who reeled back from the pain of the cry.
Brick ran forward at his enemies, he readied to kick Cubone, but cubone, pained by the noise, looked at him with baby doll eyes, and Brick couldn't bring himself to hurt the adorable pokemon. Who he could bring himself to hurt was the trainer, as he ran past Cubone to Naga. Naga panicked and tried to doge, while calling to his pokemon,"Cubo-" BAM a punch right to the ribs sent Naga flying against a wall, cracking a few ribs in the process. Brick approached Naga again, ready to grab him and throw him in the dungeon, but as he did so he got hit in the back of the head with a bone! He grabbed his head in pain, as it went flying back to the Cubone who threw it, like a boomerang. "Cu-GASP-Cubone. Stop the poke-" Naga tried to plead to Cubone to ignore Brick and stop the wailing Whismur that was impairing everyone!
Meanwhile, Taru and Flint fought, while Looker could only stand there covering his ears. Taru put his hands down and yelled to his Poliwhirl,"Come on, Muda, you're no wuss! Tough it out! The noise and the gash!" Flint raised his Honedge, ready to parry whatever the next attack would be. If it was a water blast he might even be able to angle reflect it over to Whismur.
"Muda, let's go! Team attack: Ora Rush!" Taru, taller than his Poliwhirl, stood just behind him and sent out a rapid flurry of punches, as Muda did the same! Flint tried to parry the attacks but wasn't fast enough, and if it wasn't for honedge he wouldn't have been strong enough to stop them either. Taru seemed to be as strong as his pokemon, as if they shared the same power, it was like Poliwhirl was attacking with four arms! Flint, too, was sent flying backwards.
Cubone tried to knock out Whismur as quick as he could, beating it with his bone club. Whismur put up a fight but was too caught up in crying to do so very well. Brick was torn between helping Whismur and detaining Naga, and by the time he made the decision to help Whismur, it was already knocked out. He picked up Cubone by the shoulders, ready to beat it, but Cubone again leveraged it's cuteness, staring at him with its adorable baby doll eyes, and brick became frustrated. This adorable thing was hurting his little pokemon, but it was just a little pokemon too! BUT IT KNOCKED OUT HIS POKEMON! He turned to throw Cubone at Naga, hoping to damage them both, but Naga caught cubone, quickly throwing him back, but this time, Cubone was holding something.
"Team attack: Bandage Wrap!" Naga yelled, as Cubone ran circles around Brick's legs, wrapping them up, before they both pulled and toppled him over. It took Naga and Cubone's combined might to hold Brick down, as Naga wrapped his arms together behind his back.
With Whismur quieted, Looker continued to collect the pokeballs with the stolen pokemon.
While Flint was sent flying, he let go of honedge who floated freely on it's own. He looked over to Honedge, and without speaking they understood each other. Flint ran in from the left, pulled out Remoraid, and aimed a water gun blast at Taru. When he shot, Muda jumped in front to absorb the blast. Flint and Honedge predicted this and slashed right in front of Taru, cutting straight down Muda's stomach. Muda fell to the ground, holding his stomach closed, unable to continue fighting in his condition. Honedge flew into position, resting right against Taru's neck as Flint held Remoraid's mouth to Taru's head. "Don't move a muscle!" Flint spoke with authority, giving orders to the two defeated Team Helix members, not that Brick could actually hear him,"You two are gonna sit still until we get all these pokemon out of here. Then, when we leave, you're gonna tell everyone over the intercom to stay in their rooms for 30 minutes and let us escape, and if I ever see you again, I won't be so merciful!"
And so, after all the captive pokemon were collected, they regrouped outside of the base, Naga taking the time to pop a Chansey egg to help with his ribs.
"What now?" Naga asked
"Well, I gotta get these pokemon back to their owners, speaking of which, here's yours," Looker said, handing Naga Jynx's pokeball,"There's a town a few days northeast of here, I'm gonna bring these pokemon there and arrange for a pickup, have them identified and try to contact their owners."
"Well I gotta stay out here!" Flint said,"I know you hired me to help you but there could be more Team Helix bases like this, with more stolen pokemon, and more bad people doing bad things!"
"How about we stay as traveling partners, aye Flint?" Naga asked? Without a word, Flint and Naga Bumped the back of their fists together.
"Well, good luck you two. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of each other. This investigation is far from over!"
And so, the two groups went off in opposite directions to continue their journies.
