Chapter 1-6

Saving Azurill

Kon started pulling his clothes down, making sure Marill or no one else was looking before starting to slip it on. He only took off Luke's cape off when he had his hood ready to pop.

In less than a second, the cape was off and the hood was back up.

"Can I stop holding the sheet up now?" Luke asked, straining slightly. "I want to do something before we leave to save Azurill."

Kon rolled his eyes. "Yes." He grumbled, pulling his scarf over his mouth.

"Good." Luke quickly threw it on a tree stump before grabbing his half cape, putting it on. "We meet up at the crossroads."

"Okay." Kon watched as the pikachu took off, grabbing his own stomach as pain over took him.

"Um, are you okay, Mister Kon?" Marill asked, peeking around a corner.

"Yes." He started to walk down to the town, Marill following behind him.

Down there, he had to admit that not all the pokemon were stupid. While there were some tents up, a majority of the buildings were made of solid material. Not that he had the time to really inspect them, heading for the crossroads.

"Where did Drowzee take you two before you got separated from him?" Kon asked, looking towards the jagged mountain in the distance. The idea was already on his mind that the mountain was it.

"W-we went to Mount Bristle, but, I don't know which path they took on the mountain." Marill was on the verge of tears when Kon put a hand on his head.

"Listen. When we leave, I want you to go up the Guild and get the others there to go to Mount Bristle." Kon explained, as soothingly as he could. "You got it?"

Marill nodded, still crying. "Y-yeah."

But then he started crying harder. "I-I'm a horrible big brother!"

Kon gripped him a little harder. "Nonsense. When you found out he was missing, you immediately went to go get help. A horrible big brother wouldn't have even tried to help their little brother."

"Okay!" Luke ran up, carrying his bag. "Where are we going?"

"Mount Bristle!" Marill spoke up.

"Let's go then!" Kon took off, Luke running alongside him.

Marill watched for a few more seconds before running up the steps to Wigglytuff's Guild.

He had his own mission to do.

[hr]

Kon stared up at the mountain, gripping his Blunderbuss with purpose. Luke was beside him, bag at the ready.

"Let's go." Luke charged in, followed by Kon.

Luke jumped over a pretty confused looking geodude, Konstantine not even questioning how it would exist and running around it.

When a starly tried to peck Kon, the charmander reacted very brutally, slamming the bird to the ground with the butt of his Blunderbuss.

Most of the pokemon tried to stay out of Kon's way after that. Even when he did have to stop due to his stomach issues.

It was during those time that Luke started to pick up seeds and berries, waiting for Kon's pain to pass.

It felt like hours of running when Luke heard talking, very faint but it was ahead.

"They're up ahead." Luke spoke up.

Kon gave off an animalistic growl, rushing ahead of Luke, drawing his dagger.

And low and behold, it was just like his vision, Drowzee at the hole and in said hole, Azurill was hiding.

"Kid, I swear, if you don't come out with that treasure, it will mean big trouble for you!" Drowzee angrily spat.

"H-Help me!" Azurill cried.

Konstantin's rage hit a high point, the only thing saving Drowzee from death was Kon's loud growling. The yellow pokemon barely dodged, releasing a ring of psychic energy right into Konstantin's face.

Kon groaned, falling to the ground as exhaustion over took him. "You…" he growled out before his eyes drooped shut.

"That-" Drowzee gasped, looking at Kon's dagger. "That was close."

"Hold it!" Luke took an opportunity to catch his breath, shaking all over. "Hold it right there! We're Team Crusaders and we're here to stop you."

"Oh, what is a wet behind the ears rookie explorer like you going to do?" Drowzee asked, regaining his confidence since, to him, Luke just looked like a cowardly little pikachu, carried here by the much more competent seeming charmander on the ground. "I can see you shaking from here."

Luke decided to pull a page from Kon's book. "I'm shaking because I'm not used to climbing mountains, you yellow jerk." Well, it was a partial page. Azurill was still there, listening. "And I'm going to make sure you go to jail where you belong!"

"I'd like to see that!" And the battle began, with a quick hypnosis from Drowzee, that Luke dodged with ease. In return, Luke shocked Drowzee with a thunder wave, paralyzing him.

"Hehe, Good thing I prepared for something similar to this." Drowzee muttered, taking out some geo pebbles.

Luke recognized them in an instant, having been taught by her mom how to use them and how much damage they actually did. Luke decided to take out a few items of his own, some seeds.

The pikachu rushed forward, ignoring the rocks that bounced off his body. He put a seed in his mouth, chewing on it and feeling the charge building.

Drowzee tried to back up, feeling the paralysis trip him up. "Darn it!" He glanced up, right in time to see a fireball engulf him. "Gaaah!" It hurt, but not much as he forced his legs to work a liberal use of confusion.

"Kid, you can't win with these evasive tactics!" Drowzee called out. "You'll get tired eventually!"

"So?" Luke asked, having gotten a fair distance away. He was fingering a certain seed. "I don't have to beat you. I just got to stun you!"

The psychic type threw a confusion at the pikachu, feeling the paralysis wearing off. His eyes widened when his attack went right through. "A double team!"

Drowzee dodged to the right, seeing he got very lucky. Luke hissed as he missed Drowzee with his signature move, Volt Tackle. Drowzee reacted, hitting Luke with a confusion, blasting him across the 'battle arena.'

"Luke!" Azurill cried from the hole.

Kon twitched violently in his sleep.

"Why are you even doing this, kid?" Drowzee walked over to Luke, who was reaching for one of the spilled berries from his bag. "You aren't experienced enough to beat me." He reached over and kicked the berry from Luke's paw. "You aren't smart enough or tough enough. You can't beat me."

Luke's ear twitched before he laughed. "I know. I was just stalling." Luke replied with a smirk, as four magnemite and one magnezone floated in.

"What!" Drowzee exclaimed, not exactly expecting this from a kid.

"DROWZEE! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR ROBBERY AND KIDNAPPING!" Magenzone spoke, floating towards the psychic type.

Drowzee panicked, before grabbing Luke by the neck, a confusion charged. "Get back, or I blow his head off.

All the electric pokemon stopped moving.

Before Chatot plowed into Drowzee from behind. "No one hurts the guild's apprentices!" He cried out, slamming Drowzee to the ground, knocking him out.

Luke grinned, getting up. "Thanks, Chatot."

"Well, I could do not do nothing while our newest apprentices fought a pokemon out of their league." Chatot puffed up, stepping off Drowzee. "Next time, I would rather you get permission, rather than ask for forgiveness." Then, he started talking with the police about Drowzee.

Luke quickly moved over to the hole. "Azurill, you can come out now." He said into the hole. "You can help me wake up Kon."

"O-okay." Azurill slowly came out… and then sprayed Kon in the face with a very weak water gun attack.

The armored charmander flailed about as he was shocked back to his sense. "Where is he!?" He howled. "I'll skin that child-napping Psychic alive!"

"Kon! Calm down! He didn't win against us and he's being arrested." Luke explained. "And don't do anything rash, Azurill is safe and without a scratch."

"Uh-huh. I'm fine, Mister Kon." Azurill nodded. "All because of you two!"

The little child started talking, rapid fire about how awesome Luke and Kon were. Going in very broad strokes and over exaggerating a lot of what the two did.

Kon had to smother the rage, not wanting to see this child get horrified after they just saved him.

Then, Kon looked back to see...a large floating metal egg on it's side.

"I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU TWO, ESPECIALLY YOU, LUKE." Kon immediately didn't like how this pokemon spoke, just grating on his hearing. "IT WAS SMART TO GET BIDOOF TO GET US UP HERE AND GET MARILL TO INFORM THE GUILD.

"No problem, Magnezone." Luke rubbed the back of his head, chewing on an oran berry. "I just didn't want Drowzee to get away. I actually thought of informing the guild last, otherwise, I would have gotten Bidoof to tell Wigglytuff."

"STILL, THAT IS VERY MUCH SOMETHING RITA WOULD HAVE DONE BACK WHEN SHE WAS FIRST STARTING OUT AS A RESCUER." Magnezone seemed proud about this. "TRULY, YOU ARE RITA'S SON."

"Yeah..." Luke looked down a bit, the motion not going unnoticed by Kon. "I'm sure she'd be proud if she was here."

"WELL, WOULD YOU LIKE A LIFT DOWN THE MOUNTAIN? I AM SURE ALL THREE OF YOU ARE TIRED." Magnezone offered.

Luke looked to Kon. Kon shook his head. "Do you want to go with Magnezone, Azurill?" Luke asked. "He'll keep you safe and get you down the mountain a lot faster than us."

"Okay. I really miss Marill and Momma!"

"WE WILL LEAVE THE REWARD FOR DROWZEE'S CAPTURE WITH CHATOT AT THE GUILD. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION."

Then, Kon and Luke were left alone to walk down. And it was a little awkward. "Well, do you have anything to ask?" Luke asked, thinking he was going to ask who Rita was.

"Who's Bidoof?" Luke blinked at the question, before realizing that Kon never actually met the bucktooth pokemon.

"Oh, he's a fellow apprentice at the guild and was the fresh meat before us." Luke explained. "He's the brown pokemon with the buck teeth."

"Ah. That one." Kon commented lowly. "...Luke, who is Rita?"

Ah, there it was. "Rita's a Rescue Team Leader and one of the greats. As you know, she's also my mom and… she was a human at some point." Luke fidgeted with his cape. "So, yeah. I'm trying to live up to her image and be a great too. Get my name written down in the history books and be known as Luke."

"And... I probably wouldn't have taken that first step if it wasn't for you." Luke started to cry. "I'm such a coward, I have to be forced into the role of explorer. And even when I do something heroic, it's because I'm my mom's kid. Not gifted. Just down to my half human genetics apparently."

"I can't even get angry at mom. It's not her fault at all. It's the fame she's made by saving the world. And on some of my worst days, I used to think the only way to get out of her shadow was to to save the world as well, but obviously, I won't be able to do it. You're the human here."

Konstantin was silent for a long few moments as he trudged forth. Then, he spoke. "You won't always be in her shadow. We both have a long way to go. Plenty of time to put our lives on the line for the sake of the world. Besides, you should focus on what you are doing instead of what others think of your actions. You might be scared, yes. But to take hold of your fear and push onwards regardless is the mark of true courage. It shouldn't matter if others think that you saved a life that you're like your mother, what matters is that you. Saved. A. Life. Now, chin up soldier. We're going to have work to do when we get back."

He didn't say a word the rest of the trip down.

But, as they were heading back once they were off the mountain, Luke remembered something. "Oh yeah, how did you get those visions?"

Konstantin stopped, thinking about it. "I don't know. I really don't know."

[hr]

Back in Treasure Town, an oshawott was buying berries and apples from the Kecleon Brothers, grabbing the one TM they had for Energy Ball as well. She tilted her bright red newsboy cap up. "Thank you~!"

"If I must ask, you do not look like an explorer." One of them asked. "Who are you buying this all for?"

"Oh, just a few friends, one who's really sick and can't even leave bed." She replied. "But don't worry, it ain't contagious."

"Well, wish them our condolences, and please, take this on us." They dropped a Sitrus Berry in the bag.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be tickled pink by your kindness!" The oshawott smiled at them. "I will see y'all in a week or so."

"Good bye~!" "Have a safe trip!"

Mia sighed happily. This place just seemed so happy. There were pokemon walking around with smiled, an apparent sibling reunion between an azurill and marill.

When she reached the crossroads, she had to stop, seeing a flower she was pretty sure Baldwin would like to look at.

And so, she put her stuff down to dig it out of the ground, missing the pikachu and charmander who walked by.

"Done!" She picked up the clod of dirt and flower and placed it on top of her stuff, picking it all up and heading out.

It took her a few hours, in which the sun started to set, but she finally got back to the cave where Grovyle and Baldwin were sleeping.

Mia giggled, looking in and seeing Grovyle just splayed out and drooling. With a smirk, she grabbed a pecha berry and lobbed it at the grass type's face.

Grovyle popped awake, flailing in the hay before actually feeling the smooshed berry. Mia briefly thought about Konstantin, and how he first reacted when she did that. At least she didn't get a new facial scar...and dangit, she should of gotten that so she could over exaggerate how she got it to the locals!

Any thoughts facial disfigurement via angry Adventurer was interrupted via angry Groyvle to the body. "YELP!" Mia shouted as the two pokemon rolled outside in a ball of flailing limbs. "Staaaaaahp! No noogie! No noogie!"

The disfigured lucario snapped awake, before determining that the yelling was friendly and without malice. And so, he tried to go back to sleep.

The grass and water pokemon rolled into the tall grass near their cave, disturbing the bird pokemon that lived within, including some foul mouthed spearow.

Both of them were laying in the grass, laughing while looking up at the sky and the many colors that faded into another.

"Mia, don't you throw berries at me again." Grovyle grinned.

"I make no promises!" Mia announced, holding up her stubby limb. "You never know when Mia the Berry Monster will strike!"

Grovyle laughed at Mia before going quiet. "Thanks for getting the stuff."

"It was no problem." Mia grinned, holding out her fist. "We're partners, after all!"

"Yeah." Grovyle's fist bumped hers. "Until the bitter end."

END ARC 1

A/N: So yeah, I had fun writing for Mia and Grovyle together as partners. I just can't wait to use her more and them together in a battle. Just… oh my god I wish I could spoil this stuff but I can't!

Zaravan : Really, Konstantin needs to start upgrading his gear if he wants to keep up.

Hm. I wonder if there's a blacksmith around?

Anyhow, I am happy to see this progressing so far.

Kris: And honestly, I love writing this story. I just can't wait to continue.