Wardens Eternal

Chapter Fourteen: Abduction

"So what do you want to do with it?"

The luxio's question caught her off guard, snapping Scarlett out of her chain of thought.

"What do you mean what do I want to do with it?" The vulpix asked back, glancing at the poster again.

"Do you want to keep it? Give it back, or destroy it?" Martian explained, "Personally I'd rip and chew it to ashes with Fire Fang if I were you, but it is your choice."

Scarlett chuckled at the idea, it sounded fun but at the same time, she didn't want to destroy it. The vulpix's mother had no doubt ordered hundreds of the posters so destroying one was rather pointless.

Besides, the small mischievous side of her wanted a trophy of how powerless her mother was over her now.

"Think I'll keep it for now," Scarlett finally decided, "Can I store it on your vest until we get back home?"

Martian smirked as he turned to present his right flank to his partner so she could secure the document. Once the rolled up parchment was in place he gestured for Scarlett to go first down the stairs to the crossroads.

"We never found a job did we, Martian?" Scarlett asked as the two began to walk down the stairs.

"Nothing posted on the boards," The electric-type confirmed, "We could poke around Treasure Town real quick though, see if any of the shops could use our help. Failing that we'll just clear out a Mystery Dungeon and collect any resources or treasure we find."

The vixen was the first to reach the crossroads and turned her head to look forward again until she caught sight of a blue sphere collapsed at the outer edge of the intersection. Immediately her mind switched to the role of rescuer, and she leaped to aid the unknown victim.

It was a Marill, about mid-adolescence, struggling to breathe as it lay face first on the road, a sickly wheeze faintly emanating from his mouth. The round pokemon's body was dotted with injuries, most of which seemed to be fresh heavy bruises. It looked like the kid got nailed in a rockslide, but somehow that didn't explain everything.

The bloody puncture definitely did. The Wardens had quickly rolled the pokemon onto it's back to help it breathe only to find that the little water type had been using his hands in an attempt to stop a particularly messy wound on his stomach. It looked like a pokemon tried to impale him with a sharp claw or some other sharp object. One that carried a payload of poison if the sickly violet fluid draining alongside his blood was any indication

Scarlett wasted no time grabbing two Pecha Berries from Martian's pack, squeezing one until it was crushed into a pinkish pulp, administering the fruit directly into the tainted wound. The pink met purple and briefly turned a pale yellow-green as the powerful medicinal properties of the berry neutralized the toxins.

The Water/fairy type managed to regain some consciousness briefly as the Pecha pulp began to slightly sting in his chest. For a few seconds, the wounded kid was delirious and weakly tried to fight back, mistaking his rescuers for attackers. Martian had to forcibly pin the kid back down to stop him from only adding to his injuries.

"Shh, shh, It's okay, we're here to help," Scarlett tried to soothe the young pokemon, "Relax, you made it to Treasure Town, you're safe."

It took a few more seconds, but eventually, the little water type managed to realize that he had been lashing out at red fur instead of whatever nearly killed him, and looked up to see Scarlett's brown compassionate eyes softly directed at him. Once he saw that he wasn't still being attacked he relented, falling into a sitting position and gratefully consuming the remaining Pecha berry the fox offered him.

"Let's get you to the infirmary," Martian spoke up, "You can thank us after you recover."

"N-no, I n-need to go back." The Marill weakly protested as he began to struggle to his feet, to no avail.

"You're not going anywhere with your belly open like that except the infirmary," Martian growled, his patience was quickly vanishing, being nice was not one of his strong points.

"No, M-my brother, h-he's sti-ill there, I h-have to rescue him." The fairy type tried to explain as again he struggled to his feet, and again was unsuccessful.

"Rescue him from what, where?" Scarlett asked softly in an attempt to keep the child somewhat calm.

"Mr. Drowzee said he saw our float on Mt. Bristle and said he'd show us where it is. We were climbing up when Mr. Drowzee separated us with a rockslide. M-my brother was screaming for help, I-I tried to save him but the wild pokemon were too strong." The wounded child explained between sobbing and wincing in pain.

That changed the situation quite a bit, kidnapping two children just to split them off and leave one to die while dragging the other off for some unknown purpose. Martian had a new target to direct his growing anger to.

"We'll get him back, alive." Martian promised the young victim, teeth bared and fur coursing with electrical charge.

"We can't just leave him here Martian, we need to get him to the healer!" Scarlett reminded, referring to the victim that laid between the Wardens.

"We don't have time to-" Martian began to argue until he caught sight of a few of the Guild's apprentices reaching the bottom of the stairs, problem solved.

"You three," Martian shouted startling the trio of apprentices, "Get this kid to the infirmary. Scarlett and I will go after his brother."

The guild members remained stationary trying to make sense of what was going on but promptly took action when the luxio snapped at them again with a much more aggressive tone.

Wardens Eternal

Mount Bristle was easy to pick out since it stood alone rather then it's cousins who formed the mountain range further up north. Word was that if a Pokemon climbed to its peak, they would be able to see both of the coastlines to the east and west, though the few Pokemon who managed to reach the peak reported seeing nothing but Absols, rocks, and snow.

None of that mattered now, all that mattered was finding that abducted child before it was too late. The kid and his captor could be anywhere along the mountainside, hidden among one of the many steep ledges and stony dens that made up the terrain. Wherever they were, it wasn't going to keep that Drowzee safe much longer. . .