"Are you sure we won't get lost?" Andrea asked.
Patrick wanted to reassure her, but he honestly wasn't sure. They had been walking through the murky swamp north of Nettlefield for nearly an hour. They initially followed a well-marked trail into the reed-choked thicket, but that had ended long ago. They were in the center of uncharted wilderness, surrounded on all sides by cloudy water, muddy islands and densely packed rows of tall, featureless trees. Between the low hanging branches, the tangled grasses and the snagging brambles, fighting through the vegetation was a constant and carefully fought battle.
"What exactly do these Blastcap things look like?" Patrick asked.
She revisited the Blastcap article and studied the photographs that accompanied it. "There's two parts of it. The central colony is a dense cluster of red, orange or yellow and white speckled mushrooms... And then there's the outlying parts of the colony, which looks similar to lichen, mostly rusty brown or orange in color." she said. "You haven't seen any of that, have you?"
He shook his head. "Not a damn thing. This whole swamp is completely devoid of life, it feels like."
"At least I've been hearing a few birds. Keep in mind, it's still a little cold out here."
"Ehh... maybe. I just don't like it being this silent. I've seen enough horror movies to-"
"Don't even!" she chastised aggressively. "Let's just focus on what we came here for, okay?"
"My apologies," he said.
As they continued along, Andrea began to realize just how little of a plan they had, and it made her very uncomfortable. "Do you know what we're going to do if we find this Blastcap that's been causing all this trouble?"
"Not a clue."
She stopped in her tracks and was ready to scream. "Are you kidding me?!" she roared. "You lectured me about the dangers of entering the wilderness unprepared, and now you're saying you don't have a plan?"
"We're prepared. We've got food, water, first aid supplies, a Pokémon to protect us, and eight hours of sunlight." he said in an effort to ease her nerves. "Besides, it's a mushroom we're dealing with. How bad could it be?"
"It would be a good idea to-" she rapidly shot off before she stopped herself. "Sorry. I can get a little impatient sometimes. I've dealt with a lot of idiots in the past-"
"Are you saying I'm an idiot, then?"
"No! No, it's nothing like that. I just... I'm a little worried. Swamps scare the hell out of me, so much can go wrong in them if you're not careful."
He wrapped his arm around her and brought her in closer for a light hug. "I've got your back, nothing is going to happen to you while I'm by your side. You can count on that."
She forced his way out of his grip. She had a hard time believing him, but decided to accept his words regardless.
"We're just here to find the source of the problem, and if we can, deal with it as well. If we can't, we'll find someone who can. Does that sound like a plan?"
"I guess..."
"Good! Let's carry on, then!"
Eventually they found something that was very out of place within a swamp. Thick, orange sludge had coagulated on top of the water, with more dripping down from the trees. Andrea wandered over to one of the trees to get a closer look; the faint sound of hissing and intermittent bubbling came from the branches. In the distance, a branch crumbled and fell to the water below, landing with an audible splat as it collided with the sludge. She instinctively backed away from the tree and put as much distance as she could between it and her. It wasn't just that single tree that was covered in goo, either; a large chunk of the surrounding swampland was bathed in various shades of orange and brown.
"This looks... bad..." Patrick gawked.
"I think that's the understatement of the century..." she added as she raised her R-Kit. Scans of the sludge that rested atop the water indicated that it had a relatively neutral pH balance of 6.7, something that she found odd. It looked as if the goo was eating away at the tree as if it were some sort of powerful acid, yet it wasn't. "What in the world is this stuff?"
"I'm going to take some back to the lab, get a closer look at it." Patrick reached into his backpack and dumped what little was left of his water bottle, then carefully scooped some of the goo into it. "Before we do that, let's try to find where this stuff is coming from. That Blastcap can't be far."
"Are... are you sure we're prepared for this?" she asked. "This seems a little out of our league."
"We'll be fine. Come along."
More time passed. They intended to circle the affected swampland, but they quickly realized the scope of what they were dealing with. In the half hour that they had been walking in nearly a straight line, there weren't any signs of the environment around them changing for the better. The two bickered for a moment about what to do; Andrea urged caution and wanted to return to town to formulate a proper plan for what to do, while Patrick insisted that they scout the environment out and study it closely to help them better plan the best course of action.
Having reached an impasse, Patrick decided to take matters into his own hands and took a few brave steps into the sludgy water. The filthy water soaked into his boots and was oddly warm to the touch. He motioned for Andrea to follow, which she did after much hesitation.
"This is so gross..." she started. "You owe me new shoes after this. And some new stockings, too. These will never come clean..."
He bellowed with laughter. "Everything's gross to you, isn't it? Bugs, dead cows, murky water. Which has been the worst so far?"
"Definitely the cow..."
He took a moment to let his surroundings sink in. "I don't get it... How can a Pokémon be this destructive? It doesn't seem possible. It doesn't seem natural."
"I couldn't say," she said. She grabbed her phone and began to snap pictures of the swamp with it. From the decaying trees to the bubbling orange sludge, she began to reconsider her initial theory about what had been plaguing the Miltank herd. "I might be wrong about this, you know. I'm pretty sure we found what we're looking for, but this seems like something far worse than a simple mushroom infestation."
"Speaking of, we haven't even seen any of the bloody things yet!" he commented.
They continued their trek through the swampland, but very little changed as they ventured deeper in. The overwhelming shades of bright orange began to give both of them headaches, and the rank air did little to alleviate their suffering. Frustration began to set in as they slogged onward through the muck, all for naught; no mushrooms or lichen were found, their feet were growing sore, and a cold afternoon wind had begun to blow between the trees.
Patrick rolled up the sleeve of his jacket and revealed a blue R-Kit unit on his wrist. He tapped at the screen and set an alarm with it. "Fifteen more minutes, and then we turn around. That sound fine?"
"Hold on a second... Do you see that log over there?" She pointed towards a fallen log that was submerged in the water in a clearing beside them. The log was spinning gently in place.
"What about it?"
"Wait for it..." she said as she watched the log. As the log spun some more, a glob of moss-covered material clung to the side of it. Upon closer examination, the moss appeared to be choking a cluster of mushrooms. At last, they had found what they were looking for!
"Well bugger me, we found it," he said with a laugh. "Let's get a closer look at it."
As they carefully approached the cluster of mushrooms that rested on the log, eyes resting atop the largest cap opened! They kept their distance, as they were unsure of how the creature would react. At the very least, it would have difficulty reaching them if it tried to defend itself somehow. The water around them rippled with movement before the sunken log began to slowly rise out of the murky water. A vaguely humanoid looking figure began to take shape as the creature stood taller and taller; moss covered wood formed the core of its body, with root-like tendrils making up its arms and legs. Small red and orange mushrooms sprouted almost evenly across the wooden figure.
She jumped in fright and hid behind Patrick as the creature rose from the water. "What the fuck is that thing?!"
"A big problem," he said as he shielded Andrea.
She began to scan the creature with her R-Kit. She wasn't sure what it was; the large mushroom at the top certainly looked like the various pictures of a Blastcap that she'd seen earlier in the day, but its ability to actually move about wasn't mentioned anywhere in the article about it. "Since when are those things mobile?"
"Unknown species detected. Caution is advised while in its presence." the R-Kit said in a robotic voice.
"Unknown species?" Patrick asked. "This thing isn't a Blastcap?"
The ground shook and the water churned as the swamp creature lumbered forward with uneven and wobbly steps. As it continued forward, green light began to glow within the twisted tendrils at the end of its extended arm, and a giant root-like spike shot upward out of the water just a few feet in front of them.
"Stay back!" He ordered as he reached into his pocket and grabbed his Flareon's Pokéball. With a forceful toss into the air, the ball exploded into a cloud of flickering flames and Fang appeared. Fang dropped into the knee-high water with an audible splash. "It's cleanup time, Fang! Focus your fire on the largest mushroom at the top!"
Fang found it difficult to carry out the order due to the water around him. Despite it only being knee-high for Andrea and Patrick, it reached up to his mane and he had difficulty keeping his head above the water. Tried as he might, he could do little more than flounder hopelessly. The creature simply ignored Fang and continued to lumber towards Andrea and Patrick.
"This isn't going to work..." he said. He turned to Andrea and pointed out one of the largest trees that jutted from the water. "Take cover behind that tree. Fang! We need to lure this thing to some high ground."
The two went in different directions; Andrea rushed towards the tree and put it between herself and the creature, while Patrick slogged through the water in an attempt to reach some dry land. The creature slowly followed him, once again raising its arm towards the sky. It teetered backwards, then threw its full weight forward, nearly stumbling in the process. A long and flexible vine shot out of the creature's arm and wrapped around Patrick's waist, and he didn't get much further before the vine had reached its limit. With a forceful tug, the creature knocked him off of his feet.
Andrea watched in horror as her partner was dragged through the muddy water. She thought as quickly as she could of a possible way to to intervene and looked around her, but all she could find were a few waterlogged pieces of wood. She grabbed the chunks of wood and began to throw them in the direction of the creature in an attempt to distract it. Most of them fell short, but the ones that struck the beast only bounced off to no effect.
"I don't think that's going to work!" he shouted as the creature slowly reeled him in. In a last ditch effort, he grabbed ahold of the vine and sank his teeth into it. He snarled as he tried his best to shred it, but it did very little against the hardened surface of the vine. "Could really use a hand right about now, Fang!"
Andrea refused to sit by and watch what was unfolding. With Fang hopelessly outmatched by the environment, she reasoned that it fell to her to save the day. She took a moment to calm her nerves and steady her thoughts, then charged towards Patrick's location. She dashed through the water as fast as she could, almost appearing to run on top of it at times.
"What are you doing, get outta here! Save yourself!" he gestured wildly as he fought against the vine some more.
"I'm not leaving without you!" she shouted as she put her hands to work. The vine was wrapped around Patrick's waist numerous times, but no knot held it in place. She struggled against the crushing grip of the vine, and little by little, she made progress in unwrapping it from around him. Second by second passed as the creature drew closer, until she eventually freed him from its grasp. Arm in arm, the two scrambled for safety. "We can't take this thing on! We need to leave!"
He growled as he eyed the creature, still pursuing them. He reached for his Pokéball and gripped it tightly. "I've got one last idea..."
"No! No more ideas, we're leaving!" she said as she nearly yanked his arm off.
He spotted Fang desperately struggling against the water and aimed his Pokéball carefully. A red beam of light shot out of the center button and ended on Fang's head. Fang's motion stopped on a dime and his body began to fade with a red glow, then deform into an amorphous blob of energy as he was recalled back into the Pokéball. With his Flareon safely returned, he waited a few precious seconds, then dropped the Pokéball to the ground. The ball exploded and released Fang once more.
Fang rushed towards the edge of the water and zeroed in on the central mushroom that rested atop the wooden creature. Flames began to flicker across his fur as he readied himself for an attack by taking in a deep breath.
"Give it all you've got!" he ordered.
The surrounding area heated up rapidly to sweltering temperatures as a torrent of blazing fire erupted from Fang's mouth. Andrea's vision faded to white as a wide arc of burning flames swept across the swamp and before long, the hissing sound of boiling water began to overwhelm their sense of hearing. The attack was over in a few short seconds, and their senses had returned a short time after that. All that remained of the creature was a charred lump of wood. The trees in the surrounding area had been blackened by the attack, but none appeared to have caught fire. Fang had fallen over and struggled to return to his feet, completely exhausted from the powerful attack.
Patrick tumbled to the muddy ground as he caught his breath. "Bloody hell... that... was too close." He looked towards Andrea and motioned for her to approach. She knelt down and tried to look him over for any injuries, but he wouldn't allow it. Instead, he grappled her with a forceful hug. "Thanks for not leaving me... That took a lot of guts, what you did... You okay?"
"How do people deal with this shit?" she asked.
"It's wild, isn't it?" he asked as he flopped over. "This is an exception to the rule... I've been doing this for nine long years, and this is the first time I've ever run into real trouble like that."
Her attention drifted to Fang, who was wheezing loudly, heavily and rapidly. She crawled over to him and gave him a quick inspection, but she couldn't find any obvious cuts or scrapes on him. "Is he going to be okay?"
Patrick pulled himself up to his feet and grabbed his Pokéball. "He'll be fine, he just needs some time to recharge." As he recalled his Flareon, he asked, "What do you think? Did we take care of the problem?"
"I sincerely hope so."
He wandered up to the charred remains of the creature that had attacked them and knelt down for a closer look. As he ran his finger across the scorched wood, he noticed that a large chunk of it had been turned to ash. "Well, this one certainly won't be a problem. There's not much left."
"Pardon me for asking a stupid question, but..."
"There are no stupid questions."
"Did you really have to... you know... kill it? I mean... yeah, i-it was attacking-" she stumbled. "It was still a living, intelligent creature. It didn't deserve that."
He stood up and kicked at the ground. "It's a fuzzy line, sometimes, and you have to be willing to cross it if the situation demands it." he said. "You saw what that thing was capable of, and what it's been doing to those poor Miltanks. If we left it here, there's no telling what damage it could have caused."
She sighed and shook her head, then took a few steps out into the still-warm water. "What do we do now? It looks like half of this swamp is infected, and there could be more of those things out there."
"I'm going to listen to your advice for once. We'll let someone more qualified handle this. We did what we could, but this is beyond our capabilities." He patted her on the back, then began the journey back to Nettlefield. "Come on, let's go home. Dr. Reiland will be interested to hear about what we found."