Chapter 4: The Metal Menace

A few days after I learned Absorb, I had another odd dream. The figure in my dream was clearer, but still was shrouded in darkness. I heard a gentle voice speaking to me, and recognized it as the one who uttered the words "chosen one". Suddenly a rumble filled the room, and it quickly got worse! I realized it was an earthquake. By the time morning came around, I heard a voice come out of no where saying, "Hello. You are Sam, right?" I looked around confused wondering where the voice was coming from. It sounded like three men talking at the same time, and saying the same thing. Then the voice said, "Whoops! Sorry, we forgot we were undrground!" Suddenly, the owner of the voice revealed itself. It was a three-headed mole named Dugtrio.

The Dugtrio then said, "Hello, we're Dugtrio. Last night during the earthquake, our son was attacked and taken to the top of Mt. Steel! Please, you and your team has to help us save our child!" Dugtrio left with me wondering about the breakout of disasters as well as the dream I had. I spoke to the others, and Dugtrio popped back up in the meeting room and gave us more info. They said, "Our son was kidnapped by a pokemon named Skarmory!" I then said, "Skarmory? Listen, not to sound scared or anything, but we only just got started, and we aren't strong enough to tackle a bird with solid steel feathers!" Charmy then said, "Sam, we're a team remember? We can beat it together no sweat!" I then said, "Perhaps your right, but it'll take more than numbers to win. Skarmory don't fool around in battle! They're completely resistant to poison, my grass moves are next to useless, and it's tricky to get them with thrown items or close range move as they'll either fly away or strike you before you can land a hit. It'll take speed and skill rather than power to deal with a Skarmory."

Espio then said smiling, "Excellent point. I can easily land a few blows to it if it tries attacking us like it did your son, Dugtrio. Vector's Water Gun can also help." Dugtrio then said, "Ok, we're counting on you!" The mole (moles?) then left the rescue base. After getting some supplies, we went to Mt. Steel to save Dugtrio's son, Diglett. When we got there, Dugtrio popped up and told us Skarmory lived on the top of the mountain, and this cave was a shortcut to the top. As we climbed, we gained a bit more strength, which was needed if we wanted to keep up with a Skarmory. We finally made our way to the top after several hours, and we saw Diglett on a sharp cliff overhead. Vector called out, "Don't worry kid! We're here to help!" Before we made another step, a large shiny metal bird dropped down. It's feathers were silver and gray. This was Skarmory. Skarmory said in a deep feminine, yet masculine voice, "HALT! What do you think your doing here?"

It was Charmy's turn to talk. He said, "We're here to take Diglett back home! You've no right to keep him here!" Skarmory shouted back with, "I hadn't had a good night's sleep no thanks to these earthquakes! My children can't get any sleep either due to their fear! When I found out a family of Diglett and Dugtrio moved in, I found the cause! I rule over this mountain, and I will not have my home destroyed by these monsters!" I then said, "Hold it! True there have been many earthquakes lately, and it's also true a Diglett or Dugtrio can cause them, but it would take more than a family of them to cause all these earthquakes!" Skarmory spread it's wings out and said "Shut up! I'll throw you off this mountain if you do not leave!" Espio then said, "We've no choice. We have to attack." He threw one of his silver spikes at Skarmory, which Skarmory deflected with a flap of it's left wing. Skarmory tried a Whirlwind attack, but we got out of the way before it was too late.

Vector used Water Gun which did significant damage, and while Skarmory was pushed back by the water, Mighty ran in and smacked Skarmoryls side with his Bone Club attack. Skarmory tried to nail Mighty with Fury Attack, but I rushed in with Quick Attack to knock down Skarmory. Charmy then restrained her with String Shot, and then Espio walked up and said, "Ok, we're through asking you, we're telling you. Let the Diglett go, or we'll have you put in jail for kidnapping and endangering a child. And your children will be put up for adoption. Is this what you want?" Skarmy calmed down, then said, "I'm sorry. All I wanted was piece and quiet so my children and I could sleep..." I then said, "And you would endanger another child's life just so you can get what you wanted? To make it worse, you did it without even considering that these quakes were far stronger than even a hundred Diglett or Dugtrio put together could do!"

I then felt I may have crossed the line as Skarmory began to cry. I then said, "I'm sorry, but you should have thought about these things. I didn't mean to be rude." Espio used the fallen silver spike to free Skarmory from the silk as it flew back to it's nest to be with her children, leaving us to handle the task of saving Diglett. The cliff was to far away for Espio or I to jump over, then Charmy said flying over cliffs or any other very high places makes him dizzy (plus, Charmy didn't have hands to grab Diglett with to bring him down, so we were stuck). Suddenly, the two Magnemite we rescued from Thunderwave Cave came up and said, "We heard about this mission, so we came to help!" The two Magnemite were able to bring Diglett down, and I saw for the first tie what a Digllet's whole body looked like. It looked a lot like the Monty Moles from the Super Mario series, minus the buck teeth of course. This however, made me wonder about Dugtrio. Was he and others of his kind a giant, three-headed mole? Or were they three overgrown Digletts working together as one pokemon? I hoped it was the former, because having three different dads would be kinda creepy.

We took Diglett back to HQ, and his dad was waiting for us there. He gave us a good payment of 500 poke dollars, and left. We then asked the Magnemite about joining Team Chaotix. Only one of the two was actually interested, but that was ok by us. He said, "Do you have a rom for me to stay in?" Vector then said, "Whoops. No, we don't. We hadn't gotten around remodeling the hideout yet..." Magnemite then said, "Without a place, I can't be on your team..." I then said, "Can't we just go over to your place to pick you up for rescue missions?" The two Magnemite spoke to each other for a minute, and said, "That sounds like a plan. We live in the old Power Plant north of here. Come by whenever you want to visit, or ask me to drop by." The two floated away.

Mighty then said, Tomarrow, it might be a good idea to ask Wigglytuff about getting some housing for future team members." I then said, "Wigglytuff?" Vector then said, "Oh, she's a friendly sort who makes a living selling real estate. Her store, the Wigglytuff Club wasn't open the last couple of days, as she was away getting new land on the island to sell to rescue teams. We'll go there tomarrow to see if we can buy some more land. To be an effective rescue team, we need many members to handle any situation." This was a reasonable idea. We went to bed for the night, when I had yet another odd dream.

To be continued...