When Paprika woke up the next morning, she took one look around, and jumped to her feet in fear and confusion. She was in a strange room, that contained simple furnishings, such as a beds and a couple dressers. On the bed next to her was Scorpia, still sleeping soundly. Paprika nudged Scorpia until she emitted a groan, and opened her eyes.
"What, Paprika?"
"Scorpia… where are we?"
Scorpia cocked an eyebrow, and looked around.
"Jet's house, remember? We must be in a guest room." She closed her eyes again.
Paprika looked down, embarrassed. "Oh yeah. Sorry, Scorpia." She took another look around, and asked, "Hey, where's Drago?" And Jet, for that matter?"
Scorpia sighed, and realized she wasn't going back to sleep. "Probably in their own rooms." She stood up. "Seeing as we're up, we might as well find them, and get the day started."
They left their room (after Paprika straightened her bandana), and found themselves in a long hallway. They went left, and looked into doorway, seeing only empty bedrooms. They got to the end of the hallway, only to see it branched off to the left and right for quite a ways.
"How big is this place?" Paprika wondered aloud.
"Pretty big, I won't lie." a voice said. The two turned around, and saw Jet leaning against a wall, Drago by his side. "Morning, sleeping beauties. We were about to come wake you up."
"It's almost noon." Drago said, glancing out a nearby window.
Scorpia's jaw dropped. "Our first official day of being a rescue team, and I overslept? Holy Mew, we gotta get going! There are missions to be done, pokemon to rescue…" She continued talking as she dashed past Jet and Drago. However, she didn't get very far. Jet grabbed onto her tail, and she ran in place for a moment before stopping.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"The exit is the other way."
"Oh…"
Jet led them through some winding hall ways, until they arrived at a large staircase, going down. Jet led them down it, explaining the large house.
"Like I told you guys yesterday, I come from a long line of pokemon warriors and wrestlers. My family was very good at what they did, be it through legal means or not. As such, we have quite the fortune. I, er, borrowed, some of that money, and bought this place. It may seem needlessly large, but I had planned on making a name for myself as a wrestler, so naturally I'd need a big place to store my fortunes and trophies, and other memorabilia."
"Quite confident in your abilities, huh?" Paprika asked. Jet just smirked and winked at her.
Jet opened a large door, and the group found themselves outside. After a bit of walking down a path, they arrived in town again.
"Hey Scorpia?" Drago asked, stopping. Scorpia turned around, and faced him.
"What's up?"
"Remember that the Chansey said rescue teams weren't popular in this town? Well… wouldn't that mean there wouldn't be a mission board?"
Scorpia's eyes widened. "Oh no. I didn't even think of that… Now what?" she mumbled to herself. She looked at the ground for a moment, before snapping her head back up. "Let's go to Gravel's Gummi Shack. We're bound to get some sort of job there." The others nodded, and they set off.
When they arrived, they found the place to be less packed than before. They strode up to the bar, where Scorpia addressed Gravel, who turned to her, smiling widely.
"Well if it isn't the Skorupi from before! It looks like you found some pokemon to join your rescue team, eh?"
Scorpia smiled back, and nodded, before getting serious. "Yes, and we were wondering if you knew of any pokemon that needed help?"
Gravel's smile faded. "Now that you mention it, I know someone who may need some help."
Scorpia leaned forward eagerly. "Just give us the details."
Gravel frowned. "It's probably nothing. It's just… you know that Cottonee I was talking to yesterday?"
Scorpia thought back, and vaguely remembered. "Yes, what about him?"
"I think he may be in trouble. You see, he was talking about exploring a mystery dungeon near here, Fungal Cave, because there have been rumors of bandits leaving a treasure there. I tried talking him out of it, but he refused to listen to common sense. The cave is full of wild pokemon. What if he was attacked? He usually comes in in the mornings, but I haven't seen him."
Scorpia nodded. "We'll take a look. Where is the dungeon?"
Gravel gave them directions, and the group left.
An hour later, they arrived. Jet whistled, as he looked at the massive opening to the cave.
"Quite the entrance, eh?"
Scorpia nodded. "Well… we'd better find that Cottonee.
They walked inside, looking around for anyone who might attack them. Almost immediately, a Zubat and Geodude attacked them.
"Jet and Paprika, get the Geodude! Drago and I got the Zubat!" Scorpia said, and they leaped into action.
Jet spat a Bubble at the Geodude, who rolled to the side. Paprika launched a flurry of Razor Leaves, and the Geodude rolled out of the way again. Paprika growled, and lashed out with Vine Whip. For the third time, the Geodude rolled out of the way. But this time, Jet snuck up from behind, and locked the Geodude's arms behind his back. Paprika sent out another flurry of Razor Leaves, knocking out the Geodude.
Meanwhile, the Zubat Scorpia and Drago were fighting was flying out of their range, and swooping down at them. The Zubat swooped down at Drago, who waited until the last minute, before Biting down on his wing. Scorpia wasted no time in rushing over and dispatching the Zubat with Night Slash.
Paprika smiled at everyone, and said, "Well that went well. Let's press on, eh?" She matched pace with Drago, as Jet and Scorpia led the way. They came into a giant chamber, where an orb was lying on the ground.
"What's that?" Jet asked.
Drago walked over to it. "It looks like an Escape Orb. This will warp us out of the cave if we use it." He picked it up, and placed it in the bag Scorpia had brought with them.
"Spread out, guys. See if you can find another passageway." Scorpia said. They fanned out, examining the walls for another way out. Eventually, Jet and Paprika both found ways out.
Scorpia thought for a moment, before saying, "All right, we'll split up. I'll go with Jet, and Paprika will go with Drago. Meet back here in an hour."
Scorpia and Jet took off, as did Drago and Paprika. After a few minutes of walking along silently, Jet had a question.
"Hey Scorpia. I've heard of mystery dungeons before, but what exactly are they?"
Scorpia peered around a corner, before continuing on, and answering.
"They're just that, Jet. Mysterious. They work in weird ways. Always taking different shapes when you enter them, making you incredibly hungry, incredibly quickly. It's a wonder how wild pokemon manage to live in them. Expert explorers believe them to be rifts in the space time continuum, but of course that's never been proven…" Scorpia stopped moving, and raised a claw, motioning for Jet to stop as well. Before her was a sleeping Paras.
"We can bypass this guy, I think. Just stay quiet."
"And here I was hoping for a fight…" Jet said disappointedly. They crept by the sleeping pokemon, and continued on.
"Hey Scorpia? How do you know the Cottonee is even on this floor of the dungeon?"
"My gut. He wouldn't have made it very far. He's probably hiding out somewhere, unless he's fallen unconscious."
Jet nodded, and followed Scorpia without any further questions.
Meanwhile, Drago was telling Paprika about Fungal Cave.
"From what I've read about this particular dungeon, it's inhabitants are mostly Zubat and Geodude. However, farther in, are loads of Paras and Parasect. They guard rare mushrooms that are found most common in this cave."
Paprika nodded absently, feigning interest. She was busy daydreaming about famous rescue teams. She was shaken out of her thoughts, however, by Drago crying out.
"Look, it's the Cottonee!"
Paprika saw him as well. The Cottonee appeared to be unconscious. He was laying in front of a small alcove. While Drago rushed over to see if he was hurt, Paprika investigated the small opening. Inside, she saw a chest of Orbs and TM's.
"Drago, look! He actually found the thieves stash of stolen items!"
Drago looked up, and smiled. "Wow, that's great! And don't worry about him, it looks like he's just sleeping."
Drago gingerly lifted the Cottonee in his mouth, and nearly dropped him when he gasped as he saw what the Cottonee had been lying on. There was a bed of Mushrooms, orange with blue spots, that brought a look of Panic on Drago's face. Paprika frowned worriedly.
"What's wrong?" she asked, stepping closer to him. Drago set the Cottonee down and answered. "Those mushrooms! Those are what the Paras and Paresect guard! These particular mushrooms are powerful sleeping agents. We need to get out of here before they show up!"
"Too late." Paprika said, as a large Parasect, flanked by two Pars came out of a corridor.
They hissed in anger, noticing the unfamiliar pokemon by their mushrooms, and before they could react, the mushroom pokemon attacked.
Hope you all are enjoying this tale so far! Review if ya want, and send in a mission for the team to do! Just send me the name and species of the client, mission details, and a dungeon for them to go to. It can be from the games, or made up. I'm not picky!