I don't think any real introduction is needed right now.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the plot and my team/characters/dungeons/places I made up. :3
…~-CHAPTER THREE: Hidden Treasures, Lost and Found!
"AMBUSH!" Mudkip screamed. They were both swarmed with green bodies, and neither of them could discern who was attacking. There were large, sharp claws slashing at every bit of the two young explorers they could get at. Treecko didn't know what to do.
If this keeps up, we'll be finished! he thought, trying to dodge at least one of the claws. I guess we don't have a choice. We'll have to fight them!
Gathering himself, Treecko shouted "Razor Leaf!" and chucked fast-moving sharp-edged leaves at his foes. They leaped back, giving him room to move and look around. Mudkip had likewise gotten rid of her assaulters, and was slowly backing up to meet him.
Now that they could see their opponents, Treecko's confidence took a nose-dive. He thought that maybe they wouldn't be so tough once they were out of range to use their claws, but now he saw that they were dealing with seven angry-looking Scyther.
Scyther were in the bug-type group, but hard to keep track of. They hopped around quickly, so their green bodies melded together in one incomprehensible mass. He could hear the fast, annoying fluttering of the four wings on their backs, and could see the flash of their claws. Instead of hands, from the elbow down, Scyther had large razor blades for arms.
Treecko gritted his teeth. Great. How did this even happen?
His thoughts were interrupted by Mudkip. "Treecko. Treecko, how do we get out of this?" she was whispering fearfully.
"We fight, of course," he growled back.
"Against all of them?" Mudkip's voice was soft, but high. She was afraid.
"We don't have much of a choice. Get ready. We'll both attack at once."
He heard her swallow, but nod determinedly. He waited a few moments, then yelled "NOW!" and let another blast of leaves towards the rotating green dome of Scyther. Behind him, Mudkip was blowing out a Water Gun. Treecko didn't know if the attacks hit, but then something bizarre happened. Both the Water Gun and Razor Leaf were caught up in the rotating winds and flung back at the opposite user. The water Gun hit Treecko straight in the face, and the leaves slammed into Mudkip's side. They were both thrown back, and slammed into each other.
"Ugh…" Treecko got unsteadily to his knees "Mudkip, are you okay?"
"F-f-fine…"
The Scyther had moved their circling to accommodate the team's new position. Treecko couldn't see a way out of this, and despair was becoming and old friend. "Mudkip…we can't win."
"We can!" she insisted. That was a trait Mudkip had. She would be hesitant at first, but once the plan began, she would see it through to the end no matter the outcome. "We can win this!"
"That's the spirit."
They both looked up. A dark shape was flying over the Scyther and right into the middle of the circle, where they were. It blocked out the sun for a minute, and it landed neatly on all four paws. Solay smiled at them. "Long time no see, huh?"
"Oh, you have no idea how glad we are to see you!" Mudkip cried, and then promptly got hit on the back of the head with a passing Scyther claw. It grinned as it passed, and then blended back in with its fellows.
"H-how did you get here?" Treecko gasped.
"I jumped," she said simply. Her light tone wasn't matched by her eyes. They were calculating and narrowed, watching the precise movements of her enemies. "Okay. I need you two to stay close to me. Whatever happens, don't move."
"Uh…all right." Mudkip moved closer, as if she wanted to hide in her rescuer's tails. Treecko hobbled over too, sticking close because she was one with fire, and he was one with grass. Fire ate grass.
"Fire Spin!" Solay sucked in her breath and shot out a rotating torrent of flame. However, unlike his and Mudkip's attacks, the Fire Spin stayed in the rotation, and the Scyther broke ranks, shouting to each other that they were on fire. Treecko wasn't sure weather to laugh or yell at them for being so useless now.
Solay took a half step forward. "Enough of that!" she called. "Show me your leader."
There was silence for a moment, then a smooth, calm male voice replied, "Very well. You are a sharp one, dear."
A Pokémon larger than the Scyther came forward slowly. It was red, but had the same basic body structure of its green companions. However, this one seemed more streamlined somehow, and had pincers instead of claws.
"My name is Siczor," he said with a grin and a mock bow. "Glad to meet your acquaintance, Solay."
"How do you know my name?" she responded sharply.
"Why wouldn't I?" Siczor returned, giving her an incredulous look. "Everyone knows Team Sky, the band of Shadow and Solay." He looked around, making the gesture overly dramatic. "Speaking of him, where is Shadow? I was hoping to take you both down at once. Not just you and two little wimps." He made a disappointed face, and glared at Treecko and Mudkip.
"H-hey!" Mudkip shot back "We're not wimps!"
"Yeah!" Treecko added. "We could take you blindfolded!"
Solay gave them both a warning glance, but it was too late. Siczor and his cronies were fired up already.
"Oh, so the little kiddies think that by hanging out with a legend makes them legends too?" he sneered. "Scyther! Let's bring them all down to size!"
There was a round-about cheer from them, and they raised their arms, clashing against each other.
Solay let out a growl. "Get ready. Here they come!"
…:: BOSS BATTLE: Siczor! ::…
They all rushed in at once, but Treecko wasn't afraid anymore. He was pumped. He fired Razor Leaves left and right, also hitting them with Pound if necessary. Behind him, Mudkip was dealing with her opponents with Water Gun and Bubble. He couldn't see what Solay was doing, but he did catch a glimpse of Siczor trying to shoot her with Hyper Beam. He paid it no heed; she could watch her own back at the moment.
The battle dragged on for what seemed like forever, but finally, the last Scyther was down. The two were breathing hard, but grinning.
"We did it, Treecko!" Mudkip said excitedly. "We beat 'em all!"
He nodded, too breathless to speak. "Yeah." But…something was missing from the picture. Oh, Siczor! He looked frantically around, and then caught sight of his limp body being dragged back by Solay.
"No need to worry, I had that in the bag," she said, putting him down. She looked around at the Scyther groaning on the ground, and nodded in approval. "Looks like you two did okay by yourselves too. I was afraid you wouldn't manage."
Mudkip let out a "Pfft" of exasperation. "We had that in the bag," she said, grinning.
"So you did," the Vulpix replied with a little laugh.
Siczor got to his feet beside her. Treecko and Mudkip started, and got ready for a fight, but he held up his pincers in defeat. "You win. We'll leave. But we will have a rematch someday." His eyes glinted, but another second, and all of the Scyther and Siczor were gone.
"And there you have it," she said simply.
Treecko let out his breath and sat down, exhausted. "Whew, I'd say that was a fight worth remembering, if nothing else."
"Mm," Mudkip replied, sitting too.
Solay took in the situation quickly. "I think it's time for a break," she decided. "Lucky I packed extra." She set the Treasure Bag down and flipped it open. She stuck her paw in, and rummaged around for a minute, then pulled out an apple. "Here you go, Treecko," she said, and passed it to him. She stuck her paw back in and brought out another, handing it to Mudkip. Then she reached in one more and brought a third out, snapping the bag shut.
"Wow, how much stuff can you fit in there?" Mudkip mumbled through her apple.
"I've lost count," Solay said with a hopeless tone, but then she grinned. "It's a lot of stuff, that's for sure."
"Can I see?" Mudkip asked after swallowing her bite.
"Sure." Solay set her bitten apple down and opened the Treasure Bag again. Mudkip leaned over and promptly stuck her head inside. Her voice echoed up oddly, as if…
"It's bigger on the inside!" she cried.
Solay burst out laughing as Treecko also hurried over, nearly chocking on his apple. "It is? Lemme see, Mudkip!"
She withdrew her head to let Treecko bend over it. "Wow, you're right!" he said, excited. "I can't see the bottom!"
Solay had nearly recovered now, and nodded. "Right. It's because of all the missions we've done. Keep it up, and yours could become bigger than ours someday."
"Triple ultra mega cool!" Mudkip exclaimed. She went back to gnawing on her apple, apparently imagining doing as many missions as Solay. Within no time, the apples were gone. Treecko and Mudkip shared and Oran Berry, and then turned their attention to Solay, who was washing her face with her paws.
"So, why did you come up here anyway?" Treecko questioned.
She stopped mid-lick and set her paw down. "Don't you remember what Alakazam said?"
…
Peering out from behind it, the duo could spot three shapes. One was much larger than the other two, defying the smaller shapes. Treecko recognized this as Alakazam from the Outlaw Notice Board. He had a large bounty on his head for stealing and threatening many Pokémon. So far, no one had been able to locate him. Mudkip made to open her mouth, but Treecko shushed her.
"Now, where have you hidden the stuff you've stolen?" a male voice asked carefully.
Alakazam sneered. "As if. You two are just a bunch of wimps. You could never take on me." He raised his spoons, intending to strike.
Mudkip turned to Treecko urgently with wide eyes. "They're gonna get hurt!" she whispered fervently. "We hafta do something!"
Treecko agreed with this, and was just about to leap out when the second shape, the one who had spoken, leaped up quicker than he could see and slammed down upon Alakazam's head. The bandit went down, and he leaped neatly away, standing beside his partner.
"Like we said," he repeated slowly, "where have you hidden all the things you stole?"
Alakazam groaned and lifted his head. "I swear, it's atop Mt. Bristle."
…
Mudkip turned to him. "Hey, that's right. Alakazam said it was here, didn't he?"
Solay nodded. "And I came to get it back. Although, I suspected a trap all along, which is why Shadow isn't here. I told him I could handle this by myself."
"Wow, you're five steps ahead of everybody," Mudkip whistled.
"Exactly." Solay got to her paws and started padding around the mountain top. "And if I'm right, Alakazam should have hidden his treasure riiiightttt baaaacckkkk…here."
They came to her side. In the far back of the mountain was a hole in the wall. It was too big for, say, Loudred, but Treecko was fairly sure he or Mudkip could squeeze through.
"Here, you two, you go in first, will you?" Solay glanced at them both. "I'm not sure I'll fit." She gave a wry grin, amused.
"Okay!" Mudkip said brightly. She headed for the hole and pushed her way in easily. Treecko had a little more trouble, but he made it. Solay's voice echoed from outside.
"Can you see anything?"
"No," Treecko replied. It was too dark inside to see much of anything. "It's too gloomy in here."
"Ah. Well, just a sec." There was a pause, and Solay spat a purpleish-blueish flame into the cave. It floated about three feet off the ground, and over their heads.
"How's my Will-O-Wisp working?" Solay called.
"If you can make it a little brighter, that'd be great," Mudkip replied.
"'Kay, just a moment." The current flame went out, and a moment later, a bigger, brighter one sparked into existence. This was a little more green than blue. "How's that?"
"Perfect!" Treecko replied, gazing around. There were all sorts of things in the cave, from bands to berries to Poké.
"Treecko, here's the Yellow Band!" Mudkip said, picking it up.
"Did you find it?" Solay put her eyes to the opening, gazing around. "Heh. You found a lot of things. Well, come on out. I'll get this stuff later. You two should get back to the Guild." Her brown eyes vanished, and she said quietly, "It's going to rain soon."
Treecko slipped back out through the hole, and once his partner was out, the ghoulish green-purple-blue light vanished.
But Solay was right. There was a large gray cloud on the horizon, the edges dyed orange by the sinking sun.
"Here, I'll walk you back. Just in case," she added quickly.
Mudkip nodded sleepily. "Mm, kay…"
About halfway through the mountain, Treecko was starting to get tired too. The sun must have set by now. Solay showed no signs of tiredness, and Mudkip was acting more like a zombie than anything. Treecko didn't remember how, but the next thing he knew was darkness.
…
Solay could only watch in amusement as Team Treekip nodded off on their feet. She gave a small smile. "I remember when I was as young as they are…" She padded over to them and lifted Treecko onto her back. Then, taking Mudkip by the scruff, she kept walking. I'll let them sleep. They deserve it.
…~-
Oh, about the Treasure Bag… I had to come up with some explanation on how they do that in the games, and thought it illogical that the actual bag was made larger, so I came up with the only other possible solution…
IT'S A TARDIS MUAWAHAHAHAHA! :3
But seriously. How do they do it? O.o Your guess is as good as mine.