Chapter 7
First Mission
By the time Chance and crew had made it to their destination they were incredibly tired, mostly because the locals around the base of the mountain were less then friendly and attacked them thinking they were trying to take over there land. Aaron was a little worse for wear; he took the most damage from trying to act as a wall and jumping in front of most of the attacks in an attempt to prevent other Pokémon from harming his companions. Mt. Horn was much larger then they had originally thought, the top of the peaks seemed to pierce the clouds as they we enveloped in white. Although the mountain was huge, that wasn't what concerned them the most. What really had them worried was that the small child had been trapped inside for a total of two days without (to their knowledge) food or water. Zoei began to feel a little antsy, she was nervous that they were already to late to save the little kid and that if he was dead, the report home to the mother would hurt not only the mom, but leave a emotional scar on the group. Aaron spoke up despite being beaten and bruised with slight bleeding here and there "Well we aren't going to accomplish anything if we stand out here with our heads up in the clouds" of course he meant that as a statement "lets get moving and grab the mudkip, I feel a little light headed right now" Chance spoke up to his electric type friend "you didn't need to jump in front of every attack back there you know, we can take a hit to" Aaron looked up at him, finding it a little hard to breath "what you aren't happy that I took most of those attacks? You sound like a ass right now" Chance's face narrowed into a frown "an ass huh? All I said is that you didn't need to do what you did, but because you did it you got hurt" Aaron got up in his face "I don't hear any thanks coming from you, why don't you take risks for us? I do all the time! And all I get out of you is why you think I shouldn't have done it!" "Is that right?" Chance was starting to get angry at such accusations against him "If it was between life and death for us I would be more then happy to take an attack for you even if it meant I was going to die from it! Don't accuse me of being a crappy guy just because I had forgot to thank you for blocking those attacks." both eeveelutions were practically yelling at each other in a rage and nether one of them seemed they were going to stop anytime soon. Both Jacob and Zoei sighed in unison at seeing such childish acts being exchanged between their two friends so Zoei decided to intervene "Would both of you nimrods just shut up! We are supposed to be doing a job right now and you two yelling at each other isn't going to help anything or get anything done!" both males became quiet and focused their attention on the grass type.
Zoei huffed to herself once more "See? Now isn't that better? I certainly don't need to hear anymore more bickering over stupid things like that." Jacob had remained silent throughout the ordeal; he had been going over in his head about why there had been so much tension between them. This wasn't anything new of course, but they had never fought as much before the event that brought them here in fact they rarely fought at all, but since then the arguing and fighting had increased dramatically and it seemed that their friendships were slowly being torn apart at the seems. "Guys, come on we are friends are we not? What else do we have here in this world besides each other huh? Well?" Jacob spoke fluently and without hesitation as he tried to rekindle the friendships that were starting to crumble right in front of him. The group looked at one another and each had a glint of shame in their eyes, nether of them wanting to speak up to answer the question. The Buizel spoke up again "we don't have anyone else here and each of you know that very well. The only people we have to rely on is each other and if we can't even do that…then why are we even friends?" again no one dared to speak. They could all agree that things have been tough for them since they were taken away from their loved ones, and with each passing minute it wasn't going to get any easier. And as hard as it was, they had to accept it. Aaron turned to his dark type friend and gave a weak grin "Sorry" he said in order to apologize to him as Chance returned the smile and nodded accepting the apology but could not help but feel a little bit of hostility towards him.
The mountain entrance wasn't as dark and gloomy as they had originally thought, but instead it was beautifully lit up from the holes on the ceiling that allowed the bright light from the outside to shine through. Glistening on the moistened rocks of the cave that seemed to go on forever into the long passageways. "This place is beautiful! Who would have known that a mountain could look so breath taking on the inside." Zoei said, her eyes slightly sparkling, as Chance chuckled "well, even the worlds oldest structures can have a hint of beauty in them, now come on we need to get up there! We have a job to do and a kid to save". The group casually made their way inside, seeming to take in the beauty of their surroundings as they pressed on up the slopes of the rocky formation. Reaching the mission floor was quiet easy, in fact it seemed to easy, the amount of local Pokémon had seemed to drop significantly as they climbed higher and higher up. Very rarely did a Pokémon attack them on its own so it usually came with some sort of back up of a different type then itself to accommodate for its weaknesses. Jacob looked behind him thinking that he heard a noise, looking swiftly from side to side then began to speak to Aaron "Dude buddy, we haven't seen another Pokémon in awhile…doesn't that kind of seem weird to you?" Aaron stopped walking and looked at him "Ya it does actually, kind of seems like they are just waiting for us somewhere." he explained, "maybe guarding the entry way to the next level, think we should tell Zoei and Chance?" Jacob nodded and stopped both Chance and Zoei by grabbing them and yanking them back. "Ow Jacob! I think you pulled some of my fur out" Chance said licking the sore spot on his back "This is no time to be licking yourself Chance, we think that there…" Aaron's laughing cut off Jacob, "Eww Chance you're licking yourself? You have to do that shit in private" Zoei gave him a scowl "Seriously Aaron? Grow up a bit will ya. If he needs to lick himself to make him feel better, he should be allowed to do it whenever he needs to." she said. Jacob and Aaron laughed loudly, rolling on the floor as Chance's cheeks flared bright red "That didn't help Zoei! That had to be the worst way to explain that!" he angrily yelled. The grass type looked at him wondering where the sudden anger had come from and shrugged "Sorry Chance, I thought they would be more mature about it. Apparently I was wrong". Jacob regained his composure and held back his laughter so he could speak "Ok listen bro, I was going to say that me and Aaron think that there will be a monster house at the next entry way to the upper floor." Chance huffed, calming himself "Well if they are waiting, let them wait. We aren't going to leave here without the kid" he said "we accepted the job and we are going to see it through. No matter what." none of them liked the idea of being overwhelmed by enemies or surrounded. But it was true, they did take the mission and it was their job to find the Mudkip and bring him home.
After another six minutes of searching the scattered rooms and passageways of the level they were on. The group had finally found the slope that lead to the mission floor. But there was one problem, it was sitting on the far side of the opening and they already knew that many Pokémon were waiting on ether the ceiling or in corners. Jacob studied the room carefully and spoke quietly to his companions "Hey bros, I can see a few of them in the shadows" he pointed to the left and he was indeed right. In the dark shadows held the shapes of Pokémon that were ready to drive back the team and prevent them from advancing. "Lets go guys we have to do this" Chance's voice became shaky; his eyes showed that he was intimidated and nervous. It was quiet clear that Chance was just trying to seem brave. But inside, he was feeling scared. "Hey don't worry Chance, I'm with you" Zoei tapped him on the back with her vines, he turned to her and smiled "Thanks Zoei" "So are we" Jacob and Aaron said together. With a grin and a nod the group walked inside the room, and the waiting Pokémon all jumped out from their hiding places and growled fiercely. With each attack that the locals made, the group easily countered it with an attack of their own. At some point in the battle Chance became separated from his friends and was being prevented from others from being reunited with them. He quickly became cornered by a Machop and Medicham "Don't make me hurt you anymore then I have to, let us go NOW!" Chance yelled over the commotion. The two smirked as the Machop yelled out "boss! Hurry over here!" in the distance Chance could hear loud thuds of what sounded like metal hitting the ground. The Umbreon stood in fear being unable to move as a very large Aggron charged at him. Chance could not move what so ever, fear finally took over his body. With a loud crash of metal hitting flesh, the smaller dark type flew across the floor smacking into every piece of rock and dirt before stopping at the wall. He struggled to stand up, feeling as if shards of earth were buried within him. The Aggron came over to him and laughed as he picked him up by his throat "This is where your adventure ends you lousy excuse for a Pokémon." it said. Chance was reaching for his neck, trying to let in air as the Aggron choked him. Zoei had just gotten free of her attackers and just so happened to look in his direction, her eyes becoming wide with terror as she stared at her friend being tortured "Chance! Hold on!" she yelled. Aggron ignored her as he slammed the dark type against the wall and punched him with a series of brick breaks. Blood spattered out of Chance's mouth and onto his fur with each punch as he slipped in and out of consciousness from lack of air.
"He is going to kill me…" Chance thought, "I can't even do anything… I'm sorry guys but I think this might be the end of me…" The giant Aggron laughed, he seemed to be enjoying the pain he was causing and took even more pride in the fact that his victim could do nothing about it. "You will not live past today, today is the day I will end you and your team. But I will make sure to make your death as slow as possible." he threw the Umbreon on the ground and stomped forcefully on his left arm breaking it. Chance screamed as if a thousand spikes had just impaled him. Jacob, Zoei and Aaron stood back in complete horror after beating the last of the Aggron's followers "If ether of you come closer, I will smash the skull of your friends here" he put the heel of his foot on the head of the Umbreon and pressed slightly on it with little pressure. Chance looked at his friends with absolute agony, he couldn't feel all that much and felt as if he was coughing up gallons of blood and body fluids "let him go!" Aaron yelled, "I don't want to have to rip your head from its shoulders! But I will!" The steel/rock type laughed loudly. He looked at the smaller Pokémon before him and sneered, "You think that you posses the strength to do anything to me? Your just runts compared to my strength!" He pressed down even harder on the beaten Umbreon's head getting a short but loud cry.
While Aggron had his attention on Chance, Jacob managed to slip away from his vision and get up behind him without being noticed. He then quickly jumped on Aggron's head and repeatedly punched him with ice punches. The others saw their chance and went to assist Jacob. Zoei used vine whip to grab the large Pokémon and render him immobile while Aaron charged up his fangs to their maximum voltage and sank them into Aggron's open neck sending blood-curdling pain to surge throughout his body with the electrical current. Eventually falling to his knees after throwing around some rather unneeded words, Aggron tried to resist the pain and fight back. Flailing his massive arms around in order to throw off the smaller Pokémon. The amount of damage that he was obtaining wasn't natural for Pokémon of their size and he seemed to find himself being impressed with it. After all no one who was right in the mind would tread in his territory unless they were stupid, or didn't know it was his mountain. His vision went blurry and soon faded to black as he fainted. The team stared at him in utter disgust "You deserved that you bastard! Feel lucky I don't rip your wind pipe from your neck!" Aaron yelled to him in a rage, taking the time to spit on him "Nobody harms my friends, Chance are you alright?" Jacob and Zoei helped the poor soul up. He looked like he wasn't able to speak, the blood that ran from his mouth seemed to be never ending. He coughed for a few seconds and made small spots of red that covered the floor below his feet "You look terrible…he really did a number on you didn't he?" Zoei said. He nodded slowly, small grunts of dismay and hurt escaping his lips as small tears fell down his face. "Why do I always have to be the one to be hurt? Why cant I just be strong enough to defend myself without the need of others." Chance said in a low and very shaken tone. It wasn't a question of wither Chance was strong enough to defend him self, but yet it is what his head had done to him. "No one here thinks any less of you Chance, you should know that by now. But it was very stupid of you to try and fight him alone." Zoei explained. She was naturally caring towards anyone she was friends with, but as caring as she is she knows not to sugar coat anything and openly expresses her opinions about anything. He spit some blood on the floor again "I don't think I need you to tell me that, I can tell that for myself. Thank you very much now lets hurry up and find the kid" he began to walk up the slope to their target floor. No one else followed him.
He turned around and was somewhat confused that none of them followed. "Come on what are you guys waiting for?" Zoei spoke up "You know what Chance, you have been acting some what of an ass since we got this job. First with Aaron earlier today, and now with me. I don't appreciate it." Chance's face scrunched up, he took the comment as an offense to his leadership of the group. He stood over the smaller of his friends and frowned "What do you mean by that? You mean to say that I have been angry this whole time?" She gave him a stern glare "Yes. You have been nothing but upset the whole trip!" he turned back towards the slope as she continued "There is absolutely no reason for it, because none of us have done anything to you. Are you upset about being defeated by that walking pile of rock and iron?" Chance froze. Wither it be from anger or embarrassment, he did not know. "I…no its not, I just want to get this done." a silent but soft sigh came from Zoei's lips "Look, I'll tell it to you straight. You are trying WAY to hard." his ears perked up "Try to relax a little, I know its important but you running around stressing yourself out isn't going to help anyone Especially us. Just breath man!". For a minute it seemed that the little pep talk had worked, his repetitive deep breaths had indeed calmed him down to a understandable level. His companions had known for years that he was prone to being a little 'hard-headed'. Putting others before himself in most cases, especially when that other person was a child. But never quiet understood why, even he didn't know the answer to this. It was curious nonetheless and under normal circumstances seemed like nothing at all but him trying to be caring. But in new light it seemed that there was more to it. His compassion and friendly nature towards younger Pokémon children made him seem like a completely new person. More like a guardian for such, rather than a stranger. Sluggishly, Chance moved again up the slope with the others close behind.
Arguing and fighting, that's all the entire trip has been up until this point. Complete and utter distress. It was to be expected though, when you're tired and a little hungry your mood will become a little less then desirable. When they had come up to a fork in the road there was only two options. Go left or go right. Chance had quickly come up with a plan and a rather smart one in his opinion. "Ok I think I know how to find the little guy quicker. Lets split up" the look on everyone's faces made them seem as if they thought this was a bad idea "Split up? Have you lost your mind? How would we signal each other if one of us found him?" Chance huffed "No I mean we split up into two groups of two. I'll go with Aaron, and Zoei you go with Jacob. We don't need to worry about signaling each other ether. Just eat this when you find him and we will be there in no time at all." he dug through the treasure bag and pulled out a roll call seed. He handed it to Jacob who then put it underneath his floatation sac for safe keeping. The two groups parted ways to continue their search for the lone mudkip.
After walking into a few rooms with no luck at finding the little guy Chance and Aaron began to get a little skeptical. Aaron spoke to Chance after they entered the next room "Are we even sure that this is the right floor? I mean if this is the mission floor one of us should have found him by now don't you think?" "Yes I guess your right, maybe he moved to a different floor to…" his voice trailed off tone when he noticed a light blue fin sticking out from behind one of the boulders. Chance lowered his voice to a whisper and pulled Aaron closer "Hey look over there" he pointed at the boulder and Aaron saw what he was referring to. They both walked as quietly as possible over the rock and peered behind it. What they saw wasn't what they had expected to see, the kid was of course there but he was in way worse condition then they had thought. He had multiple wounds, mostly bruises, around his entire body with cuts here an there. "Ok Aaron eat the roll call seed, we found him" upon ingestion of the plant Zoei and Jacob were teleported to them, and Zoei was not happy with what she saw. She sat next to the youngling and pulled him close as he cried "Did you two find him like this?" they nodded "Yup, we just arrived here and ate the seed" she turned back and tried to calm the child "its going to be fine, we are here to bring you home. Come on lets go."