Chapter 11
The Expedition Begins
After three days of preparation the day was finally upon them. The day when team woodland, as they had agreed to call themselves as of that day, would get some spot light of their own. Zoei had already taken everyone except for Terry to the guild for debriefing on what exactly they would be assisting with. They didn't expect anything completely comfortable by any means. No permanent place to sleep, no covered area, give or take maybe a cave, food that they would most likely have to scavenge themselves in areas they hadn't been just yet after they had exhausted what they packed. It wasn't going to be easy but they needed the money. Terry still didn't understand why Chance didn't want to go with them, so he had stayed behind to ask "I just don't want to go, there's no special reason, It just doesn't seem like something I could handle" Chance smirked as if his entire sentence was sarcastic. Chance assured him that there would be absolutely nothing that could set him off while he was here. "There is more than enough food to last me until you guys get back, I have a nice clean bed as normal, and if I need to chat will anyone I'll just go and talk with the Kecleon brothers…I mean they are a bit odd but good company. Now hurry up! The guild won't wait forever for you to show up." Terry nodded hesitantly before making his way up to the guild. Chance accompanied him outside, and then watched his Fire friend leave with a wave of goodbye with his paw. "They'll do just fine without me" he thought "they are a solid team… I would only slow them down and bring them harm…"
Terry arrived at the gate entrance a bit shaken with both anticipation and worry, on one hand he was about to go on the greatest mission they had ever been on throughout their time here! On the other hand, his best friend wasn't going with them and he was going to be stuck with those he knew very little about. It couldn't be all bad though; this would give him the chance he needed to bond a little more with them. After a quick foot check at the gate with diglet below him in the grate covered hole he climbed down the ladder inside and rejoined the rest of the team. The guild master's right hand Pokémon Chatot witnessed him behind the crowd of Pokémon after he had finished with debriefing everyone. "Hey you there, you the Charmander!" Chatot yelled over the commotion "which group are you with?" Terry paused mid step and looked at him, answering quickly "I'm with…uh team Woodland sir!" He had to remember his group's name as they only just named themselves that day. Chatot gave a hefty grunt "join your team and be quick about it! We are leaving now!" his voice, if you could even call it that, was extremely demanding. Terry would even go so far as to call it irritating.
He found everyone else and joined them wanting to hear what he missed in the meeting; Michael explained to him that they were going to a place known to the locals as fogbound lake. He told Terry that the place was shrouded in a deep thick fog that had never lifted for as long as the place had been discovered and they were now going to find this mysterious lake. "Is there any useful information that he gave you guys?" Terry asked, Aaron shook his head "that's really all we had to go on, at least that's all he told us but I doubt he knew anything else. Got to meet the guild master though and I have to say that he's a little on the…special side" "special how?" Terry asked him. Aaron tried to find the words to explain it to him "I don't know he's just weird honestly. A little screwed up in the head if you ask me" Zoei huffed as she tried to concentrate on the treasure map "can you two shut up please? I'm trying to figure out which would be the fastest way to base camp…seeing as every team has already left for it" Jacob, who had been quietly sitting on one of the wooden benches, looked around and chuckled a little bit to himself. He observed the small circle of ink near the base of one of the mountains symbolizing where base camp was going to be. "Hey isn't that Mt. Horn?" Jacob asked looking over Zoei's so called shoulder, Zoei fidgeted a little trying to get his arm off of her "yes that's Mt. Horn, the same place we saved the cute little mudkip. I hope he's doing alright…I certainly don't want to go save him again if he didn't head our warning." "That's cold Zoei" Michael said over the others "eh… I am who I am, when I give advice and people don't listen, its not my problem if they get themselves into the same situation." everyone gave a nervous sigh at her response. Zoei observed the map once more and gave a rather loud triumphant aha "I figured it out! But ill explain it to you guys on the way, we are already far enough behind as it is."
The group reluctantly followed Zoei as she lead them to their predetermined destination, avoiding any sort of large confrontations with bug type Pokémon that hung from tree tops in the forests. They rested at a small over hang that dipped over into an extraordinarily beautiful valley, which was littered with large green trees and berry shrubs. As the blue sky turned dark and the stars began to shine, they stopped to set up a quick camping sight. Michael and Aaron grabbed an odd yellow fruit that hung from a high up tree when the others were gathered around the fire Terry started. The task would have seemed impossible had Michael not known how to climb it "Hey Aaron take a look at this" he handed the berry to him "it seems like some sort of berry, never seen one like it." Aaron's eyes lit up "how can you not know what this is? It is only the best berry for healing Pokémon! A Sitrus berry!" both Pokémon examined the peculiar fruit "I've heard its taste is unmatched in flavor, and that if you eat it you can go days without eating anything else" Michael's face turned into a clever grin "dude lets cook this thing! I so want to eat it!" he felt his mouth water with anticipation. Aaron frowned just a little with a questioning look "was there any more up there?" Michael quickly sped back up the tree, searching every branch for more of the mysterious fruit. He called down to Aaron "I found four more, really plump ones to! Kind of heavy though" Aaron heard a loud cracking sound, like wood splitting. Then yelling as Michael tumbled down the tree, sounding as if he was hitting every branch on the way down. He came into contact with the ground with a heavy thud.
Aaron casually walked over to Michael helped him back to his feet. "You alright? Are the berries intact?" of course that's what Aaron was worried about. Michael grabbed all five of the Sitrus berries "yes they are alright… but I'm not" he placed a hand on his back trying to quell the heated pain from smacking the thick branches. "You'll feel better when we get these things cooked, come on I'm getting hungry." Aaron acted as support for Michael while he held the plump fruits in his other hand. When they returned to their camp site Michael handed the berries over to Zoei and went inside his tent and laid down until the food was done. Terry lit the wooden sticks with his tail flame to start the fire so that Zoei and him could begin roasting the fruit so they could eat them with whatever else they had brought along with them. Jacob gave a loud yawn when he finished his dinner "it's getting late, I'm hitting the sack… see you guys tomorrow" everyone else followed in step soon after his departure, going to sleep with full stomachs. However the next morning no one woke up in the happiest of moods, Zoei made sure that if they were going to get to base camp by sun down that they had to wake up very early. She had woken everyone up except for Aaron who she then proceeded to drag out from his tent. She glanced inside and found him covered in grass that he had fashioned into a makeshift blanket; cautiously she stood beside him and began to take the blanket off. She darted back and covered her eyes in surprise as she witnessed that he had a full on erection under the grass. Slowly she turned her head back at him, obviously he was dreaming of something arousing as he bucked his hips ever so slightly. Had she been in heat she probably would have attempted to mate just to quell the uncomfortable sensation. What struck her as odd is that she never had actually been in heat at all, she was the right 'age' in terms of years but it never happened, not once. Maybe it was the human side of her that was preventing such bodily functions which she was all too happy about. She shook off such thoughts as the idea of mating with Aaron made her feel shamefully, not that he would have been a bad match to mate with but the fact that she can't stand him a lot of the time is kind of a deal breaker. But she did end up thinking about the option for some time. But if she were too mate with him, she would do it without his noticing.
Zoei would save such an act for a later time, for now their main objective was getting to base camp. Using her vines she repeatedly, but softly, jabbed his sides waking him up. "*grunt* don't you know how early it is? Look! The sun hasn't even come up over the mountain yet, I should still be sleeping!" he was clearly unhappy with waking up so early, and everyone knew how much of an aggressive attitude he normally had when he was tired. "Well we need to get to base camp BEFORE sundown today or they leave without us so I woke everyone up to get a head start." Zoei eyed his lower area once more for only a split second "and put that thing away before you poke an eye out." Aaron looked down and realized that he was indeed exposed to Zoei, however it didn't faze him in the least. "Well if you don't like it stop staring, it's not like I have clothes to cover it up with." Zoei turned and strutted out with only the slightest of grins.
Jacob sat on the edge of the cliff and observed the valley in the orange morning sun that seemed to coat the world in a beautiful glaze of color. It made him think of his parents, about his previous life back on earth. The morning sun even made him remember the day they were sent here, the laptop, the tornado. Although these events happened at an unfortunate time he found himself happier than he ever could have been. He loved his own family back on earth, but at the same time he lost them he ended up gaining a new one. He took his red pearl necklace off of his floatation ring and studded each bead. Each small gem was like a memory he always carried with him symbolizing all the many adventures they had shared. From the time he first woke up here on the beach with chance, up until now. He stroked each pearl with his paws. They were smooth…almost silk like to the touch. For so long he had been the loner, not caring much for anyone else. Feeling afraid to reach out to others He thought back to when he first met his group of misfit friends, the outcasts that loved Pokémon and thought it would be a dream come true if they became their favorite Pokémon. He thought of home in Montana, he wondered how his parents were doing with him being gone for so long. Did they miss him? Had they been searching across the entire world? If only he could talk to them one last time to assure them that he was doing just fine.
Michael tapped him on the shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Hey were going Jacob, are you ready?" Jacob's straight face curved into a smile as the wind blew through their fur "yes I'm ready" he slipped the pearls back around his neck and gathered the last of his things. They journeyed onward to the mountain, grabbing what resources they could find while trying to catch some sort of glimpse of someone from the guild. Soon enough they returned to the entrance of Mt. Horn to see that it had changed a little; light illuminated the inside and was much easier to see the path they had previously taken. Not that it mattered much; mystery dungeons always changed their layouts every time some new team enters so trying to make a map of each floor was completely useless and a waste of some poor Pokémon's time. Zoei looked inside the lit up cave entrance, back at the treasure map, then to the cave once again. "Ok, so remember back at the guild when I said that I figured out the quickest path to base camp?" she asked facing the guys. They nodded although none of them actually remembered her saying anything "well I was a little off, I originally thought that if we went through the cave that we might get there early but… it seems that idea is no longer going to work." She explained. "Why not? That idea seems like the most reliable right about now...but" Jacob said "if that won't work why not just scale the mountain itself?" Zoei grabbed his face with her vines "you're a genius Jacob! Except for one tiny detail, how do you expect us to scale an almost 90 degree angled stone wall exactly?" Aaron got Zoei's attention and pointed at the chipped holes in the wall that led up to a more flattened cliff at the top. Zoei cringed a little bit "Aaron there is no way you and I are going to be able to climb that! Only they would be able to." "Well why don't you two hold on to one of us, I'll carry you and Jacob can carry Aaron" it wasn't the smartest of plans, nor was it the safest, but it was the only way that could get them to base camp the fastest.
Both Aaron and Zoei held onto their respective partners as the made their ascent, around half way up the group heard someone laughing quietly. Jacob looked around and found that Michael was the one laughing "what's so funny Michael" he asked struggling to find a good foothold, the more Jacob fidgeted, the more shaky and terrified he made Aaron who was holding onto him for dear life. Michael smirked "it's just that…" he chuckled once more "Zoei looks like a backpack the way she has her vines wrapped around Terry's shoulders like that" Zoei scoffed at him "I do not! Plus I don't think that this is the best time to make fun of me… wait a minute do you hear that?" everyone stopped and listened. The sound grew louder and louder and it resembled a buzzing sound. They all glanced around and saw nothing; however the sound continued to grow louder. "What is that, I don't see any… Ahhhh!" Jacob screamed at the top of his lungs when he saw a large group of beedrill heading straight for them from the forest below "Climb faster! We can't fight here!" Aaron yelled. "Why don't you electrocute them then?" Jacob said now speeding up the mountain side "if I use any of my attacks I'll hurt you to! And I don't want to fall, Zoei! Can't you use razor leaf or vine whip?" Zoei ignored him and stared at the swarm of Beedrill believing that she saw something odd in their behavior "hey I don't think there after us."
The group stopped climbing to see what she was talking about and did indeed see that the beedrill themselves were being chased by Combee and Vespiqueens "what's going on?" Jacob wondered "I think the Beedrill and the Combee Families are competing for territory, and it looks like the Combee and Vespiqueens are winning" Terry said with slight concern for them getting mixed up in the fight "well Beedrill aren't very strong anyway so I can see why they would be losing… but with numbers like that I don't see how they even could be losing, there are so little Combee and so many Beedrill and there is strength in numbers." Michael reminded them that this was none of their concern and that they had to get to their destination before sundown or else they would be left behind, when they finally climbed to a the flat peak that hung over the side of the mountain they took a quick rest to eat. Looking over the side they still saw the Combee and Vespiqueen fighting the Beedrill. "I wonder why they are fighting…" Zoei had a smug grin pasted on her face "easy! Both bug families are fighting for territory! And by the looks of it the Combee are winning" "well as long as they don't attack us I'm completely fine with them destroying each other, Come on let's eat something and find a place to sleep, I don't want to become a bug Pokémon's target practice" Michael exclaimed scarfing down his food as fast as he could "well at least there's a cave entrance up here so we don't have to climb down the other side" Aaron said grinning "Ya I don't know how much more I could have taken of Terry's tail flame slowly roasting me" Zoei laughed as did everyone else. Jacob on the other hand was going through the thoughts in his head rather than listening to everyone else "what are you thinking about Jacob?" Michael asked breaking the laughter "Hm? Oh uh I was just wondering how Chance might be doing back home without all of us there… it has been two days since we left and he HAS been there all by himself, kind of lonely don't you think? Or even boring?" "Eh he is old enough to take care of himself Jacob; he doesn't necessarily need us there to help him out. Plus I bet he has enough fun at night with himself any way with us not being there right now." Disgust covered everyone's face "Ugh gross! That's not funny Michael! Don't even say stuff like that! I don't need that image in my head…" Zoei yelled, Jacob Groaned "To late…" Aaron wandered around for some sort of covered area to sleep under and ended up stumbling across a small hollowed out hole in the stone wall big enough for just himself "Hm… warmer than I thought it would be, really comfortable actually." Aaron quickly fell into one of his deep sleeps. "Looks like Aaron has already found a place to sleep, I think I'm gona go to bed as well" Jacob yawned "see you all in the morning!"