After going to the sewers behind the Ranger Base, I then proceeded to go through the slightly wet walkways, which I didn't recoil at, being part steel type Pokemon with Magearna's genes in my body... as for Emolga?
"YUUCCCK! This place smells disgusting!" she complained, me then looking at the water and seeing that... the water itself was not bad-looking. So that definitely meant that this was a set of sewers that sent water into the city for drinking.
"It's not in the water, it's coming from those guys over there," I said in Emolga's Pokemon speak, pointing out that there was a group of Grimer on the sides of the water, looking like they were waiting to go into it, waiting for some kind of command to do so. I then went in and proceeded to capture the Grimer with ease, as it was just two of them, which, upon capturing them, all the gunk they'd placed on the paths had evaporated into nothingness. And after I did so, I then saw the Fall Ranger arriving to assist being a girl, just like me, and her actually wearing a face mask.
"GAUGH! This stuff reeks like no tomorrow! How are you not affected by it?" she asked in disgust.
"I'm mixed with steel type. Steel types no smell," I said, her then gagging at seeing the Grimer.
"I envy you for that... gugh, let's go, guys," she said after and leading the duo of Grimer back to the entrance, me then going forward once again and then, I heard some noise coming from a nearby set of tubes, them being the ones that led further into the level.
"Ugh, why do we gotta muck in these filthy sewers? What's even the point?" I heard a male voice ask, me recognizing it as being Clyde, the only one of the Go Rock Quads that spoke in the Krokka Tunnel.
"Because the boss told us that we can use the Grimer to ruin the water supply. And then, we dress one of our underlings up like a Ranger and claim that a Ranger did it, them taking the fall for our plan," said the female voice, me frowning at how it HAD to be Tiffany. I then rushed forward into the sewers and then, found the four speaking to a group of five Grimer, them then speaking to them.
"Okay, Grimer, you go out and find more places to infect with disgust and disease. And maybe we can give you dinner after," Billy said with a smirk, me then feeling that it was problematic, so I then proceeded to speak to Emolga.
"Emolga, go out there and zap the Grimer so I can capture them," I said, her nodding as she rushed out and zapped every one of them, which made the quartet gasp at how a blast of electricity had paralyzed the five Grimer, me then rushing forward and capturing all of them in a single group of loops, me smirking as I then looked at the four and they looked at me with concern.
"Y-YOU?! We aren't even ready to perform yet! Let's get out of here, guys!" Billy shouted as he and the others then rushed out of the place via running back the way that we'd come from. And then, the one to come out was the same female ranger, who looked at me with concern.
"I saw a group of silver-haired blokes rushing through here. Who were they?" she asked, me then going into the calling part of the Styler and gave a message to Joel.
"Joel, important update. Found out a group of Go Rock members were in the sewers causing the Grimer infestation. Get a group of rangers to go to each of the sewer exits and entrances to try and capture them," I said with my mind machine, which Joel then spoke into after.
"Roger, Beth, good work, how many Grimer have you found?" he asked.
"7, so far. How many are there?" I asked.
"According to the most recent captured member, there are 12 Grimer and 1 Muk. Keep going and find all of them," he said, me nodding as I then proceeded to do just that, needing to capture and befriend some other different Pokemon in the Corphish (who were massive jerks), Croconaw, Tangela, and a Drowzee, me then using all of their skills to assist in finding the rest of the Grimer and the Muk in the sewers, all of them having been caught before a single drop of their gunky bodies could be sent into the water supply.
"Okay, I think my nose is done forever. I can't smell anything anymore..." the ranger partner I'd been traveling with said, me smiling at her.
"What's your name, fellow no-smell?" I asked with my mouth.
"Funny... my name's Jewels. I like gems," she said, me smiling at that.
"So do I, 'specially emeralds," I smirked.
"Not diamonds?"
"Too expensive buy, not worth thing when sold," I said, her smiling at that.
"Yeesh, tell me about it. I tried to sell my grandmother's diamond ring when she died, but it only went for 2 grand when it was bought for 30 K," she admitted, me sighing at that.
"Yep, checks out," I sighed, seeing that the diamond scams even existed in this world. Yeah, I still had to remind myself that I once came from the real world, as the Pokemon world did look the same as my own, just with the Pokemon looking like the anime counterparts while the humans did not. It was so bizarre. And that's why my appearance always turned heads, as parts of me were anime-like and the rest of me was dull human. Regardless, we escorted the Grimer and Muk out of the sewers and, after doing so, we then finally released them, and we saw that they were off towards the Krokka Tunnels.
"They come from deep in the Krokka Tunnels. I'll go after them to make sure they don't get lost. Consider this a completed mission," Jewels smiled, me nodding as I then led me and my Emolga back to the Ranger Base, me seeing that she was looking a bit ill, so I went ahead and gave her an antidote, which she took and returned back to normal.
"Thanks, I felt so sick from the smell..." she admitted.
"You're welcome, little lady," I smiled at her. And once entering the base, I saw that we'd gotten a total of 3 new captives, all of them being cuffed to each other and the nearby desk, me smirking at that.
"You did very well, Beth. Not only did you manage to save the sewers from getting infected with Grimer gunk, but you also assisted in the capture of more Go-Rock Squad members. For that, you're now ranked up to Rank 4," Joel said, me smiling at that and the fact I'd been ranked up thrice so early on. "Now, unfortunately, the captives in question haven't been very talkative. Maybe you can try to get to them?" Joel asked, me then looking at the trio and perking my long ears up, which made it so that I was now able to hear anything in their bodies.
And when I did, I deduced their age from seeing their bodies and their heartbeats. The youngest was actually 13, as she was much shorter and had a much more rapid heartbeat. The middle of the ages was 23, having been still in development in the mind as well as being the middle of height. And the final of the trio was a male that was 51, me then determining that he was actually the other two's father, as he had the same kind of heartbeat as the others and a similar style to the two daughters.
"Okay, I'll ask now. What your names?" I asked, the trio looking at each other and then at me.
"Why do you want to know?" asked the father, me smiling.
"Good cop? Or bad cop?" I asked, the trio frowning.
"Is that supposed to be a threat? We're already captured, caught red-handed, and we're just taking the fall," the elder sister frowned, me then seeing something else as my ears picked something up. The younger sister had quite a full bladder and I saw she was needing to go to the bathroom. And the other sister was super hungry. And the dad was thirsty, as he was caught when tuckered out from running through the sewers to try and escape the Rangers that were waiting for him.
"Hmph, very well. If that's the case, then I'll simply give some rules," I said with my mind helmet speaking for me. "You, little lady, will not get to go to the potty unless you tell us your name." Her gasp was palpable. "You, middle girl, will be given a single cookie for every meal and nothing else." And she was angry at me saying that. "And you, daddy, will not be allowed to get any water unless you do 7 hours of community service," I said, him then gawking before then getting a furrowed brow.
"What are you even doing?" Joel asked before the trio then did something he was shocked at.
"OKAY WE'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!" they cried out, me then regretting having my ears perked up, as I got them hurt after, me then making them back to normal as they sung like a kettle.
"The Go-Rock Squad's boss wants the Super Styler to be upgraded to be able to catch any Pokemon without any issue and force them to be used on command!" the dad said, followed by the eldest daughter.
"She plans to make a Styler so powerful, it can catch even a Legendary or Mythical with just a few pushes of a button! And she's developing special Stylers for her commanders, the Quads!" the eldest sister shouted. Wait... she?
"Her name is Gruntilda Winkybunion! NOW PLEASE! I really have to pee!" the 13-year-old shouted, me then doing my best to hide my shock at the last part. Gruntilda? The haggard witch from Banjo-Kazooie? What in the heck was SHE doing here?!
"Okay, guys, give them what they need the most. You, little one, go to the bathroom. Back right door by the save machine," I said, unshackling her from the trio and her then immediately running for the bathroom, being guarded by another ranger in Aria. "You, middle one, get to join us for dinner with your family. And you, daddy, get to have any drink you want from any of the stores nearby, any size, any flavor," I said, the last of the two then sniffing and about to cry.
"Um... wow... I didn't expect you to do it so well," Tio admitted.
"Yeah, how did you know what to do to get under their skin?" Aria asked me.
"My ears, when perked, hear much more. Teen had full bladda, young woma growling tum, old man parched and panting," I said with my mouth, me smiling at how I'd managed to get almost a coherent sentence into play.
"Huh... you got us, but you do promise that you'll deliver?" the old guy asked, me nodding at that.
"Yes, especially since you also gave us the name of the boss of your group. Gruntilda Winkybunion... man, I have never once heard a more ugly-sounding name than that. I have to wonder where she's working at with the Super Styler," Joel frowned.
"That, unfortunately, is classified information to all of the grunts of the squad. Only the Quads would know that information, and good luck getting it out of them. Their father has been captured by Gruntilda and is being used like a dangling carrot to get them to do what she says," the middle girl said. "But, if you want to know, since you are going to deliver, my name is Joan, my dad is Hank, and the little tinkler is Bell," she said, me smiling and nodding.
We then proceeded to wait for Tinkle Bell (I didn't even say it out loud, because it'd ruin the moment), I helped the group to a small pizza party from a local Fall City pizza place, which is also where Hank got his preferred drink, an Oran Berry milkshake. He even offered me a drink for helping them out. And when I tasted it, it was heavenly! It tasted fruity, delicious, and frothy! Oh, and sweet. SUPER SWEET! I'd never had a milkshake that tasted so good before in my entire life.
"Well, before we do anything else, we need to have a bit of a rest, as we've been told that the Go-Rock Squad has gone into hiding. But as for you, Beth, when you get up tomorrow, I'm going to have you inspect Summerland due south. But before that, you'll need to ask the Lapras guy at the harbor if you can hitch a ride on his Lapras to the island community, as we've halted all ships until the Go-Rock Squad situation is finally resolved. We don't need them to spread out to other regions besides Fiore," Joel said, me nodding as I then finally went to the dorms, being joined by other Fall City rangers and our current captives, me insisting that the trio of family members sleep together in the guest cots, which they were grateful for rather than sleeping inside of a dingy, cold prison bed... of course, the other captives we'd had as of now wanted to join, but I told them something simple.
"Give info, you get good cop. You hold back, though, so bad cop," I said, them pouting afterwards, but knowing they couldn't backtalk me. They barely told us anything other than the fact that the Go-Rock Squad wanted to pollute the sewers and give the Rangers a bad name. We needed facts, locations, identities, and routes of where the squad was going. Especially now that I knew that Gruntilda, the cartoon witch of horrid power and magical might, had since taken the charge of the game and held the original big bad as a hostage... what evils could she do in his stead? And just HOW did she get into this world, even?! I just had to wonder as I then finally fell asleep...
Meanwhile, in hiding in the abandoned factory in Fall City, the Go-Rock Quads were waiting by the entrance, wondering when they'd get an audience with their new most hated person.
"Ugh, I'm so worried, guys! What if she's just messing with us and killed him?" Tiffany asked, being the youngest and the biggest worrier of the group.
"She said 'no strings attached', whenever she spoke to us... but why she told us in rhyme, I still have no idea about," Billy, the eldest of the quartet, frowned in annoyance. After waiting until the midnight moon came up, the doors finally opened and they then gawked at how the one who emerged was the exact same person that they'd been hoping to see. And the second-most important person they wanted to see was in some weird floating cage alongside her.
"Well, you've done well, my little pretties!
But maybe you should start bowing on your knees!" the ugly, fat, green-skinned hag cackled, the four then gulping as they saw that their father was trapped in a cage that he couldn't escape and none of them could do a thing about it. They had to kneel, even though they hated it.
"Okay, we did as you asked, now please, give us our father back," Garrett said with anger in his eyes.
"Eeheeheeheeheehaaa! But that would be too easy, no flair at all!
A man like him would be perfect for the fall.
Unless you lot want to see him in jail.
You will do as I say, you buckets of kale!" Gruntilda cackled, the four then grumbling before then looking at their father.
"Say we weren't to do this. What would happen?" Clyde asked with concern.
"Your father will become 5 inches high!
And then my foot would make him fly," Gruntilda said, which Tiffany gulped at. She and all the others had already seen that this witch had some bizarre kind of magic in her, able to fly in the air and protect herself from attack with a barrier of electricity and send fireballs at them as well when they tried to fight her off.
"Okay... if we do this, you have to promise us that our father will not be harmed. And you will allow him to be freed," Billy said with seriousness, which Gruntilda sneered at, with a smile.
"Very well, the deal is set!
Your father is freed, but he'll soon forget!
Everything spoken he will not recall
For a whole week before I came to stall," she said, making the old man's memory completely blank for everything that had happened in the past week, her then giving his sleepy form to the four and smirking at them.
"Now get him back to his place, then come back for your new instruments of destruction," she smirked, speaking no rhymes for a change, that making the four know that she wasn't joking around. They then carried their father the whole way to his house in the upper parts of the apartment complex, making sure that nobody saw them as they then laid him down on his bed and he then put the covers on him.
"I'm so scared right now... what will he be like when he wakes up?" Tiffany asked, the eldest then speaking after.
"Leave him a not, saying that we're working for someone else to keep him safe... that if we refused, he would've been killed. And that, when we meet again, it'll only be after one of two options. The Rangers succeeding, or Gruntilda," Billy said, the four then doing so and then signing their names on it before then placing the note in the printer. They made five copies and placed one in each of their father's preferred areas of the fridge, the dresser, the pictures, the door, and the television.
"We'll put on one heck of a show, pops, no matter what happens," Clyde said with a sigh before they then went all the way back to the factory. It was time to be given the low down by the lowest of people in Fiore as of now.
