"Nice too see you again Dustin" Nelly says with a warm smile
"You too Nelly, but what are you guys doing here in Johto?" I question
"Oh our airship is in for repairs in Goldenrod dock, Timmy, Tammy and Ollie are all with it. Joe heard some whispers about something in the cave he wanted to check out" She responds
"The singing siren!" Joe shouts jumping in front of me causing to jolt
"Stop it!" Nelly says smacking his head
"Oh come on no fun!" He says rubbing the back of his head
"Oh, I did hear someone mention that in Violet City, no one knows what it is but weird noises are coming from deep in the cave"
"Correct, very astute" Come a feminine voice
Up walk a diminutive brown haired girl, she's about my height in stature. She has thick set black glasses, her hair is pulled into two braids which hang down her back, she wear blue dungarees, with thick black boots
"Dustin this is Harriet" Nelly says to me introducing us
"Pleasure to meet you" I say holding my hand out which she takes and shakes rather woodenly
"Harriet is our Pokemon expert" Joe says proudly
"I'm not a Pokemon expert I am a Pokemon biologist, which is a specialized scientist who dedicates their career to the study and understanding of Pokemon biology, behaviour, and ecology. These professionals play a crucial role in expanding our knowledge of the diverse world of Pokemon. Here is a detailed description of a Pokemon biologist: One expertise in Pokemon biology: A Pokemon biologist possesses an in-depth understanding of the biological aspects of Pokemon species. They have extensive knowledge of various Pokemon types, their anatomical structures, reproductive processes, and genetic makeup. Two field research: Much of a Pokemon biologist's work involves conducting field research to observe Pokemon in their natural habitats. They often work in diverse environments, from forests and caves to oceans and mountains, to study Pokemon behaviour, interactions, and adaptations to their surroundings." She responds rather quickly and robotically
"You talk way too fast" Joe says slumping down
"Regardless, this singing siren is probably a Pokemon in distress and we must help it" She continues
"You bet and with Dustin accompanying me we will get there in no time!" Joe says with a sudden burst of energy
"I doing what?" I question
He turns to me
"You're gonna help me! Plus you never know it might be a strong Pokemon down there you can catch"
I swell with excitement at the thought of a strong Pokemon
"Okay I'm in"
"Excellent, you two stay here and keep guard, Me and Dustin have got this" Joe says before confidently striding into the cave
"Hey wait up!" I shout chasing after him
"I give them a 10% chance of success" Harriet murmurs
"10%?! Thats pretty high" Nelly exclaims
"Thats only because Dustin is with him"
"So Joe what's the plan?" I question as we wander into the cave
Its very dark and damp as any cave would be, lined along the walls are small globe like light powered by what I assume is oil as there is a flame inside
"Find the noise and go from there" Joe responds confidently
"Thats it?! What if its a super strong Pokemon?!"
"Ah don't worry about that, me and Char….oh" HE says patting his pocket before stopping dead
"What is it?"
"Uh well, I may have left all my Pokemon on the ship" He says with an embarrassed face
"Can't you get them sent here?!"
"No signal in here now, I do have this one but he's not much of a battler" he says throwing out a ball
A small Poocheyena emerge and bounds around its trainers legs
"Oh jeez"
"Well we have your guys! Lets meet the troops!" Joe shouts changing to his normal upbeat personality
"Uh well" I say throwing up my three balls
Chikorita and Totodile land down first, Chikorita immediately jumps to my shoulder not wanting to be down on the wet floor, it grimaces due to the lack of sunlight, Totodile begins to jumps and dance around before Poocheyena begins to chase it and they start an impromptu game of tag. Quilava is the last who touches down next my feet, it brushes up against my legs before sitting below me
"A Quilava! So Cool!" Joe exclaims
"Quil…"
Quilava pushes through my legs hiding behind me peer round timidly
"You're okay, this is Joe he is my friend" I say calmly down to Quilava
"Sorry! I can be too loud sometimes, I always wanted a Quilava when I was younger"
"Did you not not come to Johto?" I question
"No, as soon as the junior championship ended I got offered a scholarship in Unova. Thats how I ended up working with Professor Juniper. Anyway! These three will be fine, we will have found that siren in no time!"
"MOOOHOOH!"
The sound waves it way through the cave
"That must be it, Pooch you able to follow?" Joe says looking down to Poocheyena
"Pooch!" It calls back chasing off down the cave followed closely by Totodile
"Hey wait up!" Joe shout running after them
"Here we go" I mumble chasing after them
We chase around the cave for around 30 minutes, Poocheyena stop every so often listens again for faint movement and runs the opposite way, Totodile battles a few Zubat and Sandshrew that get startled. We eventually stop in front a rock that Poocheyena just continues to bark at.
"Pooch its just a rock?" Joe says confused
"Joe, ha, we've ha been running for ages" I pant
"Oh yeah, sorry Pooch really got in the zone, but now he's stuck on this rock"
I look at the rock and move up to it, I hold my hand to the bottom of it, I feel a small breeze hit my hand
"Its covering a gap" I say turning to Joe
"How can you tell!"
"There air coming up from below it, can you help me move it?"
Joe walks up and begins to push with me, Quilava also helps out while the other three sit behind watching. It finally moves revealing a cave below, there a long brook of water runs down. Joe drops down first and helps me down on to the side of the brook. Totodile swims and gushes about in the water while Poocheyena continues to chase down the sound
"MOOOHOOH!"
"Lets keep moving this way!" Joe shout before being hit
"WOOOP!"
Two stream of huge water hit him directly, two Woopers jumps out and block our path
"Hey!" Joe shouts
"Thats rude!"
"Woo Woo!" they stand in the way calling out aggressively
"Oh its a battle you want! Poocheyena Tackle!"
Poocheyena rushes in before being blasted back into Joes arm unable to fight
"Oh damn!"
"Totodile, Scratch!"
Totodile jumps out of the water and hit one head on with a hard scratch
"Quilava Quick Attack!"
Quilava burst forward and hit the other square as they roll back into a heap, they jump up sniveling slightly
"WOOO WO OOWOO!" They call out
Out of the water bursts a huge Quagsire that below at us
"Quilava Flame Wheel!"
Quilava rolls up and bursts forward slamming Quagsire who catches him, it blasts it head on with a water gun leaving Quilava unconscious on the floor
"Return, Totodile use Bite!"
Totodile jumps forward but is slammed back by Quagsire with its tail, I catch him but he tries to wrestle away from me to fight on
"Chiko, I need you okay?"
Chikorta looks at me nods and jumps down defiantly
"Let Chiko handle this Toto" I say placing him down
"Chikorita, Razor Leaf!"
Chikorita waves its head and fires off barrage of leaves they skim Quagsire who dodges
"Quag!" it shouts firing off a glob of mud that resembles Mud Slap
"Dodge it!"
Chikorita jumps and touches off the wall to dodge
"Grab it with your vines!"
Chikorita wraps it around Quagsire and begins to try and lift it off the ground but is struggling. Quagsire rears it head forming a ball of bright white energy
"Thats Ice Beam!" Joe shouts
"Chikorita you need to let go and move"
"Chiko!" it calls out still struggling slightly lifting Quagsire of the ground throwing it off
"Oh I get it" I mumble
"You got it Chikorita lift it off the ground!"
"Chiiiiiiiiko!"
Chikorita becomes enveloped in bright blue light, it rushes and bursts revealing its new form
"Bay!"
"You evolved!" I shout
Quagsire finally composes itself ready to fire
"Bayleef uses your new weight to flip it!"
Bayleef deftly lifts up Quagsire and slmas it into the ground leaving it unable to go on
"Woop!"
The two Wooper race up chirping at Quagsire checking its okay
"Dustin, now we need to move!"
Joe races forward still coddling Poocheyena
"Bayleef come on!" I shout running forward with Totodile in my arms
"Bay!"
We charge down the path before eventually coming out into a large opening pool of water
"Is that where you could hear it Pooch?" Joe question
"Barf!" It barks in confirmation
"I see, well I don't see anything, maybe its under water?" Joe says
"Toto, can you dive down and take a look?"
"Toto!" it runs up and dives down into the water
It circles around for a while, you can make out it small shadow in the water every so often, it starts to speed to the surface followed closely by a much large shadow, it burst out and lands before me while it leaves the other Pokemon in the water
"LAP!"
In the water sits a Lapras, it looks at our little group timidly
"Oh wow, thats a surprise" Joe says looking out onto the water
"A Lapras in a cave, I thought they were sea creatures" I question
"They are generally, the cave does lead out into the cave, not sure how it would have gotten here, it looks young though"
I pull out my phone and pull up Lapras dex entry, the Lapras in front of us is much smaller. Generally the average size of a Lapras is 8'2", this one must be at least half of that
"Toto, can you go and talk to it?" I say crouching down
"Toto!"
It jumps into the water and swims up slowly to Lapras, it calls up at it, it responds timidly again before looking towards the back of the cave, Totodile rushes back to us. It jumps up out of the water before bouncing up and down wailing pointing toward the back of the cave
"Oh I see" Joe says
"What?"
He points to the back of the cave
"There was a storm a few days ago around here, I would imagine Lapras was with its pod but the weather may have caused them to get separated. It probably came into the cave to get shelter, however looks like the way out been block by that rock"
I peer around Lapras to see a huge rock in the way of the a path out of the back of the cave
"Oh, do you think that Quagsire was protecting Lapras then?"
"Possibly, if human found out a rare Pokemon like Lapras was down here the cave would become saturated with them so its also probably doing it for its own benefit"
"Well, how do we get it out? It has to get back to its family?" I ask
"I don't really know, Bayleef won't be able to get close enough to lift the rocks, the only one who could get there is Totodile"
"Toto!"
Totodile leaps into the water and rushes up to the rocks slamming it with a scratch attack but it does nothing
"Totodile, try water gun! It might shift them!"
It leaps up and slams the rocks with the water, the slightly shift but don't move at all
"Toto….."
"Lap…" Lapras calls out sadly before beginning to sing
"MOOOHOOH!"
"Is it singing to try and gets its pod to come back?" I question Joe
"I would have thought so, its tries to attract it family back to help move the rocks so it can get back to the sea"
"So its family might be on the other side?"
"Possible but, Lapras normally move quickly"
"Well then we have to move those rocks!" I shout before taking my jacket off
"Dustin, what are you doing?"
"I'm going in, maybe I can move it along with Totodile"
"Okay, well I'm coming too!" Joe says beginning to take off his jacket
Eventually we are both in our underwear and shirts before wading into the pool, I swim up to Lapras who loos scared
"Its okay, we're going to help you get back to your family okay?" I say reassuringly
"Lap..Lap!"
It swims up to the side of the pool and moves it back towards Bayleef
"Bayleef, it letting you on its back so you can help us move stuff!" I shout to her
"Bay!" She jumps on and we begin to swim up to the rock
Me and Joe clamber up, I slip slightly causing concern but I compose myself
"Okay Bayleef, grab a hold!"
Between Joe, Bayleef and myself we manage to move most of them however, some of them are submerged and way to heavy for Bayleef to lift out of the way.
"Lapras, do you think you can get by?" I question
It swims up and tries to push through the gap but is unable to due to the one large rock in the middle
"Toto!"
Totodile jumps down from Lapras back and begin to slam its hands into the rock, it hand glow up and shine
"Thats Rock Smash?" Joe question
"Yes Toto! You got this, give it all you got!"
It continues to slams its hands into the rock before the shining takes over its whole body, it warbles and changes shape
"Croco!"
It burst open in its new form of Croconaw, it slams a blue and white fist into the rock splintering it immediately
"You did it!" I shout jumping down onto it
"Croco!" It calls back happily
"Lapras, you should be able to move out onto the ocean now, you wouldn't mind giving us a lift though?" Joe questions
"Lap!" It call happily nodding
I return Bayleef and catch a hold of Croconaw who guides us back to our stuff, we get dressed before jumping to Lapras who take us out of the cave to open water. The sun is now beginning to set, the water is very calm
"MOOOHOOH!" Lapras calls out as we jump to a nearby bit of land
"There you are!" comes a shout
We look up to the hillside and there is Nelly along with Harriet
"Hey guys! We found the siren!" Joe shout up as I wave along
"Oh interesting I heard about a pod around here recently, they moved now and are near to Unova" Harriet calls out coldly
"What?!" I shout
"Lap….."
"Harriet! We were going to let that news settle in slowly!" Joe says sharply
I turn to Lapras who looks anxiously out onto the sea, it chops and wobbles
"But Lapras won't be able to survive on its own" I mumble
I feel a swell of emotion in my chest before a steely determination take over
"Lapras! Come with me!"
"Lap…"
"Bayleef and Croconaw, we really wanted to get you back to your pod, with them gone I don't want you to be alone so, come with us. We on a journey to get the badge in the Johto region, you don't have to battle if you don't want too but, I want you to be part of our team!"
Lapras looks out onto the sea before turning back to me still dripping with water
"Lap!" It shouts out nodding
I swell up with emotion again
"Okay!" I say pulling a Pokeball from my bag and throwing it up, it touches down on Lapras's head lightly, it zips inside and plops down into the water, it rolls three times and confirms the capture. It grab it and touch it to my head
"Welcome to the team"
Nelly and Harriet helps us up the hill back to where the Pokemon Centre is
"So we literally could have just go through there, damn" Joe says
"It was an adventure though wasn't it" I say happily
"You betcha kid you did great!" Joe says wrapping his arm round my shoulder
"ARGGGG!"
We look off into the distance to see Braiary and Charizard speeding towards us
"Hey guys!" Joe shouts out as they drop down
Charizard hand a note to Joe which he reads aloud
"Captain, the ship is ready to depart"
"Okay I guess that means we are off, we have a special event in Galar to get too!" Joe exclaims
"Congratulations Dustin, I hope you and Lapras do well together" Nelly says with a smile before clambering to the back of Charizard
"You did well, you will go far" Harriet adds before climbing onto Braviary
"Thank you both, it was nice too meet you Harriet"
"For you Dustin" joe says handing me a small pin
"Whats this?" I question holding it in my hand, it look similar to a feather from the head of a Pidgeot
"That a pin that we all wear, you are an honorary Blazing Wind member after today!"
"Oh wow! Uh thank you so much!" I say pinning it to my backpack
"See ya soon kid, you ever need us just give us a shout" He says with a wink before jumping to Charizard
"Thank you! See you soon!" I shout behind them as they head off
"He's really coming on Ryan" Joe says spinning in his captains chair
"I'm pleased to hear, a Lapras is a good capture plus I didn't get a Croconaw till Goldenrod when I was in Johto"
"He cares a lot for Pokemon too, I don't think he quite as skilled a battler as he could be but there potential"
"Oh don't worry about that, I got that covered for when he get to Olivine"
"Ohhhhh you going to set Tom on him are you?"
"Not set but, it would be helpful for them to meet don't you think" Ryan questions
"I do, maybe tell him to not be too intense though"
"I will do, he's got to get through the forest first though, see if he can pass that trial"