02 - 03
"Even the police won't do anything!" Cindy says in frustration as she and her two friends walk through the traffic of Pokémon. "What kind of city allows criminals to just roam free?!"
"Cindy—"
"Don't you start!" she hisses at the flinching Vulpix. "I don't care if they have a lot of things to do! They should do their jobs better than just sending us away!"
Shino sighs. The police did help them file a case report, but they were just too busy with other things, mostly with the festival next week.
There's also a natural reason as to why the police don't prioritize these kinds of reports at the moment.
"Heat season is no excuse to just dismiss us!" Cindy hisses. "Vixie's not even in heat yet!"
The white Vulpix sighs. "Let's just...drop the issue for now, okay?"
"How can you easily dismiss this?" Cindy asks. "Why am I the only one worrying about this?!" She turns to the yellow Shinx. "Say something!"
He frowns at her. "Calm down."
"I AM CALM!" she screeches, her back ablaze, making the other Pokémon in the street to stop and stare at them. She snorts fumes of smoke and continues walking.
Shino sighs as Vixie chuckles quietly. She turns to him as they walk after their friend. "Somehow I can see a lot of yelling in you two once you get together."
He glares at her, and then smirks. "She's louder in bed."
The Vulpix's cheeks burn bright red as the Shinx laughs.
"It's not funny!" Cindy yells at him, unaware of why he was laughing.
A happy Nickit places a large tray of food on the trio's table. "Here you are!" she says quietly yet proudly, standing tall. "Please enjoy!"
The Shinx blinks as he watches the young dark-type walking towards an empty table, and starts collecting the dirty dishes. "Is it just me," he says, turning back to his two friends, "or was she chipper than usual?"
"Who cares," Cindy says as she starts eating.
He looks back and sees the Nickit walking in the kitchen. "And was she wearing a rescuer's badge?" Shino asks with a frown. "Isn't she too young to be a rescuer?"
"Like I said, who cares?" the fire-type asks as she chews.
The ice-type chuckles. "Watch out, Shino. Someone's jealous."
The fire-type glares at her and retorts—
"WHEN WILL THESE DISHES STOP COMING?!" a loud yell resonates from the kitchen, making a few customers chuckle.
"STOP COMPLAINING AND JUST DO YOUR JOB!" a booming male voice erupts.
"Sounds like they got a new hire," Cindy comments.
"About time they hired a new help," Shino says before taking a bite from his meal.
"A fine choice there, lad," the Keckleon says with a smile as Shino hands the orb to Vixie. "Will that be all for today?"
"Any reviver seeds?" Cindy asks. "We're going to a place we haven't gone before, so it's better to be safe than sorry."
"Hm," the merchant hm's, rubbing his chin in thought. "I've got the tiny ones in the crate behind me. Would those suffice?"
She shrugs. "Better than nothing."
He smiles and nods. "Alright, lass. Please excuse me as I go grab them." He turns around and jumps inside the large crate.
Vixie blinks in confusion.
Shino turns to the fire-type and playfully punches her shoulder. "Who are you and what have you done to my dear friend?"
"Do that again and I'll bite you."
"Kinky," he says with a wink.
She glares at him, but then smirks and punches his shoulder as well. "We have a date tonight. I don't want anything bad happening to us three while we go rescue..." She looks at the smiling ice-type. "Who are we rescuing again?"
"Here they are," the merchant announces, placing five yellow seeds on his stall. "How many will you be buying today, lass?"
"We'll take all of them," the fire-type quickly replies.
The yellow Shinx lets out a whistle as the Cyndaquil grabs all the seeds and puts them inside Vixie's bag.
"Hey, leader," Cindy says, turning to him with a smile. "Pay for the merchandise," she smirks and starts walking towards the gate.
"Wait, what?" Shino asks as Vixie laughs and walks after her. "Hey!"
The merchant laughs as the yellow Shinx groans and catches his wallet flung to him by the fire-type. He pays the Keckleon and grumpily walks after his two friends waiting for him by the gate.
"Took you long enough," Cindy says with a smirk.
Shino glares at her after handing his wallet to Vixie. "I'm taking two-thirds of the total amount from you two."
"I left my wallet in my apartment," Vixie says.
"Same," Cindy nods.
"Bullshit," Shino says, rolling his eyes. Accepting his badge Vixie is handing him, he raises it up. "Call, Ariados!"
A beam of light shots up from the badge and into the heavens, and then a larger beam of light lands in front of the trio. As quickly as it appears, the light disappears, leaving behind the large Ariados staring at them.
"Hey there," Shino says, waving a weary paw at the giant spider.
"Why'd you summon him?" Cindy asks as Shino approaches the large bug.
"He'll be our ride," he says as he hops on the spider's back. "Could use a harness though." He offers his paw and helps Cindy up on its back, and the two then help Vixie up.
"Tight fit," Cindy says with a smirk.
He winks at her as the Ariados starts moving. "That's my line."
Vixie blushes and rolls her eyes. "I'm starting to feel like a third-wheel in this group."
"Aww." Cindy nuzzles her neck. "Sorry. We'll try not to do it often."
The Vulpix sighs. "It's fine." She smiles at her. "I'm actually happy for you two."
Cindy pats her shoulder. "You'll find someone, I know it."
Shino nods his head. "Yeah. As they say, there's a lot of fish in the sea."
Vixie frowns at him. "I prefer land-dwellers, thank you."
Shino blinks, and groans after the ice-type smirks at him. "Since when did you learn to make jokes?"
She winks at him as the fire-type chuckles.
"Thanks for the ride," Shino says as the light swallows the large bug, teleporting him back.
"How come you never say that to me," Cindy asks, feigning sadness.
"Oh my," Vixie says, throwing a sly smile at the blushing electric-type.
"A-anyway!" He turns toward the entrance of the dark forest. "Let's review."
Vixie pulls out the mission letter. "A Spinda is requesting a rescue after he fainted on the seventh floor of this forest, Tree Hollow," she reads while her two friends are standing beside her, also reading.
"Bronze rank," Cindy reads and frowns. "Well, we are bronze ranks, I guess..."
He smiles at her. "We'll rank up eventually. No reason to rush."
"Heh," Cindy smirks. "Is that for this or for something else, I wonder?"
He rolls his eyes as the ice-type puts the letter back in her bag.
Another trio of Pokémon arrive. "Yo!" a Yamper greets them. "You guys here to explore, too?"
"We're here to rescue someone," Shino explains.
"Ah," the Yamper says with a nod. "We accepted an exploration mission of this forest." He looks around. "Say, where's your spider friend?"
"We sent him back."
"Oh, was he wild?" the Yamper asks, and receives a nod from the other electric-type. "Oh, neat."
The Snubbull steps forward. "We took an exploration mission to confirm the existence of a rumored Pokémon that is said to be living here."
"Really?" Vixie asks.
"That sounds interesting," Shino says. "I wonder why anyone would want to live inside a mystery dungeon."
The Snubbull shrugs. "Who knows. They're probably really powerful if you think about it."
"Well, best of luck to both our teams!" the Yamper barks excitingly as the two groups enter the forest, teleporting each group in different parts of the dungeon.
Surrounded by large trees from all directions, the trio traverse through the forest, with the Cyndaquil taking the front and the Vulpix at the back.
"Is it just me," Vixie says, staring at the treetops, "or is this place a bit too quiet?"
As if on cue, they feel the earth shake a bit. They stop, preparing themselves. Moments later, a hole appears on the ground a few paces in front of them.
A Durant crawls out from it, and then another, and another, and another.
A total of seven armored ants stare at the trio, their antennae twitching.
"I'll handle them," Cindy says, taking a step forward.
"No, wait," Shino calls as the Durants start approaching them. Sparks surround his body. "Let me see how tough these guys are—"
In surprising speed, the Durants scurry away in random directions, startling and leaving the rescuers confused.
The earth shakes once more and a Heatmor jumps out from the ground in front of them. It glares at the trio, and then glares at one of the retreating ants. The wild breathes out large fumes of flame in the air before immediately giving chase.
The trio watch the wild go.
Hearing nothing but silence, they ease up a bit and look at each other, sharing confused chuckles.
"So what was that all about?" Cindy asks.
Shino shrugs. "No clue. Haven't seen those wilds before."
Ears twitching, Vixie turns and sees one of the Durants approaching them. "Heads up," she calls, and fires a beam of ice, hitting its head.
The armored ant stops and tries removing the solid ice stuck on its head.
A sparking blur tackles it on its side.
"Gah!" Shino yelps as he bounces back, glaring at the ant that didn't even budge from his attack. He lands on all four, and skids to a stop as his shoulder starts to redden from the powerful impact. "Cindy!"
Plumes of fire engulf the armored ant, knocking it out instantly.
"You okay?" Vixie asks as she and Cindy run and stop by him.
"I'll be fine," Shino says, hissing. "Damn, what is that thing made out of?"
"I'm glad you didn't tackle it with your head," Cindy says, chuckling.
"Har har... Let's just continue."
A few floors later...
"Well, that was boring," Cindy sighs as she and Vixie carefully puts the unconscious Spinda on the yellow Shinx's back. "The wilds here die to my fire instantly..."
"Hey," Shino smirks at her. "Easy points, wouldn't you say?"
Cindy chuckles. "There's that at least."
Vixie fishes out her badge. "Should we return outside the dungeon or at the gate?"
Both Shino and Cindy frown at her.
The white Vulpix chuckles. "Heheh." She shakes her head, and raises the badge up. "I've always wanted to try doing this." She clears her throat. "Return, Tabindagat City, eastern gate."
Three beams of light fall on them from the heavens, and they soon are teleported out of the dungeon.
The orange hues of the setting sun creates a calming scene of the buildings, boats and the docks. A cool and salty breeze breezes by as the Eevee approaches one of the office buildings by the docks.
"Hey," he calls one of the Pokémon sitting on a crate.
The Hakamo-o turns and frowns at him. "I'm on break."
"I just wanted to ask a question."
"Oh," he says, shrugging. "Well, shoot."
"There's a Buizel that works here," he says.
What she said last to him concerns him. It sounded like she was planning something bad.
Or perhaps he is just being paranoid.
"Her name was..." He blinks. "...what was it again? Sam? Sarm?"
"Skarm," the dragon-type says. "She left just this morning."
He blinks. "She left?"
The dragon-type nods and turns to the vast ocean. "On a boat. It's her job, after all."
"I see."
He looks down at him. "You want to send her a message?"
He blinks. "...how?"
The Hakamo-o looks up, places two fingers inside his jaw and let's out a loud whistle. He then extends his arm for a Wingull to land on it.
"You called?" the bird asks.
The dragon-type shrugs and gestures at the Eeveen. "Little guy wants to deliver a message to miss orange."
"That'll be twenty pokes, my guy," the Wingull says.
He blinks at the Wingull, sees no bag on him, and arches a non-existent eyebrow. "And where will you even put—you know what? Nevermind." He shakes his head, turns around and walks away.