Welcome to Gaia! ::

Client: Wooper
Mission:
"I'm so not cut out for this! Please come and rescue me quickly!"
Dungeon: Thunder Ridge
Floors: 15
Rewards: Light Ball and 1500PD

--Reserved--

Altus was walking by the Bulletin board when he saw a young Pokemon go up to it, a piece of paper clamped between his teeth. The Pokemon had light blue and black hair, with yellow highlights. The Riolu recognized it as a Shinx.

As he reached the board, the Shinx stood on its hind legs, front legs against the board, and proceeded to struggle with pinning the paper to the board. Altus walked up to the young Pokemon.

“Do you need any help?” he offered, sympathizing with the Shinx's lack of thumbs. The Shinx looked up to him, shrugged, and landed back onto all four legs. He offered the piece of paper, and Altus accepted it from him.

“Thanks.” The Shinx said, as Altus pinned the mission up.

“No problem.” The Riolu was reading over the little piece of paper, and he was interested.

“You need an escort through Thunder Ridge?” Altus asked, and the Shinx nodded.

“Yeah, I was born there.” The Shinx explained. “Me and my parents left when these Electabuzz chased us out of our cave. They were quite aggressive.”

The Shinx stared back at the mission Altus had helped him pin up.

“I'm ready to go and take back our home though, so me and my parents can move back in again. No offence, but living near the Palace stinks.”

Altus can imagine. Shinx and its evolutions were hunting Pokemon. A lot of those species have trouble adjusting to society in the Kingdom. It's generally considered bad manners to eat your neighbour after all. Altus understood this especially well because of one of his team leaders, Morana. He could tell that the houndour could barely contain herself sometimes when a prey species walks by her in the guild.

“Tell you what, I'm a Rescue Team member. We'll be glad to take your mission.” Altus told the Shinx, and moved to tear the piece of paper down.

The Shinx looked at him sceptically.

“What Team is this?” He asked.

“Polaris.”

“Eh...what rank are you guys?” He asked.

“We're only novices, but we're approaching Squire soon.” Altus replied, realizing that the Shinx had probably expected something more when he went to put his mission up. The Shinx seemed to think about it for a while, frowning.

“Bring at least two other members with you, and I'll let you take my mission. Is that fair?”

Odd little Shinx.

“Sure, I'll go talk to the others. Wanna come with me?”

“Why not.” Altus tore the Mission Sheet off and rolled it up. He motioned for the Shinx to follow him, and the two went towards the West wing.

“By the way, my name is Altus, and you?”

“...just call me Spark, it'll do for now.”

---

Altus looked up at the dark clouds above, flashing from the constant lightning and pouring buckets down on their little exploration team. When Altus had entered their room, everyone had been there. When told about the mission, Crown the Caterpie had immediately declined. She can't handle any of the combat, she explained.

So that left Chronicler the Cherubi, Incultyr the Larvitar, and Morana the Houndour. Morana balked at the idea of going somewhere where it would be constantly raining, so Incultyr and Chronicler agreed to come. Morana and Crown would stay in the Kingdom to take care of baby Aceracaeae and look after their shop.

“How far up is your cave!?” Incultyr yelled above the roar of the winds and the lashing rain.

“About an hour's hike up!” Spark yelled back. After checking their supplies, Incultyr handed a Rollcall orb to each of the Pokemon, explaining to them all what it does. They might come in handy. Altus remembered when he had first hired Team Polaris, Morana had used a Rollcall orb to save Incultyr who had fallen down into a canyon.

Chronicler attempted to use Sunny Day and clear up the clouds, but she just wasn't strong enough to dispel all that destructive force. This upset her a lot, because she really didn't feel like walking up the side of a mountain while being soaked with rain. How was she expected to write anything down properly if her notebook was going to get wet?

Feeling thoroughly miserable, Chronicler sighed as she adjusted the pack she used to carry her precious notebooks and pencils. The party headed up the mountain, with Spark leading the way.

All four of them were soaking wet before long. While this mildly irritated Spark, Chronicler, and Altus, it really wasn't doing much good for Incultyr. The relentless water soaked his rock-like skin, softening it, making him feel sluggish. He's always hated rain because of this, it made him feel like he was being turned into mud.

As they trudged up a trail that must have been worn by all the Pokemon that has used it, they met their inevitable first encounter with wild Pokemon.

A small herd of Pokemon were grazing on the mountainside. Most of them had thick white fur, and they were led by two Pokemon that were pink. Though the ground was steep and slippery, none of them seemed to have any problems navigating the difficult terrain.

"Do we go around them!?" Altus yelled over the roar of the thunder. Their client shook his head, and continued up the trail.

"No need! They're Mareep and Flaffy! They're friendly enough!" Spark yelled back. Incultyr didn't look convinced, especially when Spark began walking straight through the herd, but finally he decided to just follow. He was tired and sluggish and wanted to get this thing over with.

They walked through the herd, and as Spark had assured them, none of the sheep-like Pokemon attacked. All of them looked at the team cautiously though, skidding away as any of them got a bit too close.

All of them except this one just before they crossed through to the other side of the herd at least.

Chronicler, too busy looking around and trying to remember every detail so she can write it down the first opportunity she could, ran straight into the backside of a Mareep.

Now, Mareeps' fur stores electricity. And there's definitely a lot of that here at Thunder Ridge. The static shock that came off of the Pokemon's fur was so great it threw Chronicler back a few feet before she landed on her head.

Furious, the Cherubi jumped onto her feet and shot several magical leaf blades made at the Mareep she had run into. The attack hit, cutting through its wool and deep into flesh. It cried out in pain, and the herd turned angrily on Chronicler.

"Woops." She said meekly, realizing what she had done.

The rest of the party had already passed through the herd safely, and none of them had realized what had happened until they heard the Cherubi yelp for help. Spinning around, Incultyr and Altus were horrified to see most of the herd ganging up on the tiny grass-type. The two pink pokemon -Flaffies- had broken through the crowd, both of them angry and protective of the herd.

The two of them crackled with electricity, shooting them at Chronicler. Several of the other mareeps added their own electricity to the attack.

The team heard Chronicler scream.

"Damnit." Incultyr swore, followed by several more curses. In a flash both he and Altus were running back into the herd, shoving their way through the thick crowd of wool. The stored electricity on the Pokemon's body coursed through and jarred both the Larvitar and the Riolu, but the both of them persevered onwards. They couldn't hear anything more from Chronicler. Non of the sheep-like Pokemon paid any attention to them.

The herd was starting to disperse, ignoring Team Polaris as they began to head down the mountain to a different patch of grass. Incultyr wanted to shoot a blade of dark energy at them in anger, but kept himself in check.

The Cherubi laid on the grass, unconscious. Her typing had most probably protected her from being killed by so many attacks at once. Incultyr thanked the gods for the constant rain at that moment- Chronicler would probably have caught fire otherwise.

Spark walked back towards them, furious.

"Damn it, what'd she do that for?" He tried to sound angry, but his tone died off as he saw her state. Altus picked Chronicler up, looking at Incultyr, hoping that their leader would know what to do.

"Altus, bring her back to the Guild, I'll finish this mission myself."

Spark spun on Incultyr, incredulous.

"Nuh-uh, no way! There's no way just the two of us can take my cave back!" He hissed. "I'm calling this mission off if any of you go back." he warned. Incultyr was livid.

"You want us to continue with Chronicler in this state?" he growled menacingly. Spark took a cautious step back.

"No. You have that Explorer's Badge thing right? Use it to bring her back to the Guild. The rest of us can keep going then." He carefully explained.

Incultyr thought it over quickly in his mind. They had calibrated their Explorer's Badge to take them back to their Team Room. Either Morana or Crown should be in there, taking care of Acer. They can probably take Chronicler to the hospital.

"Ok, fine then." he growled. He disliked this, but when a team takes a mission, Incultyr sees it as a matter of pride that they see the mission through to the end no matter what. Chronicler will be well taken of.

Altus, understanding the conversation, walked forward with the Cherubi in his arms. Incultyr took out their Explorer's Badge and held it up against Chronicler, activating the magic, concentrating on keeping it to only just the grass-type. She disappeared in a bright flash of light.

"Damned Chronicler." he muttered as he put the badge away. "Lets get this damned mission over with."

The group was silent as they continued to follow the trail. Spark attempted to start a conversation several times, but they were always ended by Incultyr's curt, abrupt replies. Altus didn't say anything at all: he was worried for Chronicler's life.

"We're almost there." Spark pointed out about half an hour later, pointing to a pile of boulders up above them. It was probably just ten minutes away. "We need to decide how to attack-"

The Shinx was cut off as a blur knocked him to the ground. It was a pokemon, about the same size as the Shinx. Altus recognized it as an Electrike.

"Stay away!" She growled fiercely, fangs bared. She had Spark pinned down, her teeth only inches away from his exposed neck. Altus reacted reflexively, jumping forward feet leading, and kicked the Electrike off. She yelped as she slid across the muddy ground, and Altus landed unharmed on the other side of Spark.

"Hey, calm down!" Altus yelled in an attempt to be heard by the electrike over the howling winds and beating rain. She got to her feet shakily, fangs bared, but she suddenly stopped as motion caught the edge of her eye. She turned to look at it, and Altus did too.

Two Pichus were hiding behind a rock, peering around fearfully at the fight.

"No! You can't attack them! I won't let you!" The electrike howled, and sprinted almost faster than Altus could follow to the rock, standing protectively in front of the two Pichus.

"Zosee, what's going on?" One of the Pichus asked fearfully.

Altus shook his head as he realized what was going on.

"We're not going to attack anyone." he explained firmly. The electrike was still tense, backing up and doing her best to shield the two Pichus the best she could.

"Liers! I heard you talk about it!"

Spark had gotten himself up by now, and looked at the electrike with disdain.

"We're talking about that cave up there you idiot!" He pointed up at the cave. "We don't care about you and those little brats. Now leave us be."

The Electrike looked at the group, and seemed to relax. Slightly. She considered their words for a few moments.

"Fine."

She started slowly backing up, talking to the two Pichus soothingly. As soon as she though she was far away enough to be safe, she turned around and picked the two Pichus up, placing them on her back. Then she sprinted off.

"Geez, what's her problem?" Spark scoffed.

"I wonder what that was about...do you think the pichus were her kids?" Altus asked as they continued upwards towards the cave. The electrike had seemed pretty young.

"Beats me, don't care." Incultyr grumbled. He's been in a really bad mood since Chronicler was attacked.

Finally, the team reached the mouth of the cave. The entrance was protected by several large boulders, so that there was only a small space they could squeeze through for the entrance. They had to enter single filed.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Incultyr asked.

"Go beat them up and make them regret ever taking our cave." Was Spark's only reply, before he grimly walked in. Altus and Incultyr looked at each other with eyebrows raised -their client had just walked into an enemy's lair without a battle plan!- then shrugged and the two of them followed in afterwards.

In the middle of the cave a fire was burning, and five pokemon were sitting around it. Three of them were about the same size as Altus, Incultyr, and Spark, but two of them were much bigger. Incultyr assume that means they're the Elekids and Electabuzzes respectively.

All five of them turned as the intruders entered their home.

"Hey, what's the big idea here?" One of the Electabuzz asked, looking annoyed. Then, his eyes opened in recognition as Spark jumped at him, fangs bared and claws unsheathed.

"Oh great." Incultyr mumbled as he ran in and saw that their client had already recklessly charged into battle. He pointed to the left and Altus nodded. The two of them went to opposite side of the round room, and Altus proceeded to pick up the two frightened Elekids.

"Hey, let go of my sons!" The Electabuzz that didn't have an angry Shinx clawing at her eyes yelled, running towards Altus. Altus dodged, trying to jump out of the way, but the two little struggling Pokemon he was holding onto didn't help.

He thought briefly about simply just throwing one of them at the Electabuzz, and then mentally shook his head. No. Altus was raised to adhere to a fighter's code. Nothing in it specifically stated you're not allowed to throw kids at their parents, but he was pretty sure the code would frown upon it anyways.

Geez, he felt like the bad guy here.

Electricity crackled around the room, discharged by Spark and the Electabuzzes. As the fight continued (and by now an entire freaking sandstorm was raging in the room, conjured by Incultyr), the elekids ended up huddling in a corner of the room, watching them all fearfully.

"Arceus dammit, what the heck do you want!?" One of the Elecbuzzes roared in frustration as he threw Spark off of him.

"This was me and my parent's home!" Spark growled. Ignoring his many injuries. Man, this little Shinx was stubborn. "I'm here to take it back! We spent years digging it out and I don't want you or your filthy little" - insert bad word- "in it any longer! Now get out!"

Altus had the other Electabuzz pinned down, and the first one was keenly aware of this. It glared daggers at the group, before putting its hands up in surrender.

"Fine, fine, we'll move out and we'll let that Shinx family move back in, happy?" he growled through clenched teeth.

Spark nodded with a grin on his face.

"I want you out, now. I will go get my family, and we will return. I will then return to this exploration team to give them their rewards. This means if you don't keep your word, the team will know, and they'll come again. Got it?"

The electabuzz nodded angrily. "Yes, yes, now let go of my wife!"

Altus did so, and walked over to Incultyr, who took out his Explorer's badge. After watching the Electabuzz family pack and prepare to move out, he activated the magic, transporting the team and their client back to the guild.

Incultyr grabbed his rewards from Spark as they arrived back at the guild. He barely heard the Shinx talk about how if he didn't come back in three days it means the Electabuzzes weren't cooperating and that their team should go settle it for them.

Their room was empty, so they could only assume someone had brought Chronicler to the Hospital.

As the two of them exited the palace, they passed two Pokemon. Incultyr skidded to a stop only long enough to tell the Flaffy and Pichu to screw off and that the team wasn't taking recruits.

Altus returned from visiting Chronicler at the hospital to find a hysterical mother at the doors of their team, saying something about her son.

"Ma'am, calm down!" He heard Incultyr's exasperated voice above her wailing.

"What's going on here?" Altus asked, walking up behind the Furret, watching as both leaders of Team Polaris seemed rather unsure of how to handle this. Behind them, the noise had startled Acer, and the baby Turtwig proceeded to start crying in the unbearably high-pitch only a baby could.

"Altus!" Morana cried out in relief when she spotted the Riolu. "She just showed up a minute ago and we can't make any sense out of what she's saying..."

"And OH MY GOD WHAT IF HE'S-" The Furret continued to scream hysterically, and Altus sighed, stepping forward. He raised a paw in front of her face, and it started to glow slightly. Waving it back and forth, the Furret's voice trailed off until she stopped talking, her eyes following his glowing paw.

Altus snapped his fingers and the glow ended.

"Miss, calm down. Tell me what had happened, from the beginning." Altus asked her in a quiet, calm voice. He really hadn't imagined something like this when he had used that Hypnosis TM.

"I...I was...- OH, MY POOR POOR-!"

Altus sighed and raised a glowing paw again. This would take a while.

Finally, after much patience only Altus could ever dig up, they had figured out what was going on. Mrs. Furret's son, Scout hadn't been home this morning when she woke up, and she couldn't find him anywhere. Mrs. Furret seemed positive that Scout had gone off to Thunder Ridge. While she gave no reasons for why this is so, she seemed very sure of it.

"Um...so guys, what do you think?" Altus asked the team, after explaining what the mission was about.

"She could have just posted something on the Bulletin and have saved us all this trouble." Incultyr grumbled, thinking it over.

"BUT I DID! I went and put up many many sheets! And I'm here to alert all the teams! I HAVE TO FIND SCOUT!"

Incultyr stared at their potential client, wondering about her sanity.

"Fine, we'll go find your son. Now make sure you don't go disturbing all the other teams." Incultyr told her, and then started moving down the hall.

"Where are you going?" Altus asked as the Larvitar passed by.

"Going to go take down all the damned mission sheets she probably put up. No need to have a dozen teams going after the damned mission. Go take Acer to Crown at the shop, and meet me back here in half an hour."

He managed to find and tear off the identical mission sheets on the Bulletin boards that all read "SAVE MY SON SCOUT!" with some details scribbles hastily on the sides. Thunder Ridge again huh. The team had just been there a week ago helping some Shinx get his cave back from a family of electabuzz.

It was also where Chronicler had been hurt so badly by a herd of mareep. She was recovering, but she nearly died as a result of that mission.

When he returned to their team room, Altus had already returned. The room seemed eerily quiet without the baby screaming at the top of its lungs.

"So, the three of us will go then?" He asked.

"Um...I..." Morana spoke up, sounding very small. "I don't...it was raining there last time...right?" She sounded desperate for Incultyr to simply understand and save her from having to say anything about her fears.

Incultyr did understand, but he wasn't going to let her off this easily.

"Anna, we need you. You're a Houndour but you're practically an electric type, seeing you fight sometimes. Water's not anything you should be scared of, especially not if its just a little rain. And we can't do a thing without you tracking Scout's scent...what do you say?"

Altus knew Incultyr wouldn't ever sound so soft with anyone except Morana.

---

It actually wasn't raining that hard when they got there. There was patches of dark gray clouds pouring water down on them, but not nearly as much as the last time they came. Large gaps formed between the clouds, letting down streams of sunlight.

Before them loomed the mountain, the top of which disappeared into the dark storm clouds above, flashing with lightning and roaring with thunder.

The three members of Team Polaris checked their equipment, and Incultyr handed out a rollcall orb to each member as their team always does. Once everything was in order, Altus extracted a baseball hat, from Incultyr's bag, something he had managed to convince their client to hand over. ("B-but...that's...Scout's! WHAT IF I NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN!?" "Don't worry ma'am, if we have something of Scout's, Anna can track him down, and the hat would be perfect, now-" "OH, BUT IT'S HIS FAVOURITE HAT!" "Miss, calm down, please, listen to me!") He handed the bag to Morana, who gave it a good sniff. She was already familiar with the scent, having spent some time getting to know it on the way there, but is good to refresh her memory.

"Maybe you should keep this with you." Altus suggested, and Morana nodded her consent. She was getting uncomfortable, standing on the damp trail, with mud on her paw pads. She stayed still as Altus tied it onto her collar, in a position she could easily turn her head to sniff.

"So, anything?" Incultyr asked. It took Morana a few seconds to realize he was asking if he could detect any of Scout's scent in the area. She bent down and sniffed the mud, moving around a bit.

"I...I think so." She finally said, raising her head. There was a scent that was like the one on the cap, but the entire area smelled of rain and lightning and mud. It was all working together to cover the scent.

"That's not much to go on is it?" Altus sighed. "Would anyone know what a Sentret's footprints are like? personally I've never met one before."

Incultyr shook his head, and Morana raised hers.

"Erm...I've hunted one down before...they like to stand on their tails, but they move on these four little paws..." She explained, and tried to draw an imprint of what the footprint should be like in the mud. It was a tiny little oval, with one end deeper in the mud than the other. It was small, so they would have trouble finding anything like it. At least there's probably only one sentret at Thunder Ridge at the moment.

The team started their search by following the trail that wound up the mountainside. It was the same trail the team had taken on their last mission too. And thus, when they spotted a large patch of yellow with two pink spots off in the distance, they weren't surprised.

"Mareeps, and the two flaffy." Incultyr muttered. It was the flock that had nearly killed Chronicler. Altus looked ahead and back at their little team of three with concern.

"Should we go around them?" he asked.

Morana's ears flicked as she listened to the conversation, but she concentrated on the scent from the hat and what she could smell on the ground. It was faint but...

"I got it!" She cried out, interrupting Altus mid-sentence. "It's his scent...I'm positive he's been here."

That was good news at least. They had no proof up until now that Scout was even anywhere near Thunder Ridge.

"That's good! Any idea where he went?" Altus asked. Morana pressed her nose down against the ground, moving around and taking several steps in all directions to see where the scent was strongest. She finally looked up, in the direction of the flock.

"Um...there." She pointed one paw towards the mass of wool in the distance. Incultyr swore and Altus sighed.

"Well, let's hope the scent veers away from them eventually." Altus said, and started walking forward again. The other two followed him, with Morana in the middle and Incultyr at the back.

Altus stopped when some movement entered the edge of his vision. Morana nearly walked into him, and she turned to follow his gaze. A Pikachu stood there, a pichu clinging to his tail. Beside the both of them stood an electrike.

"You again." The electrike stated, looking down at Altus and Incultyr. The Riolu recognized her as the electrike they had encountered and fought before. She had been with two little Pichus last time, did perhaps one of them evolve?

She looked then at Morana, and gasped. The houndour stared back, mouth open.

"Mor-?"

"Jos-?"

Both of them were interrupted by the sound of high-pitched screams and roars. All of the pokemon turned to see the Mareep flock, barely a hundred meters away, charging towards them.

The electrike grabbed the pichu by the scruff of its neck with her teeth and bounded off, the pikachu hurrying behind it. Morana stared at where they were a moment ago, in a daze. She almost didn't notice the stampeding flock heading their way.

That electrike...was that her sister? Zosee? But she had disappeared while exploring a year and a half ago...Why would she be here, with a pichu and a pikachu? Maybe she was just imagining it, perhaps it was just because she hasn't seen an electrike since her sister vanished...

She shook her head and turned to see what the situation was. Ahead of them the mareep were panicking and running in their general direction. The reason could be see right behind them, a pack of electrike and manectric running at them, herding them. One Mareep that was slightly injured lagged behind, and several of the carnivorous pokemon jumped on it, bringing it down.

"Get the hell out of our way!" A pink flaffy screamed at them as they came near, and the two flaffys stopped as they reached the team.

"Keep running, down the mountain! You know the way!" A second flaffy directed the terrified flock. Team Polaris noticed that balls of cotton was falling off of the flock, floating around in the air. The floating cotton made breathing tricky if one didn't want to be breathing cotton in, and it had an annoying habit of finding its way into ones eye. This seemed to slow if not stop the electrike pack.

"Dammit it, we don't have time for this, let's go." Incultyr growled, starting to go forward, but Altus grabbed him, holding him back.

"We can't just charge through the pack! We can't take them on by ourselves!"

Incultyr turned to look at Morana, who was sneezing from all the cotton spores in the air.

"Anna, which way is our target's scent?" he asked. She sneezed violently once before answering.

"Ahead of us..."

"Dammit."

Incultyr turned and ran to the two flaffys just as the last of the herd passed them.

"If we team up, we'll help you drive the electrike away!" Incultyr yelled at the two flaffys. They looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but both nodded. Any help would be appreciated.

As the score or so of electrikes, led by about five manectrics, got closer, Altus and Morana rushed to Incultyr's side. Several of the mareeps had stayed by their leader's side. Still, they were outnumbers one to two.

"Stay back!" Incultyr warned as he suddenly jumped forward when there was only about fifty feet between them. The flaffies and mareeps were shooting bright beams of energy at the oncoming pack (Power gem and Signal beam) which they were dodging easily.

The Larvitar stopped about ten feet in front of the oncoming hoard and punched the ground in front of him, channelling all of the energy he could muster.

The ground started to buck and heave under the electrike pack, breaking apart. Chunks of earth flew up while others sank down under. Broken pieces of rock jutted up, sharp and deadly. The pack stopped with a communal yelp, tripping over each other, being thrown in the air, or being buried under the heaving earth.

Into this chaos the others jumped in. The flaffies and mareeps continued with their beams of energy, focused on the manectric leaders. Altus jumped straight into the fray, throwing punches and kicks worthy of his fighting type designation. Morana closed her jaws around the legs of one Manectric and brought fire to her mouth, doing her best to absorb and channel the electricity he was giving off elsewhere.

She really wasn't comfortable with the fight. Every electrike reminded of her sister Zosee and every manectric reminded her of her father Valkist. It was like fighting her own family.

"Dammit, retreat!" one of the manectrics howled as Incultyr chucked a very large boulder at him. The electrike pack had sustained heavy damage from the battle, and it wasn't worth the fight. They had caught and downed two Mareeps today, so they would have enough to eat for a while.

The two flaffies threw one last attack at them as the pack turned and ran. Then the two of them turned on Incultyr.

"You!" The first one growled. "You were the team that came here last week!"

Incultyr dusted himself off and climbed back to rejoin the rest of his team, seemingly unconcerned about the malice in the Flaffy's voice.

"Yes. And you were the ones that nearly killed Chronicler." Replied, a menacing growl in his voice.

"That's because she attacked Kenya. She died today because of her injuries!" The flaffy angrily pointed out towards the electrike pack now in the distance, who were busy dragging two mareep corpses back to their den or the like.

Incultyr glanced over at the scene and shrugged.

"Well too bad. If you'll excuse us, we have a mission to complete." He pushed past the flaffy and began to work his way over the ground he had destroyed with earthquake. Morana hesitated a second before following, and altus brought up the rear. he turned at the last moment to face the angry electric types and bowed.

"I'm sorry for your loss." was all he could say to them before he turned back and hurried to follow the team. The flaffies and mareeps glared daggers at their backs before turning to rejoin the flock and nurse the wounded.

By the time Team Polaris had crossed the field, the electrikes had gone. Morana sniffed around, looking for the scent, all while worrying about the electrikes.

Scout's scent was strong now, and Morana knew he was nearby. Incultyr couldn't help but notice that they were taking the same path as they did on their last mission. As they continued on the trail, Altus skidded to a stop as a bolt of electricity rammed into the ground right in front of him. The closeness of it made his fur stand on end.

"Bzzzt, bzzztt!" A magnemite and and magneton floated aimlessly in the air before them.

"Bzzzttt."

"What do you two want?" Incultyr asked, shoving Altus aside to address the two. He had to jump back as the magneton shot another bolt of electricity at him. Neither of the two made any further moves.

"Alright then, if you're going that way..." Incultyr growled, and brought forth dark energy. It was a struggle, and when he finished...nothing happened.

"Damn." He swore. He had used too much energy on his earthquake attack.

Both Altus and Morana caught his intent though, and each went for the two steel types in their way. Altus jumped into the air and slammed a fist down on the magneton, hitting it so hard that the magnetic forces holding it together broke. Thee magnemites flew away from the collision.

Morana shot a wisp of fire at the first magnemite. The fire glanced around it, but she kept a stream going until it was finally glowing red with the heat.

"Bzzzt, bzzzztt!" It was flying back and forth trying to avoid the fire, shooting off sparks in random directions.

By the time the two of them were finished with the steel types, the now four magnemites flew off as fast as they could.

"Hey, you OK Incultyr?" Altus asked, moving over to the larvitar. He nodded, grumbling to himself.

"Yeah, just tired...c'mon, let's get this over with."

The group continued up the path, Morana with her head down to keep track of the scent. They continued along the trail, and Incultyr knew for sure now that they were retracing their steps from last time almost perfectly.

When he pointed this out to Altus, the Riolu nodded and explained he had noticed too. Neither of them believed it was a coincidence.

The rain was coming down harder now, obscuring the scent. It was strong, but Morana found it hard to follow it when the rain was washing it all over the place. It didn't help that each drop that touched her skin drew away a little more warmth, and she shuddered at the feeling of water.

Eventually, she couldn't follow the scent anymore.

"Sorry..." she apologized, though it was too quiet to be heard above the lashing rain and roaring thunder. The other two guessed her words well enough though.

"Don't be, I think I know where we can find him!" Incultyr yelled above the noise, and motioned for the other two to follow him. They climbed up the trail, then deviated towards a pile of rocks and rubble. Altus recognized it right away. It was where they had escorted their last client to in order to take back his home.

They reached the rock pile and found the small entrance. The three members went in single-filed.

Inside, a startled shinx screamed as they came in.

"Gaaahh! Aahhhh....." his voice trailed off as he realized who they were.

"Oh hey, you're the team I hired to get my home back." he stated. Next to him a sentret was curled up, playing with some toys strewn on the ground.

"Scout?" Altus asked, walking up the sentret, ignoring the Shinx's complaints that they were dripping water all over the cave. The sentret looked up, and then spotted Morana.

"Hey, that's my hat, give it back!" he cried angrily. Getting up to his feet, he darted across the room and snatched the red baseball hat from her.

"Your mom was worried about you. She was turning the palace upside down to find a team to rescue you." Incultyr growled at Scout. The Sentret turned and shrugged.

"Eh...that's my mom for ya. I left her a note on the fridge saying I'd be visiting Spark, since he moved and all. I guess she missed it?"

Crazy kid went up the mountain by himself?

"Well, if you don't mind, we'll take you back to the Guild now before your mom destroys the castle."

The sentret sighed, put on his hat, and went over to the team.

"It's great seeing you again Spark. Come visit me next week?"

"Sure."

Light from the team's explorer's badge engulfed the entire group and brought them back to their room.

((Ah, don't worry about it, it's not something that could have been helped. I hope that whatever is going on with Chaos isn't too serious and gets resolved soon.))



As they arrived back, they found the Furret waiting anxiously outside their door.

"OH MY GOSH, SCOUT! I THOUGHT I LOST YOU!" She wailed, grabbing him in a tight hug.

"Ah geez- yeah...mom...I'm fine-" He tried to say. As the mother tried to drag him off, Scout managed to slip free of her and bounded to Incultyr and Morana.

"Say hey, you guys were pretty cool. I've always wanted to try out exploring, can I join your team?"

The two team members looked at each other and then back at the kid. Well, he's definitely had some skill, being able to traverse Thunder Ridge alone, but he was still a kid.

Not to mention Incultyr believes the team way too big already.

"Sorry kid, no." he told scout. The Sentret sighed, disappointed, and allowed his mother to grab him and drag him off. Behind them the Furret left the team a bag of PD.

Not bad.

Team HTPN

Client: Wooper
Mission:
"I'm so not cut out for this! Please come and rescue me quickly!"
Dungeon: Thunder Ridge
Floors: 15
Rewards: Light Ball and 1500PD

Reserved for Team HTPN ;D

Crocs and Zeus entered the mountain through the cave on the side of it. Crocs had an uneasy feeling since he was a water type and the mountain was filled with electric type pokemon. Zeus looked over at Crocs and gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you.” and right after Zeus said that, Crocs was hit by a Pichu’s Thunder wave. Crocs glared at Zeus and a nervous sweat drop down his head “…starting now.” Zeus said. The Pichu fell to the ground and laughed at Crocs and Zeus. Zeus used swift and sent stars towards the pichu and struck him until he fainted. After awhile, Crocs gained mobility again and they continued down the pathway of the mountain. They found a wide field where there was another cave but this one was leading deeper into the mountain. But the entrance was being blocked by a Mareep and a Pachirisu. Crocs walked over and used scary face, he glared at the two pokemon and they found that it was difficult to move. Now Zeus used swift on the pachirisu twice. A large barrage of stars struck the Pachirisu and it fainted. The Mareep used Thundershock on Crocs and he fell to his knees from the electrical shock. But Crocs stood up and charged at the Mareep and used Bite on it. Then, Zeus used Low kick to finish off the Mareep. After the battle Crocs sat down to rest and gain back his energy.

After Crocs was rested, He and Zeus walked into the cave that leads deeper into the mountain and into the second floor of the Mountain. They continued to walk through the rugged pathway of the mountain, but the mountain began to shake rapidly, causing Crocs and Zeus to stop their movements. Crocs and Zeus looked at each other, then up at the ceiling. And three Magnimite fell from the ceiling were levitating around the team. Zeus quickly spun his leg to use low kick and knock out one to the Magnimite. Crocs charged one of the Magnimite and bit it with massive force. The Magnimite that was being bit was too scard to move. The other Magnimite shot out soundwaves at Crocs. The soundwaves messed with Crocs brain to where he was confused. Zeus quickly spun his leg around to kick the Magnimite that confused Crocs and it fainted from the force of his kick. The last Magnimite attacked Zeus with a sonic boom attack. Crocs tried to bite the Magnimite but his sight was twisted and he missed. Zeus spund his arms around, so that he could conduct electricity into his fists. He then punched the Magnimite with his electric fist and since it was weakened from being bit by Crocs, the Magnimite fainted. Crocs began to wonder off due to the confusion. Everything he saw was spinning and he bumped into walls. Once Zeus noticed that Crocs left, he chased after him. Suddenly the Mountain began to shake again, and the ground in front of Crocs fell through. Crocs didn’t notice the ground fell through and continued to walk in that direction. Zeus quickly ran to try and stop Crocs from falling. He grabbed Crocs by the tail and tried to pull him up. “You’re so luck that I’m your partner. In a slur speech Crocs responded with “Oh yeah, well look who brought us to the passage way.” Crocs tried to point but he couldn’t aim right because he was still confused. But Zeus noticed that when the caved in, it caused a new pathway to form and that the pathway lead to the next floor.

Crocs finally recovered from being confused when they entered the third floor. After that horrible experience with the Magnimite, Crocs wanted to avoid anymore confliction with the electric pokemon of the mountain. He kept to the walls of the pathway. Zeus thought that Crocs was being ridiculous “Dude, you need chill out.” Zeus said. Crocs was shaking with fear “Easy for you to say, you’re not the one with the type disadvantage here.” Crocs let out a big sigh “I told them they were sending the wrong guy for this job.” He mumbled. “Ah, quit your whining. We’re a quarter of the way there. You just need to hang in there a little while longer.” Zeus said. Crocs turned away from Zeus. They walked into another wide area. They saw a group of Pikachu sleeping in the center of the room. Zeus turned to Crocs with his index finger covering his mouth “shhhhhh” He said in the quietest tone he could. Zeus started to tip toe by the Pikachus, one of them began to discharge electricity due to a bad dream. Crocs and Zeus froze in place as the electricity started to get closer and closer to them. The electricity started to flash and spark to where it was inches away from Crocs face. He began to rapidly sweat, which made him more nervous about getting hit by the electricity. The Pikachu began to calm down and the electricity subsided. Both Zeus and Crocs let out a sigh of relief and started to tip toe again. But the sound of a crackling branch under Zeus’s foot caused them to stop again. They slowly turned around to look at the Pikachus. They were sleeping safe and sound like little babies. Crocs started to walk again and he stubbed his toe on a rock. He quickly covered his mouth. His face grew red from him holding in the pain of his toe and holding in the scream. Zeus started to wave for Crocs to hurry up. Crocs shook his head. Zeus smacked his hand into his face and he walked over and grabbed Crocs by the tail and dragged him out of the room and they entered into the next floor of the mountain,4th floor.

In the fourth floor, Crocs and Zeus began to encounter more and more electric pokemon. Even though Zeus wanted to fight the electric pokemon just to show that he was superior, he knew that it would endanger Crocs, so he avoided trouble. But little did they know, they were being followed by a Pikachu. The Pikachu gained speed and charged over to Zeus. He tackled Zeus without him noticing him until it was too late. Zeus turned around on the ground and faced the Pikachu. The Pikachu gave him a cocky smirk. “What do you want?” Zeus asked. The Pikachu began to snicker “You think you’re a tough guy? Just because you beat some second rate fighters in this place, doesn’t prove anything. I’m ganna be the best lightning fighter known and you’ll be the first defeat.” The Pikachu said and he sent out a wave of electricity to Zeus. Zeus jumped out of the way and the wave almost hit Crocs. Zeus turned to Crocs “Get to the entrance; I’ll meet you there once I take care of this kid.” He said. Crocs nodded and continued to run through the pathways until he made it to the entrance to the next floor. Zeus turned around and faced the Pikachu “Now you have my attention.” Zeus said crossing his arms. The Pikachu made multiple copies of itself and they surrounded Zeus. Zeus unfolded his arms and sent Stars flying and they hit all of the clones, including the real one. The Pikachu moaned from the hit from the swift move, He stood up and started to move at high speed to attack Zeus. Zeus conducted electricity into his fist. The Pikachu flew into Zeus, but after Zeus took the blow, he struck the Pikachu with the fist. The Electricity from the punch took effect and paralyzed the Pikachu. With the Pikachu paralyzed, was no longer a threat. Zeus turned around and started to walk away. And this irritated the Pikachu “Hey! Get back her you pansy, aren’t you ganna finish the fight? Get back here and fight me!” The Pikachu yelled. “There’s no point in finishing the fight when its already finished.” Zeus said and a final Thundershock was sent over to Pikachu and the Pikachu fainted. He continued on the path until he also found the path that Crocs was waiting.


The fifth passage lead them to an area where the sky could be seen and the walls weren’t all ground. The grass was yellow in color, signifying it was dead. Crocs took in a deep breath. “Man, this mountain air sure is great. I never thought I would miss the outside so much. I guess being in that electric hell would do that to a man.” He said and laid down on the grass. Crocs’s expression changed, it was now like an irritated expression than his previous jolly one. “This is really uncomfortable.” Crocs said. Zeus took a few steps forward, he looked around the field. “You say that like this mission is over. We’re nowhere near the client.” He said. His voice was serious, unlike his usual care free tone. Crocs noticed something was troubling him. “You ok man? What’s with the sudden change dude?” Crocs asked. Zeus started to walk down the field “nothing, I just feel like if we want to get this mission done quickly, we’d need to stop treating this like a game and take it more seriously” Zeus said. Zeus was irritated about how the Pikachu looked down on his skills as a fighter. He normally didn’t care about those sorts of things. But that Pikachu reminded him of someone, someone that he used to have fights with when he was younger. Crocs walked over and patted Zeus on the shoulder. “Come on, you don’t honestly believe that do you? I mean, we’re doing this for the fun of adventure right?” Crocs asked him. Zeus sighed “Your right, your right. Come on. The next floor is over that hill.” Zeus said and pointed at a nearby hill. They walked up the hill and on the top of it were a few large stones and a few bushes. “I don’t see the next floor anywhere.” Crocs said giving Zeus a stare that showed doubt. Zeus sat down on one of the stones; he thought the entrance was around here. Crocs opened the Item box and took out two Oran Berries. He started to eat them as he walked over by the bushes; He took a seat in front of them as he finished eating the berries. Zeus looked over at Crocs, He noticed something odd about the bushes, they were hiding something. Zeus stood up and examined the bushes. He separated the bushes and saw a hole that lead deeper into the mountain.

Now they were back inside the mountain and were climbing up a rocky wall to get to the next floor. They had to make sure to watch out for falling boulders, which made the climb very difficult. But the bright side of this is, there weren’t any pokemon to get in their way to the next level. Crocs was having trouble keeping up with Zeus. “How much farther till we’re at the top?” Crocs asked. Zeus climbed up a few more feet before he answered. “We’re half way there.” Zeus replied. A boulder fell and was plummeting towards Zeus. Zeus reacted quickly, he let go with one hand and swung to the left to avoid the boulder. Zeus was breathing heavily, “whao, nice moves bro. That was a close one.” Crocs said. Zeus looked back up and continued to climb the wall again. Crocs let out a sigh “Man I really need a break from all this.” Crocs said struggling to keep up with Zeus as they climbed the wall. After awhile, Zeus made it to the top of the wall. “Ah it feels great to finally reach the top.” Zeus said. “Yeah speak for yourself.” Crocs said as he pulled himself up onto the top. Crocs laid down as he gasped for air. “You’re really out of shape.” Zeus said as he grabbed Crocs by the tail and dragged him over to the next area.

Zeus and Crocs walked up the trail from the rock wall to the seventh floor. Crocs looked around the corner of the pathway and saw a few Voltorb were hopping in a circular motion. Crocs had a beat of sweat drop down with a look that said “are you kidding me?” on his face. “What the hell are they doing?” Crocs whispered. “I don’t know, but there in our way.” Zeus said and he charged into the room. He started moving faster than usual, much to his surprise. He slammed into the crowd of Voltorbs. “What was that?!” Crocs called out. Zeus was on the floor from his collision with the Voltorbs. He slowly got up. “I think that was quick attack.” Zeus said. Crocs ran into the room. “Well hey, that’s good right?” Crocs said, he was rather happy that about Zeus learning quick attack. But Zeus was confused; he was far beyond his time of learning it, so why could he do it all of a sudden. “Yeah, it is. I guess I’m just a late bloomer.” Zeus said. The Voltorb were starting to regain consciousness. “Uh-oh. They look pissed.” Crocs said. Zeus shot out stars as he used swift on the voltorbs. “Let’s get moving.” Zeus said as he started to run out of the room. Crocs wasn’t too far behind him. They turned around multiple corners, of the pathway as they tried to lose the crowd of Voltorbs that were chasing them. At the end of the long pathway they could see light. They knew it was the entrance to the next floor. But the Voltorbs were quickly catching up to Crocs and Zeus. Their bodies were starting to charge electricity as they were ready to strike Crocs and Zeus with an electric attack. The crowd of Voltorbs all used shock wave, and all combined into one giant blast. There was no way they would survive if it hit them and it was moving faster than they were. Zeus thought of a plan, He shot a swift attack at the entrance to the next floor. This started to make the entrance cave in. Then Zeus grabbed Crocs’s hand and used quick attack to gain speed. They were able to escape through the entrance to the eighth floor and it caved in behind them so that the Voltorbs couldn’t fallow.

The trail they were taking took them to the eighth floor. They were on the mountain ledge. Crocs took in a deep breath as he looked over the ledge. They were far from the bottom of the mountain where they started. Crocs let out a loud whistle “That’s a long drop down, we really have come far.” Crocs said. Zeus nodded. “Yeah, now we have to make our way around the ledge of the mountain.” Zeus said as they started to walk along the ledges path. “We have to be careful though. Since we’re getting deeper in the mountain, I’ve noticed that the pokemon have been getting more aggressive.” Zeus said. Crocs nodded “Yeah no kidding. I mean, that Pichu that shocked me when we first came here was just playing around. But those Voltorb, they were really trying to kill us.” Crocs said. The ledge they were walking on was ragged and narrow. They had to watch their step and keep their balance; otherwise they would fall from the ledge. A loud humming could be heared near them. It was getting closer and louder. It caused them to stop in their tracks. “Do you hear that…” Crocs began to ask but Zeus shushed him. He looked around, to see if he could find out what was making that humming sound. In the distance he saw that they were being followed by a Magneton. “Ah come on! Can’t we catch a break, just one time?” Crocs complained. Zeus grinned his teeth. He couldn’t use his low kick attack because he could fall it he did. And all his other moves weren’t effective, so they were trapped. Crocs gave it a scary look which caused the Magneton to slow down. Zeus used swift and shot stars at the Magneton, then used Thundershock and electrocuted the Magneton. Dispite all their effort, the Magneton wasn’t fazed one bit by the attacks. The Magneton began to glow red, blue, and yellow and shot out orbs that took the colors that it was glowing at Zeus. It knocked Zeus flying and he started to fall off the ledge. Crocs quickly wrapped his tail around Zeus’s wrist and he held onto the ledge. “Tha…thank you Crocs.” Zeus said with sweat running down his face. Crocs was trying not to let go “Quit your talking and get up here, I can’t hold on much longer.” Crocs said with a struggling tone in his voice. Zeus nodded and climbed back onto the ledge. He helped Crocs up as well. The Magneton was slowly making its way to them. Zeus fired stars again at the Magneton, but it still kept moving to them. Crocs growled and charged to the Magneton. “No Crocs! What are you doing? Get back here!” Zeus yelled. Crocs jumped onto the Magneton and began to bite it. It didn’t seem to be harming the Magneton. But Crocs wouldn’t stop biting it. Something odd was happening to Crocs fangs. They started to glow with a light bluish color, and when he bit onto the Magneton after that it started to encase in ice. “That must be Ice Fang!” Zeus said in a cheery tone. When the Magneton was covered in ice, it lost its ability to hover and fell continued to fall off the ledge down to the bottom. Crocs jumped off it before it fell and held onto the ledge. Zeus quickly helped him up “how’s that for catching a brake.” Zeus said jokingly. Crocs smiled “Isn’t this great, you learned a new move and I learned a new move.” He said. Zeus started to walk on the ledge. “Come on lets go before anymore enemies show up.” Zeus said and they walked around the ledge up to another cave.

Now on the ninth floor, Crocs and Zeus were getting anxious. “We’re almost there, I can feel it.” Crocs said. Zeus nodded “Yup, and to be honest I’m surprised the client even made it that far since he’s a water type.” Zeus said. Crocs laughed ‘’oh yeah? Well what about me? I’m a water type and I made it this far.” Crocs said. Zeus folded his arms behind his head “Well I’ve been the one doing all the work on this mission.” Zeus replied with a cocky expression on his face. “Oh yeah, well who took down that Magneton and saved your butt from falling off the mountain?” Crocs said trying to sound like he’s the one who did the hardest thing on the mission. “Come on, I saved you from numerous electric pokemon and even saved you from that blast from the Voltorbs. But I will give you that the Magneton was a pretty tough and it’s a miracle that you beat him.” Zeus replied. Crocs held his head high like he was getting a medal. “What are you talking about? That was pure skill that beat the Magneton.” Crocs said. Zeus began to laugh “yeah whatever.” He said as he nudged Crocs on the arm. They entered a room with an entrance that lead to the next floor.

They walked through the tenth floor. They were so close but they couldn’t find the entrance to the next floor. The tenth floor was like a maze. The pathways seemed like they were endless and had multiple corners that lead them to dead ends. It got to the point to where Crocs was starting to go crazy. “I swear we passed through here before.” Zeus said. Crocs turned to him “Hey, you want to try navigating through here?!” He yelled. Zeus held his hands up “Calm down, I didn’t mean anything by it.” Zeus said. Crocs mumbled under his breath as he continued to navigate through the pathways. After running into 8 more dead ends, Crocs lost it “I can’t take it anymore! Forget the mission, let’s get out of here!” He yelled. Zeus sighed “dude, look around you, do you think you could find a way out of here. When we can’t even find a way through here?” Zeus said. Crocs started to hypervenalate. “The walls are closing in! Everything is going dark! Ahhhh!” He yelled. Zeus walked over to his and slapped him. Crocs was surprised from the slap. He rubbed his cheek. “Thanks man, I needed that.” Crocs said. Zeus smiled “let’s just find our way through this place ok.” He said. Crocs nodded and noticed something on the ground. It looked like the ground was marked like something was dragged along it. They followed the marked trail and it lead them out of the floor to the next one.

Crocs and Zeus were at their designated floor. The eleventh floor, which was where the client was, and needed their assistance. They walked through the pathway into multiple rooms. “Hey Crocs, who was the client again?” Zeus asked. Crocs digged around the treasure bag and pulled out the paper with their mission details on it. “It says here that it’s Spheal. Why?” Crocs asked. Zeus looked around the corner into a room. “Cuz I think we might of found him.” He said and he pointed to a unconscious Spheal. Spheal was bruised and there was electricity circling around him. A Flaffy, Pikachu, and Electabuzz stood around it. Shocking it with electric attacks, while laughing. Zeus charged in using quick attack to slam the Electabuzz into the wall. Crocs followed and used scary face on the Electabuzz, slowing it down. The Flaffy and Pikachu used Thundershock on Crocs. Crocs couldn’t take the electic attacks and was brought to his knees. Zeus finished off the Electabuzz with a low kick that knocked him to the ground. He turned to the Flaffy and Pikachu who were zapping Crocs with electricity and he shot stars at them with swift. This stopped them from attacking Crocs and they tried attacking Zeus with their Thundershock. He dodged the attack by using Quick attack and ran over to the Pikachu, slamming into it. The Pikachu was knocked back and fainted. The Flaffy ran over to Zeus with electricity flowing through his fist. Zeus channeled Electricity through his fist by swinging his arms like a windmill and their punches collided. Zeus was sent farther back than the Flaffy. He shot out more stars with swift; The Flaffy couldn’t take much more and fled the scene. Zeus ran over to Crocs to check on him. “Crocs, Can you hear me Crocs!” He cried out shaking Crocs body. Crocs moaned “I don’t know what hurts more, their shocking or your crying.” He said. Crocs had a few black markings from the electric attack. They walked over to the Spheal, the Spheal looked up at them “who…are you guys?” The Spheal asked with a weak tone. Crocs and Zeus smiled “We’re Team Devastation, and we’re here to help you.” They said in unison. The Spheals eyes lit up with a glimmer as tears of joy filled its eyes “thank you so much!” The Spheal said. Both Crocs and Zeus smiled as they picked up the Spheal and took him back to the town.