DarkerShining
Well-Known Member
Wow, thanks for the positive replies! 
So, glad you enjoy the story so far. Chapter 7 is ready, and I hope you will enjoy it.
---
Chapter 7: Do you think we can make a difference?
---
It was already morning, and Blitz was waiting for Chiaki to wake up. He was trying to be patient, knowing that the Mienfoo had used a lot of energy running around after Elina yesterday, but he also knew that Sera might already be waiting for them to show up at this point. It was a bit of a dilemma for the young Shinx, since he didn’t want to bother his sleeping teammate, yet also didn’t want to keep Sera waiting. He thought about it for a moment, before deciding it was better to wake Chiaki up now.
After all, if they waited too long, the shops would be sold out of the best items and most of the missions might already have been taken. Besides, Chiaki would probably not be too bothered being woken up now anyways.
“Hey, Chiaki?” Blitz said, carefully nudging the Mienfoo with his paw. “Wake up!”
“Hmm?” Chiaki opened his eyes slightly.
“You’ve kind of overslept a little…” Blitz said, rubbing the rings on his forelegs together. “Let’s hurry up and go meet with Sera, she’s probably waiting for us.”
“Oh, okay,” the Mienfoo said, rubbing his eyes.
---
As Blitz and Chiaki entered the main part of the town, they were surprised to find that a large crowd of Pokémon was gathered in the town plaza.
“Huh? What’s going on here?” Blitz asked, looking around. “It looks like every Pokémon in town is here…”
“Blitz, Chiaki! Over here!” Sera shouted, waving a paw at her teammates.
“Hi Sera!” Chiaki said, happily waving to her as he and Blitz approached.
“Do you know what’s going on here?” Blitz asked.
“No, not really,” Sera responded. “I think everyone is waiting for some kind of important news, or something.”
“Oh?” Blitz asked. “What could it be?”
“Wow, Fenix Town sure has a lot of Pokémon…” Chiaki commented, looking around at the many Pokémon in the crowd, trying to see if he could see anyone he recognized.
“You!” a certain Parasect’s voice called out. Cordyceps, Mirage and Megara walked over, Cordyceps angrily poking Chiaki in the chest with his orange claw as he spoke. “The mushroom is still waiting for an apology for yesterday!”
“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that…” Chiaki sheepishly responded. “I guess I got a bit carried away…”
“The mushroom accepts your apology,” Cordyceps replied. “Just don’t let it happen again.”
“You know, I still don’t quite understand what yesterday was about,” Mirage commented.
“Well, you see…” Chiaki was about to explain, when suddenly, a Mienshao stepped up to address the crowd of Pokémon.
“Hello, everyone,” the Mienshao said, clearing his throat. “You’re probably wondering why you’re all gathered here.”
There were a few murmurs from the crowd, the Pokémon were indeed wondering what was going on.
“Well… There’s a very serious situation on hand here, and at this point, we need all the help we can get,” the Mienshao explained.
“What is he talking about?” Megara asked.
“This doesn’t sound good…” Blitz commented.
“I guess I should just go ahead and say it…” the Mienshao said, taking a deep breath before continuing. “The Axis Tower crystals have been stolen.”
This statement seemed to be followed by a collective gasp from the crowd before the Pokémon began voicing their reactions to this unthinkable thing having happened.
“The crystals… were stolen?”
“It can’t be!”
“How is that even possible!?”
“The mushroom is appalled!”
“This is horrible!”
“What kind of Pokémon would be crazy enough to do such a thing!?”
“Everyone, calm down,” the Mienshao said, motioning with his arms for them to quiet down.
The Pokémon continued to speak amongst themselves for a few more seconds, before stopping and letting the Mienshao continue his explanation.
“We’re not quite sure how the thief was able to steal the crystals,” the Mienshao said. “It… did something that knocked all of us out, and when we regained consciousness, all eight crystals were gone!”
More gasps and worried mumbling from the crowd. Chiaki felt really confused since he had no idea what was so important about these crystals and why everyone was freaking out like this. He assumed it was probably something he would’ve known had it not been for his amnesia. He continued to look up at the Mienshao, who continued speaking to the crowd.
“We’ve tried to search for them on our own, but we haven’t had any luck,” the Mienshao explained. “That’s why we need everyone’s help now, to find the eight crystals and bring them back to Axis Tower!”
“Say no more,” Sting buzzed from within the crowd, flying up so that other Pokémon could see him. “The rescue teams of Fenix Town will do everything they can to find those crystals and ensure they are brought back to their rightful place!”
“Yeah!” Mirage spoke up, raising a paw. “We’ll definitely get those crystals back, and punish whoever thought it was okay to steal those things!”
More rescue teams joined in, shouting out how they would help search for and make sure the crystals were found as soon as possible. The Mienshao smiled at seeing how many rescue teams were promising to do their part to find the crystals.
“Thank you, everyone,” the Mienshao said. “If we all work together, there’s no doubt that the crystals will be found and safely returned to Axis Tower!”
The Pokémon in the crowd cheered, before the Mienshao and the other Axis Tower guards decided to take their leave, and let the Pokémon of Fenix Town return to their regular business, as well as begin the search for the missing crystals.
---
The Pokémon of Fenix Town returned to their regular business for the day, aside from the rescue teams beginning to attempt to plan out how they would search for the crystals. However, Chiaki still didn’t understand what was going on.
“So… Why are these crystals so important?” Chiaki asked.
“Oh, right,” Sera said, looking over at Chiaki. “You don’t know anything about this due to your memory loss, right?”
“Yeah…” Chiaki responded. “I have a feeling I should know this, though…”
“Well, its pretty common knowledge,” Mirage said, walking over along with Megara and Cordyceps. “The crystals serve a very important purpose.”
“Yes,” Sting buzzed, flying over to them along with his teammates, Melody and Frosty. “They help maintain the balance in this part of the world.”
“Maintain the balance?” Chiaki inquired. “What balance?”
“Well, you see, there are many, many worlds aside from this one,” Melody said. “And some believe that new worlds are always being created when certain things happen.”
“Oh, yeah, the elder of this ice Pokémon village where I grew up once told me something about that,” Frosty said. “She said that since so many universes exist, some of them were bound to be “incomplete” in some ways.”
“Incomplete?” Chiaki said, tilting his head slightly.
“Well, incomplete isn’t the right word, but…” Frosty said, stroking his icicle beard in thought.
“What he means is that in this world, the fabric of space has always been kind of… unstable,” Megara said. “And in order to correct that, the legendary Pokémon created special artifacts around the world, to keep things stable!”
“What are legendary Pokémon?” Chiaki asked.
“They’re powerful Pokémon that are responsible for watching over our world,” Sera said, wagging her tail. “Some watch over time and space, others have been said to have created continents, and there are several legendaries said to watch over the sea…”
“Different Pokémon tend to pray to legendaries that they feel closest to their hearts,” Blitz commented. “For example, back at my old home, the Luxray pride heard many tales of the legendary Pokémon Raikou, the legendary Pokémon of thunder.”
“At the village where I lived, we all listened to stories about the legendary Articuno,” Frosty said. “A majestic legendary ice bird that was said to appear to Pokémon lost in snowy mountains during blizzards.”
“I used to live in a volcano,” Megara spoke up. “For us, it was Entei, a legendary Pokémon believed to embody the passion of magma.”
“Cool…” Chiaki commented.
“It is said that Palkia, the legendary Pokémon in charge of the fabric of space created the crystals to keep space stable in this part of the world,” Mirage said. “It also made the Axis Tower, to keep the crystals safe.”
“Disciples of Palkia came to live in the tower, and keep the crystals safe,” Sting buzzed in. “Many of the current guards are likely descended from the original ones.”
“Okay… So, the crystals being taken away from the tower is a really bad thing,” Chiaki commented. “What exactly is going to happen?”
“We’re not sure,” Sting buzzed. “Normally, we only have to deal with minor distortions, in form of the constantly changing mystery dungeons, but who knows what will happen if the crystals are missing and the distortions start to get bigger…”
“Will we get more mystery dungeons, then?” Chiaki asked. “Or, will other places start behaving like a mystery dungeon?”
“Like Sting said, no one knows what might happen,” Mirage responded. “For all we know, things from other worlds might start leaking into our world, or something crazy like that.”
“Oh, I think Stella mentioned something about that,” Chiaki said. “She said something about creatures not native to our world coming here?”
“Yeah, some Pokémon were brought into this world along with human visitors, and stayed behind when the humans were returned home, or something,” Megara commented.
“The mushroom wonders how mushrooms in other worlds live their lives,” Cordyceps wondered.
“So, I guess what we do know is that anything might happen if the distortions grow too big and we don’t get those crystals back,” Melody commented.
“And to be on the safe side, we need to get them back as soon as possible,” Blitz said, while nervously rubbing his forelegs together.
“Yeah, we should probably get on that,” Mirage said.
“So should we,” Sting commented. “We’ll talk to you later, kids.”
And with that, Sting and Mirage went off along with their teammates to resume planning out the search for the eight missing crystals. The young rescue team was unsure what to do now.
“Are we going to help search for the crystals?” Chiaki asked.
“Well, we’re a rescue team, so I’m guessing we should help,” Sera responded.
“I doubt we’d really be able to do much help, with all those other more experienced rescue teams,” Blitz commented. “Still, I suppose we should do whatever we can…”
“Where do we begin, though?” Chiaki asked.
“I have no idea,” Sera responded.
“Me neither…” Blitz said. “Maybe we should just find ourselves a mission to do for now? Pokémon still need our help, even if searching for the crystals must also be a priority.”
“Good point,” Sera replied. “Let’s go find a mission!”
---
After stopping by the rescue team HQ and they picked up a mission put up by a Pokémon requesting someone to go into a river dungeon and retrieve an item. Said dungeon was known as the Tadpole River, named for the Poliwag and Tympole living in it. There were also other Pokémon living in it, but the two tadpole species were usually the most common sight within the dungeon.
“So, we need to go to the sixth floor, and retrieve a big apple for a Munchlax, right?” Sera asked. “That doesn’t seem too difficult.”
The rescue team began exploring the first floor, Blitz hoping that the water on the dungeon floor wouldn’t give him any difficulty with his electricity. The three explored as usual, picking up items and fighting wilds while trying to find the stairs leading to the next floor. However, due to the current situation, the mood wasn’t quite the same as usual.
Mystery dungeons were connected to distortions in space, and if the crystals weren’t found, what would become of them? Chiaki couldn’t help but worry about the mystery dungeons, and especially what would happen to the wild Pokémon living in them. Blitz and Sera were worried too. Not knowing what would happen, or what to do about it…
But as worrying as the situation was, they had to keep going on as usual. Like Blitz had said, the situation didn’t change that Pokémon were still in need of help from rescue teams. Even if finding the crystals was important, they couldn’t leave other missions alone.
“Do you think we can make a difference?” Chiaki asked. “I mean, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could help find those missing crystals?”
“It certainly would,” Sera responded. “If I could do something like that, then there’s no way others wouldn’t take me seriously.”
“Still, there will be plenty of experienced, high-ranked teams out searching,” Blitz commented. “Even with us helping out, we’d have to be very lucky to even find any clues as to where they might be.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” Sera responded. “Every little bit counts. And we have just as much of a chance at finding something about it as anyone else, don’t we?”
“I guess…” Blitz replied.
The three moved on the next floor, where they fought some blue Pokémon with a black and white spiral pattern on their bellies and a white tadpole tail. The Poliwag went down easily to Blitz’s Spark attack, even if he still felt a little uncertain about using it in an area like this.
Chiaki found himself enjoying the feeling of the cool river water on his feet as they continued making their way through the dungeon. He glanced around at the deeper parts of the river, wondering just how deep it was. Could one bathe in it? Or would the wilds not like that? And how come none of the items seemed to be in those deeper parts of the water, unless a water type living in the dungeon had dropped it when being knocked out?
Chiaki continued following his teammates onto the next floor, deciding it was best to focus on the mission for now instead of being distracted by such random things.
“I wonder why the Munchlax wanted us to retrieve a Big Apple from this particular dungeon,” Chiaki wondered out loud. “I mean, wouldn’t it make more sense to search in a forest, or something?”
“Good question,” Blitz commented. “But like with so many other strange missions I’ve seen, I guess we’re just supposed to do it and not question it.”
“Also, why is he so sure we’ll find one on the sixth floor?” Chiaki asked. “Isn’t that kind of suspicious?”
“I don’t know…” Blitz responded.
“And why didn’t he just buy a big apple?” Chiaki wondered. “Didn’t he have enough money? Or did Wade not have any in stock?”
“Hey, quiet,” Sera said, pointing a paw at a blue amphibian Pokémon with no arms and two pinkish gray antennas on the sides of its oval head that was sleeping next to the stairs leading to the next floor.
“Huh, a Wooper,” Blitz commented. “Since those are part ground type, my electricity won’t be very useful…”
“Hmm… Maybe we don’t have to fight it,” Sera whispered. “I think there’s plenty of room for us to just sneak around it, and quickly make it up the stairs before it can wake up and attack us.”
The three tried not to make much noise as they moved towards the stairs, which was a bit more complicated than usual due to the watery floor. However, the Wooper didn’t seem to hear them, giggling a bit in its sleep and mumbling something about bubbles. The rescue team managed to quietly move up the stairs, without waking up the Wooper. As they moved onto the next floor, Chiaki suddenly stepped on something, causing some chestnuts to fall on him.
“Ow!” Chiaki shouted, the spiky shells of the chest nuts being particularly pleasant.
“Huh, didn’t know there were traps in this dungeon,” Blitz commented.
“Oh?” Chiaki asked.
“Yeah, some dungeons tend to have traps randomly appear in them,” Sera responded.
“What kind of traps?” Chiaki asked.
“Well, there’s a lot of different ones,” Blitz replied. “That chestnut trap you triggered is one of the most harmless ones.”
“It is?” Chiaki commented, dusting himself off.
“Yeah,” Sera commented. “I hear there are some pretty annoying traps, like one that confuses or puts you to sleep for a little while.”
“There are also traps that explode when you step on them, or causes some of the food you have with you to go bad,” Blitz added. “Or one that poisons you, or prevents you from using one of your attacks…”
“I hear there’s even a trap that turns items laying on the ground into Pokémon!” Sera said. “Isn’t that like, the strangest thing ever?”
“Wow, really?” Chiaki asked. “How is something like that even possible?”
“Who knows?” Sera said, as she continued walking. “It’s a weird trap.”
The rescue team continued moving on, exploring until they finally reached the sixth floor, where there was supposed to be a big apple lying around somewhere. Chiaki still wondered how the Munchlax could’ve been so sure that it would be on this particular floor on this particular dungeon, but figured it was best not to dwell on it too much.
“So, where is the apple?” Chiaki asked.
“Well, not in this part of the floor,” Sera said. “Guess we better keep looking around for it.”
The three moved down another path, moving on to another room. They picked up some coins, but there was no big apple in sight. They continued exploring the rest of the floor, but even after they had checked every part of the floor, they still couldn’t find the big apple that was apparently supposed to be there, much to their confusion.
“Where is it?” Chiaki asked. “This is the sixth floor, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is,” Sera said.
“Then why isn’t it here?” Chiaki asked. “Did the Munchlax get it wrong, or something?”
“Maybe a wild took it?” Blitz suggested. “They do sometimes pick up items lying around.”
“Oh, good point,” Sera responded. “So, if we just find the wild that took it, and knock it out, we can get the big apple!”
“How do we know which wild took it, though?” Chiaki asked.
“Well, I’m guessing it was that Tympole over there,” Blitz said, pointing a paw to another tadpole-like Pokémon that was carrying a big apple in its mouth. The tadpole, which unlike Poliwag did not have legs, was swimming some distance away in the deeper parts of the water.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Chiaki commented.
“So, what are we waiting for?” Sera asked. “Let’s take that apple from it!”
The three Pokémon chased after the small tadpole Pokémon with the two bumps on the sides of its face, the tadpole moving away from the rescue team since they could not reach it. Normally, Pokémon tended to just approach the rescue teams, but this situation was slightly different as the Tympole was moving on a part of the dungeon that the rescue team couldn’t reach due to the water being too deep.
“Okay, we should probably make sure Blitz is the one to fight this thing when we get close enough,” Sera commented. “His Spark attack should make quick work of it.”
“Good thing Tympole don’t gain the ground type as a second type before they evolve,” Blitz said.
They continued following the Tympole, waiting until the Tympole was close enough to make their move. However, Blitz suddenly noticed a slight flaw in the plan.
“Hold on,” Blitz said. “If we attack now, the apple might fall into the deeper parts of the water that we can’t reach!”
“Oh,” Sera responded. “Well, that would suck.”
“Why don’t we just do this?” Chiaki said, grabbing the Tympole and lifting it out the water.
The Tympole seemed very surprised and confused at suddenly being picked up like that.
“Do you mind if I take this?” Chiaki asked, taking the apple from the Tympole’s mouth.
The Tympole gave Chiaki an annoyed look, and spit out a stream of bubbles at him to get him to let go of him. Chiaki didn’t take much damage from the attack, but was certainly startled and dropped both the apple and the Tympole on the wet floor. The Tympole turned its attention to Blitz and Sera, watching them and waiting for them to make their move.
“Hungry?” Sera asked, using her tail to pick up a seed from the treasure bag. “Try eating this!”
Sera flung the seed at the Tympole, and the tadpole Pokémon caught the seed in its mouth, only to immediately be teleported away to another part of the dungeon.
“Whoa, that was cool!” Chiaki said. “What kind of seed was that?”
“It’s a Warp seed,” Sera responded, wagging her tail happily. “Can be used to teleport yourself or your opponent to another part of the dungeon at random.”
Blitz picked up the big apple lying on the ground, and handed it to Sera. Sera carefully dried it off with her paw before putting it into the treasure bag.
“Mission complete, I guess,” Sera said, watching the rescue team badge flutter into the air and hover above them. “Well, let’s not keep that Munchlax waiting any longer! Let’s go deliver that big apple!”
And so, the magical golden light spread from the badge, and the three Pokémon were sent back to Fenix Town.
---
The rescue team returned to the rescue team HQ, where they delivered the big apple to the Munchlax. They rewarded with a few items, which could probably be useful later. Afterwards, the three Pokémon began walking back into town, where they came across a certain Gothorita.
“Hi!” Bow said, waving to the rescue team.
“Oh, hello there, Bow!” Sera responded. “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” Bow said. “I just went to the shop to see if they had a certain TM I wanted, but they didn’t have it in stock.”
“What TM?” Chiaki asked.
“Oh, um… What was it again?” Bow asked, putting her hand to her cheek thoughtfully as she tried to remember. “Oh, right! Shadow Ball!”
“Ooh, my big sisters say that’s a pretty good move,” Sera commented.
“I guess I can go see if they have it tomorrow,” Bow said, only to frown as something occurred to her. “But knowing me, I’ll probably forget to check…”
“We could check it out for you!” Chiaki said.
“You will?” Bow asked, smiling at the Mienfoo.
“Sure!” Chiaki responded, smiling back.
“Oh, that’s so nice of you!” Bow replied.
“Hey, no problem,” Sera said. “It won’t take us too long to check the shop for the Shadow Ball TM, and then stop by your house to tell you if they have it or not.”
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, then!” Bow said, and began walking away, only to stop and turn around as she remembered something. “Oh, I almost forgot!”
“What is it?” Blitz asked.
“I had a vision a few days ago in which Chiaki met this mysterious Elgyem,” Bow replied. “I get the impression she might know something about you, so when you meet this Elgyem, you should ask her if she might be able to help you solve the mystery about your memory loss!”
“Uh… Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind…” Chiaki responded, as Bow happily skipped back home.
“Didn't that already happen yesterday?” Sera asked.
“She seemed to be in a good mood,” Chiaki commented, smiling to Sera. “I didn’t want to risk ruining it.”
“Hello,” a certain voice buzzed, the rescue team turned to see Sting and his teammates come over.
“Any luck finding anything about the crystals?” Blitz asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Sting responded. “We did eventually handle some rescue missions, but we didn’t learn anything regarding the crystals.”
“Doesn’t look like anyone else did either,” Mirage commented as she and her teammates walked over to the other two rescue teams.
“Maybe we’ll have better luck tomorrow?” Melody said. “After all, if all the rescue teams keep working hard, we’re bound to learn something about the crystals eventually! Just like that Mienshao said!”
“The mushroom agrees with Melody,” Cordyceps replied. “Surely we will solve the mystery behind those missing crystals!”
“I know we will!” Chiaki joined in. “There’s no doubt about it!”
“Now, that’s the right attitude!” Mirage said. “But for now, let’s call it a day and get some rest.”
“Yeah,” Sting responded. “We’ll need our energy for continuing our search tomorrow!”
And so, the rescue teams went home to rest up, so they could be ready for tomorrow. Even though they were worried and didn’t know what would happen, they decided to hope for the best.
---
Bow was lying in her bed, a big purple pillow filled with fluff shed from Whimsicott. She looked up at the stars from the hole in the ceiling, smiling at the stars sparkling in the sky.
“The stars sure are beautiful tonight,” Bow commented.
Stella however, didn’t seem to hear her daughter. She was currently floating a few feet off the floor, the white ribbon-like feelers and her eyes glowing as she gazed up at the stars. She was currently having a vision, and was trying to understand what exactly she was seeing in it.
“Roots… are spreading fast…” she muttered. “That plant… isn’t native to the forest… Where did it come from?”
---
End of chapter 7.
---
So, glad you enjoy the story so far. Chapter 7 is ready, and I hope you will enjoy it.
---
Chapter 7: Do you think we can make a difference?
---
It was already morning, and Blitz was waiting for Chiaki to wake up. He was trying to be patient, knowing that the Mienfoo had used a lot of energy running around after Elina yesterday, but he also knew that Sera might already be waiting for them to show up at this point. It was a bit of a dilemma for the young Shinx, since he didn’t want to bother his sleeping teammate, yet also didn’t want to keep Sera waiting. He thought about it for a moment, before deciding it was better to wake Chiaki up now.
After all, if they waited too long, the shops would be sold out of the best items and most of the missions might already have been taken. Besides, Chiaki would probably not be too bothered being woken up now anyways.
“Hey, Chiaki?” Blitz said, carefully nudging the Mienfoo with his paw. “Wake up!”
“Hmm?” Chiaki opened his eyes slightly.
“You’ve kind of overslept a little…” Blitz said, rubbing the rings on his forelegs together. “Let’s hurry up and go meet with Sera, she’s probably waiting for us.”
“Oh, okay,” the Mienfoo said, rubbing his eyes.
---
As Blitz and Chiaki entered the main part of the town, they were surprised to find that a large crowd of Pokémon was gathered in the town plaza.
“Huh? What’s going on here?” Blitz asked, looking around. “It looks like every Pokémon in town is here…”
“Blitz, Chiaki! Over here!” Sera shouted, waving a paw at her teammates.
“Hi Sera!” Chiaki said, happily waving to her as he and Blitz approached.
“Do you know what’s going on here?” Blitz asked.
“No, not really,” Sera responded. “I think everyone is waiting for some kind of important news, or something.”
“Oh?” Blitz asked. “What could it be?”
“Wow, Fenix Town sure has a lot of Pokémon…” Chiaki commented, looking around at the many Pokémon in the crowd, trying to see if he could see anyone he recognized.
“You!” a certain Parasect’s voice called out. Cordyceps, Mirage and Megara walked over, Cordyceps angrily poking Chiaki in the chest with his orange claw as he spoke. “The mushroom is still waiting for an apology for yesterday!”
“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that…” Chiaki sheepishly responded. “I guess I got a bit carried away…”
“The mushroom accepts your apology,” Cordyceps replied. “Just don’t let it happen again.”
“You know, I still don’t quite understand what yesterday was about,” Mirage commented.
“Well, you see…” Chiaki was about to explain, when suddenly, a Mienshao stepped up to address the crowd of Pokémon.
“Hello, everyone,” the Mienshao said, clearing his throat. “You’re probably wondering why you’re all gathered here.”
There were a few murmurs from the crowd, the Pokémon were indeed wondering what was going on.
“Well… There’s a very serious situation on hand here, and at this point, we need all the help we can get,” the Mienshao explained.
“What is he talking about?” Megara asked.
“This doesn’t sound good…” Blitz commented.
“I guess I should just go ahead and say it…” the Mienshao said, taking a deep breath before continuing. “The Axis Tower crystals have been stolen.”
This statement seemed to be followed by a collective gasp from the crowd before the Pokémon began voicing their reactions to this unthinkable thing having happened.
“The crystals… were stolen?”
“It can’t be!”
“How is that even possible!?”
“The mushroom is appalled!”
“This is horrible!”
“What kind of Pokémon would be crazy enough to do such a thing!?”
“Everyone, calm down,” the Mienshao said, motioning with his arms for them to quiet down.
The Pokémon continued to speak amongst themselves for a few more seconds, before stopping and letting the Mienshao continue his explanation.
“We’re not quite sure how the thief was able to steal the crystals,” the Mienshao said. “It… did something that knocked all of us out, and when we regained consciousness, all eight crystals were gone!”
More gasps and worried mumbling from the crowd. Chiaki felt really confused since he had no idea what was so important about these crystals and why everyone was freaking out like this. He assumed it was probably something he would’ve known had it not been for his amnesia. He continued to look up at the Mienshao, who continued speaking to the crowd.
“We’ve tried to search for them on our own, but we haven’t had any luck,” the Mienshao explained. “That’s why we need everyone’s help now, to find the eight crystals and bring them back to Axis Tower!”
“Say no more,” Sting buzzed from within the crowd, flying up so that other Pokémon could see him. “The rescue teams of Fenix Town will do everything they can to find those crystals and ensure they are brought back to their rightful place!”
“Yeah!” Mirage spoke up, raising a paw. “We’ll definitely get those crystals back, and punish whoever thought it was okay to steal those things!”
More rescue teams joined in, shouting out how they would help search for and make sure the crystals were found as soon as possible. The Mienshao smiled at seeing how many rescue teams were promising to do their part to find the crystals.
“Thank you, everyone,” the Mienshao said. “If we all work together, there’s no doubt that the crystals will be found and safely returned to Axis Tower!”
The Pokémon in the crowd cheered, before the Mienshao and the other Axis Tower guards decided to take their leave, and let the Pokémon of Fenix Town return to their regular business, as well as begin the search for the missing crystals.
---
The Pokémon of Fenix Town returned to their regular business for the day, aside from the rescue teams beginning to attempt to plan out how they would search for the crystals. However, Chiaki still didn’t understand what was going on.
“So… Why are these crystals so important?” Chiaki asked.
“Oh, right,” Sera said, looking over at Chiaki. “You don’t know anything about this due to your memory loss, right?”
“Yeah…” Chiaki responded. “I have a feeling I should know this, though…”
“Well, its pretty common knowledge,” Mirage said, walking over along with Megara and Cordyceps. “The crystals serve a very important purpose.”
“Yes,” Sting buzzed, flying over to them along with his teammates, Melody and Frosty. “They help maintain the balance in this part of the world.”
“Maintain the balance?” Chiaki inquired. “What balance?”
“Well, you see, there are many, many worlds aside from this one,” Melody said. “And some believe that new worlds are always being created when certain things happen.”
“Oh, yeah, the elder of this ice Pokémon village where I grew up once told me something about that,” Frosty said. “She said that since so many universes exist, some of them were bound to be “incomplete” in some ways.”
“Incomplete?” Chiaki said, tilting his head slightly.
“Well, incomplete isn’t the right word, but…” Frosty said, stroking his icicle beard in thought.
“What he means is that in this world, the fabric of space has always been kind of… unstable,” Megara said. “And in order to correct that, the legendary Pokémon created special artifacts around the world, to keep things stable!”
“What are legendary Pokémon?” Chiaki asked.
“They’re powerful Pokémon that are responsible for watching over our world,” Sera said, wagging her tail. “Some watch over time and space, others have been said to have created continents, and there are several legendaries said to watch over the sea…”
“Different Pokémon tend to pray to legendaries that they feel closest to their hearts,” Blitz commented. “For example, back at my old home, the Luxray pride heard many tales of the legendary Pokémon Raikou, the legendary Pokémon of thunder.”
“At the village where I lived, we all listened to stories about the legendary Articuno,” Frosty said. “A majestic legendary ice bird that was said to appear to Pokémon lost in snowy mountains during blizzards.”
“I used to live in a volcano,” Megara spoke up. “For us, it was Entei, a legendary Pokémon believed to embody the passion of magma.”
“Cool…” Chiaki commented.
“It is said that Palkia, the legendary Pokémon in charge of the fabric of space created the crystals to keep space stable in this part of the world,” Mirage said. “It also made the Axis Tower, to keep the crystals safe.”
“Disciples of Palkia came to live in the tower, and keep the crystals safe,” Sting buzzed in. “Many of the current guards are likely descended from the original ones.”
“Okay… So, the crystals being taken away from the tower is a really bad thing,” Chiaki commented. “What exactly is going to happen?”
“We’re not sure,” Sting buzzed. “Normally, we only have to deal with minor distortions, in form of the constantly changing mystery dungeons, but who knows what will happen if the crystals are missing and the distortions start to get bigger…”
“Will we get more mystery dungeons, then?” Chiaki asked. “Or, will other places start behaving like a mystery dungeon?”
“Like Sting said, no one knows what might happen,” Mirage responded. “For all we know, things from other worlds might start leaking into our world, or something crazy like that.”
“Oh, I think Stella mentioned something about that,” Chiaki said. “She said something about creatures not native to our world coming here?”
“Yeah, some Pokémon were brought into this world along with human visitors, and stayed behind when the humans were returned home, or something,” Megara commented.
“The mushroom wonders how mushrooms in other worlds live their lives,” Cordyceps wondered.
“So, I guess what we do know is that anything might happen if the distortions grow too big and we don’t get those crystals back,” Melody commented.
“And to be on the safe side, we need to get them back as soon as possible,” Blitz said, while nervously rubbing his forelegs together.
“Yeah, we should probably get on that,” Mirage said.
“So should we,” Sting commented. “We’ll talk to you later, kids.”
And with that, Sting and Mirage went off along with their teammates to resume planning out the search for the eight missing crystals. The young rescue team was unsure what to do now.
“Are we going to help search for the crystals?” Chiaki asked.
“Well, we’re a rescue team, so I’m guessing we should help,” Sera responded.
“I doubt we’d really be able to do much help, with all those other more experienced rescue teams,” Blitz commented. “Still, I suppose we should do whatever we can…”
“Where do we begin, though?” Chiaki asked.
“I have no idea,” Sera responded.
“Me neither…” Blitz said. “Maybe we should just find ourselves a mission to do for now? Pokémon still need our help, even if searching for the crystals must also be a priority.”
“Good point,” Sera replied. “Let’s go find a mission!”
---
After stopping by the rescue team HQ and they picked up a mission put up by a Pokémon requesting someone to go into a river dungeon and retrieve an item. Said dungeon was known as the Tadpole River, named for the Poliwag and Tympole living in it. There were also other Pokémon living in it, but the two tadpole species were usually the most common sight within the dungeon.
“So, we need to go to the sixth floor, and retrieve a big apple for a Munchlax, right?” Sera asked. “That doesn’t seem too difficult.”
The rescue team began exploring the first floor, Blitz hoping that the water on the dungeon floor wouldn’t give him any difficulty with his electricity. The three explored as usual, picking up items and fighting wilds while trying to find the stairs leading to the next floor. However, due to the current situation, the mood wasn’t quite the same as usual.
Mystery dungeons were connected to distortions in space, and if the crystals weren’t found, what would become of them? Chiaki couldn’t help but worry about the mystery dungeons, and especially what would happen to the wild Pokémon living in them. Blitz and Sera were worried too. Not knowing what would happen, or what to do about it…
But as worrying as the situation was, they had to keep going on as usual. Like Blitz had said, the situation didn’t change that Pokémon were still in need of help from rescue teams. Even if finding the crystals was important, they couldn’t leave other missions alone.
“Do you think we can make a difference?” Chiaki asked. “I mean, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could help find those missing crystals?”
“It certainly would,” Sera responded. “If I could do something like that, then there’s no way others wouldn’t take me seriously.”
“Still, there will be plenty of experienced, high-ranked teams out searching,” Blitz commented. “Even with us helping out, we’d have to be very lucky to even find any clues as to where they might be.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” Sera responded. “Every little bit counts. And we have just as much of a chance at finding something about it as anyone else, don’t we?”
“I guess…” Blitz replied.
The three moved on the next floor, where they fought some blue Pokémon with a black and white spiral pattern on their bellies and a white tadpole tail. The Poliwag went down easily to Blitz’s Spark attack, even if he still felt a little uncertain about using it in an area like this.
Chiaki found himself enjoying the feeling of the cool river water on his feet as they continued making their way through the dungeon. He glanced around at the deeper parts of the river, wondering just how deep it was. Could one bathe in it? Or would the wilds not like that? And how come none of the items seemed to be in those deeper parts of the water, unless a water type living in the dungeon had dropped it when being knocked out?
Chiaki continued following his teammates onto the next floor, deciding it was best to focus on the mission for now instead of being distracted by such random things.
“I wonder why the Munchlax wanted us to retrieve a Big Apple from this particular dungeon,” Chiaki wondered out loud. “I mean, wouldn’t it make more sense to search in a forest, or something?”
“Good question,” Blitz commented. “But like with so many other strange missions I’ve seen, I guess we’re just supposed to do it and not question it.”
“Also, why is he so sure we’ll find one on the sixth floor?” Chiaki asked. “Isn’t that kind of suspicious?”
“I don’t know…” Blitz responded.
“And why didn’t he just buy a big apple?” Chiaki wondered. “Didn’t he have enough money? Or did Wade not have any in stock?”
“Hey, quiet,” Sera said, pointing a paw at a blue amphibian Pokémon with no arms and two pinkish gray antennas on the sides of its oval head that was sleeping next to the stairs leading to the next floor.
“Huh, a Wooper,” Blitz commented. “Since those are part ground type, my electricity won’t be very useful…”
“Hmm… Maybe we don’t have to fight it,” Sera whispered. “I think there’s plenty of room for us to just sneak around it, and quickly make it up the stairs before it can wake up and attack us.”
The three tried not to make much noise as they moved towards the stairs, which was a bit more complicated than usual due to the watery floor. However, the Wooper didn’t seem to hear them, giggling a bit in its sleep and mumbling something about bubbles. The rescue team managed to quietly move up the stairs, without waking up the Wooper. As they moved onto the next floor, Chiaki suddenly stepped on something, causing some chestnuts to fall on him.
“Ow!” Chiaki shouted, the spiky shells of the chest nuts being particularly pleasant.
“Huh, didn’t know there were traps in this dungeon,” Blitz commented.
“Oh?” Chiaki asked.
“Yeah, some dungeons tend to have traps randomly appear in them,” Sera responded.
“What kind of traps?” Chiaki asked.
“Well, there’s a lot of different ones,” Blitz replied. “That chestnut trap you triggered is one of the most harmless ones.”
“It is?” Chiaki commented, dusting himself off.
“Yeah,” Sera commented. “I hear there are some pretty annoying traps, like one that confuses or puts you to sleep for a little while.”
“There are also traps that explode when you step on them, or causes some of the food you have with you to go bad,” Blitz added. “Or one that poisons you, or prevents you from using one of your attacks…”
“I hear there’s even a trap that turns items laying on the ground into Pokémon!” Sera said. “Isn’t that like, the strangest thing ever?”
“Wow, really?” Chiaki asked. “How is something like that even possible?”
“Who knows?” Sera said, as she continued walking. “It’s a weird trap.”
The rescue team continued moving on, exploring until they finally reached the sixth floor, where there was supposed to be a big apple lying around somewhere. Chiaki still wondered how the Munchlax could’ve been so sure that it would be on this particular floor on this particular dungeon, but figured it was best not to dwell on it too much.
“So, where is the apple?” Chiaki asked.
“Well, not in this part of the floor,” Sera said. “Guess we better keep looking around for it.”
The three moved down another path, moving on to another room. They picked up some coins, but there was no big apple in sight. They continued exploring the rest of the floor, but even after they had checked every part of the floor, they still couldn’t find the big apple that was apparently supposed to be there, much to their confusion.
“Where is it?” Chiaki asked. “This is the sixth floor, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is,” Sera said.
“Then why isn’t it here?” Chiaki asked. “Did the Munchlax get it wrong, or something?”
“Maybe a wild took it?” Blitz suggested. “They do sometimes pick up items lying around.”
“Oh, good point,” Sera responded. “So, if we just find the wild that took it, and knock it out, we can get the big apple!”
“How do we know which wild took it, though?” Chiaki asked.
“Well, I’m guessing it was that Tympole over there,” Blitz said, pointing a paw to another tadpole-like Pokémon that was carrying a big apple in its mouth. The tadpole, which unlike Poliwag did not have legs, was swimming some distance away in the deeper parts of the water.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Chiaki commented.
“So, what are we waiting for?” Sera asked. “Let’s take that apple from it!”
The three Pokémon chased after the small tadpole Pokémon with the two bumps on the sides of its face, the tadpole moving away from the rescue team since they could not reach it. Normally, Pokémon tended to just approach the rescue teams, but this situation was slightly different as the Tympole was moving on a part of the dungeon that the rescue team couldn’t reach due to the water being too deep.
“Okay, we should probably make sure Blitz is the one to fight this thing when we get close enough,” Sera commented. “His Spark attack should make quick work of it.”
“Good thing Tympole don’t gain the ground type as a second type before they evolve,” Blitz said.
They continued following the Tympole, waiting until the Tympole was close enough to make their move. However, Blitz suddenly noticed a slight flaw in the plan.
“Hold on,” Blitz said. “If we attack now, the apple might fall into the deeper parts of the water that we can’t reach!”
“Oh,” Sera responded. “Well, that would suck.”
“Why don’t we just do this?” Chiaki said, grabbing the Tympole and lifting it out the water.
The Tympole seemed very surprised and confused at suddenly being picked up like that.
“Do you mind if I take this?” Chiaki asked, taking the apple from the Tympole’s mouth.
The Tympole gave Chiaki an annoyed look, and spit out a stream of bubbles at him to get him to let go of him. Chiaki didn’t take much damage from the attack, but was certainly startled and dropped both the apple and the Tympole on the wet floor. The Tympole turned its attention to Blitz and Sera, watching them and waiting for them to make their move.
“Hungry?” Sera asked, using her tail to pick up a seed from the treasure bag. “Try eating this!”
Sera flung the seed at the Tympole, and the tadpole Pokémon caught the seed in its mouth, only to immediately be teleported away to another part of the dungeon.
“Whoa, that was cool!” Chiaki said. “What kind of seed was that?”
“It’s a Warp seed,” Sera responded, wagging her tail happily. “Can be used to teleport yourself or your opponent to another part of the dungeon at random.”
Blitz picked up the big apple lying on the ground, and handed it to Sera. Sera carefully dried it off with her paw before putting it into the treasure bag.
“Mission complete, I guess,” Sera said, watching the rescue team badge flutter into the air and hover above them. “Well, let’s not keep that Munchlax waiting any longer! Let’s go deliver that big apple!”
And so, the magical golden light spread from the badge, and the three Pokémon were sent back to Fenix Town.
---
The rescue team returned to the rescue team HQ, where they delivered the big apple to the Munchlax. They rewarded with a few items, which could probably be useful later. Afterwards, the three Pokémon began walking back into town, where they came across a certain Gothorita.
“Hi!” Bow said, waving to the rescue team.
“Oh, hello there, Bow!” Sera responded. “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” Bow said. “I just went to the shop to see if they had a certain TM I wanted, but they didn’t have it in stock.”
“What TM?” Chiaki asked.
“Oh, um… What was it again?” Bow asked, putting her hand to her cheek thoughtfully as she tried to remember. “Oh, right! Shadow Ball!”
“Ooh, my big sisters say that’s a pretty good move,” Sera commented.
“I guess I can go see if they have it tomorrow,” Bow said, only to frown as something occurred to her. “But knowing me, I’ll probably forget to check…”
“We could check it out for you!” Chiaki said.
“You will?” Bow asked, smiling at the Mienfoo.
“Sure!” Chiaki responded, smiling back.
“Oh, that’s so nice of you!” Bow replied.
“Hey, no problem,” Sera said. “It won’t take us too long to check the shop for the Shadow Ball TM, and then stop by your house to tell you if they have it or not.”
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, then!” Bow said, and began walking away, only to stop and turn around as she remembered something. “Oh, I almost forgot!”
“What is it?” Blitz asked.
“I had a vision a few days ago in which Chiaki met this mysterious Elgyem,” Bow replied. “I get the impression she might know something about you, so when you meet this Elgyem, you should ask her if she might be able to help you solve the mystery about your memory loss!”
“Uh… Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind…” Chiaki responded, as Bow happily skipped back home.
“Didn't that already happen yesterday?” Sera asked.
“She seemed to be in a good mood,” Chiaki commented, smiling to Sera. “I didn’t want to risk ruining it.”
“Hello,” a certain voice buzzed, the rescue team turned to see Sting and his teammates come over.
“Any luck finding anything about the crystals?” Blitz asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Sting responded. “We did eventually handle some rescue missions, but we didn’t learn anything regarding the crystals.”
“Doesn’t look like anyone else did either,” Mirage commented as she and her teammates walked over to the other two rescue teams.
“Maybe we’ll have better luck tomorrow?” Melody said. “After all, if all the rescue teams keep working hard, we’re bound to learn something about the crystals eventually! Just like that Mienshao said!”
“The mushroom agrees with Melody,” Cordyceps replied. “Surely we will solve the mystery behind those missing crystals!”
“I know we will!” Chiaki joined in. “There’s no doubt about it!”
“Now, that’s the right attitude!” Mirage said. “But for now, let’s call it a day and get some rest.”
“Yeah,” Sting responded. “We’ll need our energy for continuing our search tomorrow!”
And so, the rescue teams went home to rest up, so they could be ready for tomorrow. Even though they were worried and didn’t know what would happen, they decided to hope for the best.
---
Bow was lying in her bed, a big purple pillow filled with fluff shed from Whimsicott. She looked up at the stars from the hole in the ceiling, smiling at the stars sparkling in the sky.
“The stars sure are beautiful tonight,” Bow commented.
Stella however, didn’t seem to hear her daughter. She was currently floating a few feet off the floor, the white ribbon-like feelers and her eyes glowing as she gazed up at the stars. She was currently having a vision, and was trying to understand what exactly she was seeing in it.
“Roots… are spreading fast…” she muttered. “That plant… isn’t native to the forest… Where did it come from?”
---
End of chapter 7.
---
Last edited:
