PMD-Unity Mission 1: A Gigantic Problem Part 2

          One would never expect the destruction to spread this far north of town. After all, even though it was on a ruthless rampage of destruction, the Regigigas was smart enough to stay to the center roads, the only place spacious enough to accommodate its ever growing mass. But Desmond, who stepped over trash and rubble in disgust, knew better; it was people who did this, who more than likely had waited ages to tear the town asunder.

          “Cowards,” he spat, his stomach tensing at the idea of having to deal with more of this sort of scum. He already had his full of dealing with the looters, different parts of his body still somewhat aching from his various encounters. He could still feel soreness in his legs from kicking thieves across their surprisingly hard heads. His claws could feel a sort of numbness from all the flesh he tore through. The muscles on his face even felt heavy, having to twist his face into an intimidating scowl to scare off any potential looters. Desmond sighed, about ready to collapse; it felt like hours, and he knew he was no closer to finding Marx’s cottage.

          It was just as he was about to round a corner, his stomach filling with more and more dread as he expected more looters, he heard glass cracking underneath footsteps. Instinctively, Desmond ducked back behind the corner, staying utterly silent as he poked his head out slightly. He saw who the unknown lurker was, a Poliwrath…Poliwhril? He could not precisely tell; all he knew was that the azure tadpole with a spiral pattern on his stomach was too small to be the former and far too bulky to be the latter.

          His ‘expression’-as he lacked much in the way of a ‘face’-was one of intense irritation, his eyes darting back and forth as if searching for the cause of his anger. Desmond cautiously examined him, discovering multiple ways to end him in no time flat just as any other looter. He had his plans carefully worked out, and he steadily stood up, ready to take care of-

          “Where da’ hell are you, ya’ little piece o’ crap?!” Desmond almost fell over, completely shocked by the amphibian’s sudden and sharp roar. “I’ll rip that leaf right off yer head!” Desmond’s eyes widened upon hearing that threat. Could he be talking about…? Desmond thought, his mind recalling Kara’s words about his target. But he quickly shoved those thoughts aside; after all, he would not be dumb enough to leave the safety of his cottage when there’s a giant monster running around, right?

          Desmond looked around the corner again, only for his body to freeze and face to turn pale. He witnessed the young Lotad seemingly magically appear from behind a nearby cracked store window, leaping out and landing with a stare full of bravado. The amphibian swiveled around in shock, only to be struck by a shockwave of sound from the Lotad’s Astonish.

          “Can’t take a little smack across the face, you brigand?!” the Lotad boasted as the amphibian reeled back, cringing from the shock of Astonish.

          Stupid, little- Desmond thought, but cut himself off knowing he did not have time to break out into obscenities. With no time to waste, Desmond sprang forward from his hiding place, the energy from Agility gathering around his body and purple energy from Poison Jab gathering around his arm. The amphibian stood no chance at all; while he was still stunned from the Lotad’s attack, Desmond smashed a Poison Jab into the back of his skull. He reflexively swung his arm backwards, which Desmond deftly avoided and swung at his legs with a kick, knocking him over in nearly that same instance.

          The amphibian writhed on the ground and held the back of what could be generously called his ‘head’ in pain; not only was he knocked in the back of his head twice, an intense, biting poison began to coarse from the wound to the rest of his body.

          “Wai-Wha-” the Lotad stammered before shooting a glare at the Combusken. “I could take him by just fine by myself!”

          Desmond rolled his eyes and sighed. “Get real, kid,” he scoffed. “You shouldn’t face someone like him by yourself, especially with an attack that weak. You’re lucky that I was-”

          Just then, the amphibian leapt to his feet with an audible thud, his eyes bloodshot red from pure rage. With his muscles bulging from his use of Bulk Up, Desmond could easily tell what he was now. The Poliwrath, his fist squeezed tightly into a Mega Punch, lunged forward to smash the worthless little chicken who tried to attack him. Desmond braced himself to dodge the opponents blow, the purple energy of Agilty already gathered around his body. In one swift motion, Desmond back-flipped away from the Poliwrath, only for the enraged Pokemon the fall to the ground, unconscious from a ball of light shot to the back of his head.

          Desmond quickly looked upward from the unconscious Poliwrath to find the user of the attack. The user was a Vulpix, who grinned and danced giddily in the place chanting “I got ‘em, I got ‘em!” Desmond immediately took note of the Vulpix’s one and only tail, which swished exuberantly underneath his feet as he cheered. Whatever the reason for the loss of his other tails, Desmond realized was not of any importance to him now. The Lotad merely pouted in response, muttering claims of being able to best that Poliwrath with one finger without a second thought. Following the Vulpix outside the store window was a small Spritzee, who wore an equally giddy expression on her mask-like face. “You got him in one shot, big bro!” she exclaimed.

          “You know it!” the Vulpix responded, still dancing about proudly.         

          Geez, give me some credit, Desmond thought, rolling his eyes. “Alright, just who are you supposed to be?” Desmond questioned, making the Vulpix freeze mid-way through his victory dance.

          The Vulpix stood confused for a moment, but shook it off quickly. “I should be asking you the same question,” he began with a conceited grin. “’cept for a bunch a looters, I wouldn’t figure anyone else would be here.”

          The Spritzee, having landed on top of the Vulpix’s head, gave an inquisitive look at Desmond. “You wouldn’t to be a Hunter, now would you?” she asked.

          “Hunter-elect, soon to be Hunter, which ever you would like to call it.” Desmond commented. “Obviously you two are Hunters too. I was actually sent to look for that kid right there and his grandpa,” he said, pointing to the still pouty Lotad. “You wouldn’t happen to be, too, would you?”

          The duo before Desmond nodded and proclaimed ‘Yep!’ in unison. “That tough Pancham chick told us to get the kid and his gramps if we wanted to get in, along with taking care of all the looters in the way. And what could be easier than taking care of a bunch of punks?” the Vulpix proclaimed proudly. “Makes good practice, too.”

          “Really?” the Spritzee asked. “When she told us about that giant statue, you seemed a little scared, bro.”

          The Vulpix’s face immediately flushed in a much deeper red hue. “N-n-no I wasn’t!” he stammered. “I just realized that there would be more qualified people to get that orb and that our talents we be needed elsewhere.” His eyes darted back and forth, as if searching for someone who realized he was lying.

          This elicited another eye-roll from Desmond. Sure you did… He thought. Turning his attention to the Lotad, he asked, “So the real question is, just what are you doing here, kid?”

            The Lotad turned away with a scoff. “Hmph! First off, I’m not ‘kid’; my name is Heinrich Marx, heir to the Marx family of Hunters!” he announced indignantly.

          “If we’re introducing ourselves, then the name’s Micheal!” the Vulpix announced with equal pride.

          “And I’m Sharity!” the Spritzee stated with a polite smile.

          “Desmond.” The Combusken stated tersely.

          Heinrich growled, obviously irritated by the other Pokemon completely ignoring him. “As I was saying,” he began again with a grumble. “I am Heinrich Marx; I was very well minding my own business, performing errands for my grandfather. Then all this mess started, and I was accosted by that ruffian lying on the ground.” He stated, pointing to the now obviously a Poliwrath. “A ruffian I could have easily taken care of without any of your interference.”

          “W-We were just trying to help…” Sharity replied somewhat morosely.

          Noticing how his ‘sister’ was becoming more downcast, Micheal immediately spoke up. “Hey, yeah!” he yelled indignantly. “If it weren’t for us, that Poliwrath would’ve had you as a snack.”

          The Lotad merely scoffed in response. This kid’s gonna get himself killed if keeps being so stupid, Desmond thought, his face twisting into a scowl. “Well he can keep his ‘thank you’ for later,” Desmond said sharply. “Anyway, what’s important is that we get to your gramps’s place; if what Kara said was true, than the last I want is for that cottage to be surrounded by thugs.” Desmond gave an exasperated sigh, already tired of dealing with their kind.

          “What, tired already?” Micheal teased. “Well, me and Sharity ain’t done yet! Last one there’s the real scaredy cat!” And with that, the Vulpix raced off, his one tail wagging rapidly behind him and his partner holding onto his head for dear life.

          “Wait, big bro!” Sharity cried. “Do you even know where you’re going?!”

          “The old guy’s place is north, right?” Micheal asked. “Well, this way should be the right one!” He simply kept going forward with reckless abandon, leaving a tremendous dust cloud behind him.

          Heinrich just stood stunned for a moment, and then started to dash after the two, shouting and stammering, “W-Wait for me, you don’t even know where you are going! And he’s not ‘old man’, he’s Sir Marx!”

          Hearing that Edward L. Marx was ‘old money’ in the Hunters guild would lead one to expect a tad more extravagance to his cottage. Though surrounded by a cornucopia of various types of plants, from vibrant water lilies to healthy and strong trees, the cottage itself was made out of what seemed to be cheap plywood. Micheal and Sharity were awed by the surrounding foliage, smiling widely at the beautiful display.

          “Wow, this looks so pretty!” Sharity exclaimed giddily. “Your grandpa lives here, Henry?”

          “I-It’s Heinrich,” the Lotad replied with a blush. “And yes, he does. He’s always told me that living amongst nature is good for your health.”

          Micheal grimaced at the sight of the wood shack, which creaked as the wind blew past it as if it would topple over. “Your gramps doesn’t seem to care much about where he sleeps, apparently.”

          “He can be quite… austere at times.” Heinrich commented. “He’s always told me to be frugal…” 

          “I think that’s kinda pushing it.” Desmond commented dryly, still keeping a wary eye out for his surroundings. After a short while, Desmond spoke up, “Looks like there’s no one else around, but let’s still keep a look out for trouble.”

          The group carefully made their way to the front entrance of the cottage, their attention now entirely focused on what danger lies ahead. “Grandad!” the Lotad called. “Are you-”

         “Quiet!” Desmond hissed. “You don’t know who could be in there; we don’t want to alert the enemy.” Desmond warned, to which Heinrich gave a scowl in response. With that, Desmond silently pushed open the front door, entering first while his allies carefully came inside behind him. The inside of the cottage was somehow worse than the outside; a dank smell permeated the air, and with the windows shut tightly, the group could hardly see into the thick darkness ahead of them.  

        “Hate to tell ya’ this,” Micheal began, his ears and nose twitching while examining his surroundings. “I don’t think anyone else is here…”

        “Wait!” Sharity whispered sharply, causing everyone to stop dead in their tracks. “I think I do sense someone.” She closed her eyes in focus, a faint glow emanating from her body as she scanned her surroundings. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open in surprise and she yelled, “They’re right above us!”

        Everyone immediately turned their attention upwards, getting a slight view of intruder even amidst the darkness. They only managed to catch a split second glimpse of the Frogadier, clinging to the ceiling with the pads on his feet, before his throat began to swell.

       “Move!” Desmond yelled instinctively. While Micheal and Sharity swiftly backed away, Desmond picked up Heinrich and rolled quickly out of harm’s way, narrowly avoiding being trapped within the Smokescreen launched by the Frogadier. Desmond watched the enemy land within the fog, keeping his eyes carefully locked onto his position. Smart, he thought, using it to hide himself rather than blind us.

       “Just hiding there, you scum?” Heinrich cursed through gritted teeth. “Then take this!” The Lotad concentrated intensely, three balls of energy starting to form slowly in front of him in a triangular pattern. The Frogadier appeared suddenly over the young Pokemon, not willing to wait for him struggle his way through his attack. Heinrich gasped, the energy balls starting to fade as he lost focus and cringed, waiting for an attack to come down and finish him.

          When that attack did not come, the Lotad looked upward to see why; the Frogadier had blocked a Poison Jab from Desmond with his bare arms, leaving purple colored bruised as he dove back into the fog. He was surprised to see, however, that his fog was scattered by a wave of pink energy as soon as he stepped back into it, courtesy of Sharity’s Psychic. With nowhere else to hide, the Frogadier raised his hands above his head, an orb of water gathering together quickly, until the Micheal dashed right in front of him, an Energy ball fully charged and ready.  Both released their attacks simultaneously, the Frogadier being blown away by the Energy Ball and Micheal knocked away by the enemy’s Water Pulse. The Water Pulse splashed throughout the room in a wave, shoving Micheal into the wall and rushing dangerously towards his allies.

          Desmond stepped immediately in front of Heinrich, holding his hands out in front him as three balls of energy formed, blocking the tide of water. Heinrich stood behind Desmond, his mouth agape in surprise. T-That’s Tri Attack, the Lotad thought. From Nature Power! How did he…?   Sharity used Psychic to deflect the wave of water, and then flew over to Micheal’s body, which lay limp against the wall.

          “Big bro!” Sharity cried, shoving against his chest in a frantic attempt to revive him. “Come on, big bro, he couldn’t have hit you that hard! Please!” Micheal weakly coughed and wheezed, water spurting out of his mouth before saying, “H-Hey what’s the deal? You honestly expected that to kill me?” Sharity giggled and wrapped her tiny wings around Micheal, snuggling into the Vulpix’s chest.

          Desmond failed to notice this deep display of affection between the ‘siblings’, his attention focused squarely on where the Frogadier’s body was. That is, where it should have been; in the space where Micheal’s Energy Ball should have shot him into, there wasn’t anything. Not even a black mark.

          “Sharity, Micheal, be careful!” Desmond warned in a panic. “He’s still here somewhere, look!” He pointed to the space where the Frogadier should have been, prompting Micheal and Sharity’s eyes to widen in shock. “But, but I…” Micheal stammered, sure that he finished the intruder himself.

          “How can that be?!” Sharity exclaimed. “Micheal hit him point-blank with his Energy Ball!”

          “Simple; he used Substitute,” Desmond reasoned. “If he took that attack he’d still be here, and not moving much. And if he was here, he wouldn’t hesitate to attack.”

          “So what, did he escape? Or is he…?!” Heinrich questioned, before gasping in fright. “Grandad!” the Lotad yelled, rushing down a nearby hallway.

          “Hold it!” Desmond shouted, racing after Heinrich. “You can’t just rush in like that. Sharity and Micheal nodded to each other, Sharity outpacing her ‘brother’ as he stumbled to his feet and tried to keep up. Heinrich rounded the corner at the end of the hallway, his photographic memory of the cottage allowing him to rush ahead without bumping into anything within the darkness. Before long he skidded to a halt, gazing upward at the massive shadow that seemingly appeared from nowhere in front of him. Heinrich could not resist firing an Astonish in fright, the screech of terror connecting with the shadow making it tumble backwards.

          D-Did I get hi-? Heinrich thought, before his thoughts were cut off by a figure dashing past him. It was then that Heinrich realized what he actually attacked; his grandfather, Edward L. Marx, who adjusted the sombrero-like lily pad on his head. Heinrich swiveled around to see the Frogadier leap right over his allies, firing another Smokescreen to blind them. Heinrich stood perplexed, confused, and most of all ashamed that he allowed the assailant to escape.

          “W-We gotta *cough**cough*, go after him…!” Micheal wheezed, almost all his senses stunted from taking a Smokescreen at point-blank range.

          Desmond’s body was already covered in the glow of Agility, his eyes focused on the Frogadier who was a mere moment away from escaping through the entrance. “I’ll end this here!” Desmond hissed, preparing to leap after the attacker, before a hand grasped his shoulders. The Combusken quickly swiveled around in surprise, looking upward at the hand’s owner; the Ludicolo whom he was tasked to escort, who looked down upon him with a hearty laugh.

          “All this fuss, over one opponent?” Edward questioned, giving a slight stretch to his old, ashen body. “I say we let him go; no reason to worry chaps.”

           Heinrich turned around swiftly to face his grandfather and stammered, “B-B-But he attacked you! He wanted to kill the both of us, and you’re just letting him go?!”

          Edward chuckled once more, fidgeting with his cap. “He tried his hardest to get the better of me, and I turned the tables on him in no time flat!” He puffed his chest proudly, demonstrating the headlock he kept the Frogadier in.

          “If that’s the case, I wonder how he got free…” Desmond pondered, giving an accusatory eye towards the Lotad.

          Heinrich looked away from the Combusken in embarrassment, his lily pad pulled somewhat over his eyes. “Now, now, let’s not point fingers.” Edward reassured. “Now, what have I always told you, Heinrich?” Edward prompted.

          “Finger pointing should be done only at the enemy…” Heinrich replied weakly.

          Desmond rolled his eyes at the family’s absurd sayings, letting out a pained sigh before saying, “Look, let’s cut to chase; Kara sent us here to make sure the two are okay and to bring you back to her. It’s best if we hurry before that Frogadier comes back with friends.”

          Micheal grinned widely as he turned towards the door, swaggering with an accomplished feeling. “All’s well that ends well! What’d say we get out of here huh, Sharity?” Micheal stopped for moment, feeling his ‘sister’ shake nervously as she was perched atop his head. “Sis, what’s with all the shaking?!” he pleaded, his whole body starting to shiver along with hers.

          Sharity gulped loudly, calming down the tremors going throughout her body before saying, “I sense a lot of people outside, none of them are here for anything good…” The group realized they had no further time to waste. Cautiously, they opened the front entrance, ready for any surprise attack the enemy may have. Though nothing of the sort came, they were still shocked by what they witnessed; various Pokemon in a small gang who stepped forward towards the group, menace and venom seeping from their expressions.

          Heinrich hid involuntary behind his grandfather, Desmond scanned his surroundings, searching for anyway to escape unscathed, and Micheal and Sharity seemingly competed with which sibling would protect the other from harm. “You’ve gotta be freaking kidding me?!” Micheal exclaimed. “What kinda pond did these guys crawl out of?”

          “This looks bad,” Heinrich observed, his body beginning to shake in fear behind his grandfather. “What are we going to do, Granddad? Granddad?!” the Lotad questioned, his voice shaking as the old Ludicolo stepped forward onto the tall grass, stroking his grey grass poncho.

          “You have something planned, Gramps?” Desmond questioned his body tensed and ready for anything.

           Edward chuckled once again and replied, “I wouldn’t step up so confidently if I didn’t.” He stretched out his hand, a brightly green colored ball of gas collecting quickly into his hand. “I suggest you children get back inside; I would hate for you to be caught up in this mess.”

          Desmond’s eyes widened, quickly exhorting to the group, “He’s right; he’s pumping enough power into that Nature Power to knock out a horde of Rhyhorn.”

          “Nature Power?” Sharity asked. “But what attack is he even using?”

          “Just a dash of Stun Spore, dear,” Edward reassured. “Don’t worry; a hint of wetness will protect you, let’s just make sure to use this quickly.”

          In a flash, everything happened; the children disappeared swiftly into the house. The gang of Pokemon, undeterred by a single old man, rushed forward headlong roaring with ruthless bloodlust and wicked smiles. Edward returned a wicked grin of his own, his eyes twinkling with glee as he fired the Nature Power, everything then being obscured in an emerald fog, the sounds of hacking and wheezing echoing into the air.