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Chapter Two - Meeting at Noon

The waves by the shore meet with a Corrupted Water.

"Ugh, this is terrible! I'm getting sand in-between my toes!"

Treecko stared down at his big-toed feet and sighed in utter frustration. Being a Pokemon was not the best thing he'd experienced. He vaguely recalled talking to someone before stomping over the rough, grainy sands of this hot beach. Whoever it was, they were gone now, and had left him stranded here. Treecko had never been one for the beach anyway, he thought, even when he was... Well, whatever was before he was a Treecko.

"Agh, I need a break from this.." He sat flat down onto the shore line, idly watching the waves slosh up over the sandy shore. After awhile, the water came up over his feet, washing away the brown, glassy grains from them. "Well, that feels better..." Sliding himself down further into the water, the small Grass-Type relaxed in the cool water, feeling strangely refreshed. "Hmm~ This feels nice." He passed time staring down at his own reflection in the water, wondering at his appearance. "Weird... I don't remember ever looking like this before. In fact.. I think I was human."

"Don't be so ridiculous. Humans are a myth, stupid."

Not expecting to have heard anyone's voice but his own, Treecko leaped out of the water, tripping in his surprise as his feet slammed back down on the ground, knocking the wind out of him as he ended up laying flat on his belly in the sand, stating up at the newcomer. "Uguhhh..."

"Hmph, what a scaredy-cat." Treecko stared over at the strange-looking blue-green creature who wasn't even bothering to stare back at him. Instead, this bulky, thick-tailed thing leaned its head into the water lapping at the shore, and seemed to be drinking from it. This confused the Treecko, who was pretty sure that ocean water was unsafe to drink, due to the amount of salt that was in it.

After shaking off any water on its snout, the creature clomped its way down the shoreline, staring intently at the Treecko, sitting down once it was within a few feet of him. "Huh, you're not a cat at all! You're one of those leaf-lizards." The blue creature snorted at this, coming within just a few inches' space of Treecko, to sniff over him with her slightly-extended snout.

Treecko wasn't very appreciative of this newcomer, after it having scared him out of his calm ponderings. Especially when it seemed to have no issue with coming right into his personal space. "H-hey, just what are you, a dinosaur?!" Any rudeness aside, he couldn't help comparing this other Pokemon to some prehistoric creature. Its thick carapace covered most of the body, even the reverse sides of the ears, rather than any fur.

"Excuse me, kid?!! Did you just call me a dinosaur? I'm hardly old enough for that. I'm a Nidorina, for your information." She pulled back to where she was sitting, her tail flat on the ground behind her. "I specialize in sneaking up on people like I did you. Despite how much I look like a dinosaur. I'm hardly a fossil hunk at all."

Treecko sat up slowly, his daze from knocking himself straight to the ground starting to wear off. "Ohh.. Nidorina? I don't think I've seen you before." Blinking a few times to take in the Pokemon sitting in front of him, the large spikes on her back, and the wide, flat ears were the features that stood out to him the most. "Ack!! Y-you're a terrifying thing!"

Seemingly impressed with this fact, the Nidorina's ears splayed up over her head. She took this as a compliment, as her fearsome appearance was something that she took to heart as much as she could. The Poison-Types usually took a high priority in their terrifying spikes and horns, and receiving a compliment was certainly appealing to them. "I am? Heh, thanks~ I try."

"No, really... But, what are you doing here?"

"I'm the one asking you that! I could hear you splashing around and talking to yourself from across the beach. In fact I could hear you from across the beach and into the forest, noisy thing. You should be more careful so you don't attract unwanted attention."

"Like you, you mean? And no wonder you could hear me with those ears!"

That comment got the Nidorina to flap her ears a few times, snarling at the lizard. "At least I have ears!! How you're managing without them is beyond me."

Treecko felt over his head, blinking as he realized the Nidorina was right. "I don't have ears! How am I even hearing you?"

"Eh, does it matter that much? All I want to know is how you got here. I'm confused, because those footprints of yours stop a bit of a ways that direction." The larger blue Pokemon clambered down closer to the spot the footprints began, leaving her own deep impressions in the sand behind her while she stared down at the ones Treecko had pressed into the sand.

Treecko looked over his shoulder at the trail of prints left by his feet, his eyes following them back to their origin. "That's because that's where I came here from..."

She sat down to stare at the footprints on the sand. "Well... Could you have washed up on the shore? No, you don't smell of saltwater... I think you're gonna have to explain this to me from the start."

Treecko sighed, joining the larger Pokemon in sitting on the beach. This was going to be tough to explain. Especially since he didn't quite know what was going on himself.

Chapter Three - Forest Dwellers

Flooded forests give way to a crowded path.

"Kaide~ I think we did get lost." Dunder didn't seem too worried about this, though, as he followed behind his Leafeon companion

"Nope~ I know where I'm going, dear." The Leafeon was well aware of the less-traveled paths in the Feathery Forest; being a Grass-Type he was more connected with nature in general, but it was also one of his specialties.

Dunder sat down for a moment, his ears flicking about as he seemed to be entirely lost in thought. It took Kaidelong a while to realize he had left his friend behind, and he turned back to see what was the matter. Sliding his tongue over the Dark-Type's ear, Kaide was able to bring his friend back to earth. "Dear~ I promise I'm not lost."

Dunder sighed, his ears flattened down. When Kaidelong was doing things one way, there wasn't any other way he could do them. This was hardly ever a problem, though, considering Kaide's special power. "Right... It's the Nature Sense, isn't it?

Kaidelong gave a nod to the question. "Yes, it is." Kaidelong had an ability that was rare even among Leafeon... He was perfectly attuned with nature, and aware of more things because of this. Though it wasn't often talked about between the two of them, Dunder had grown to trust Kaide's extra senses. In the past, it had sometimes been crucial to their survival. Finding hidden paths, forgotten sources of water, even alternate escape routes when they really had to was incredibly useful, and moreso now that they were an official rescue team.

This didn't apply to anywhere else, though. Sadly, Kaidelong was confused with direction anywhere else, especially in town. There had been days Dunder had to go looking for him when he'd gotten lost on the way to.. Well, anywhere, really. But here, in the forest, was a different situation.

"I'm just taking a different route to avoid the flood down the main path. The river has slightly overflown and while this normally wouldn't be a problem for us, as we can swim, a small gang of Flying-Type Pokemon has taken up residence over there, since the raised water level keeps most other forest dwellers away from that area, which happens to have a few berry bushes." Kaidelong had to sit back for a second to breathe, before continuing. "The Flying-Types have taken advantage of this~ Seems that they took over that small area next to the stream."

Dunder's stomach growled slightly at the mention of food. At this very sound, his scarf flashed orange, glowing with an ember light that faded after a few moments. "Ohh.... W-well, can't we go get the berries? We do need food...."

"How would it look if we stopped for a snack in the middle of a rescue mission...? We do have someone to save here." Kaide stopped for a moment, looking back at Dunder quite seriously. "I'll be honest with you here. We are in their territory now. We've been here before, you know that..."

Dunder's ears lowered, and his gaze traveled over to Kaide's long, leafy left ear, where a thin white scar ran alongside the green vein right down he middle. The expression on the Leafeon's face was reflective of Dunder's own. They were both remembering the first mission they'd taken in the Feathery Forest. The inhabitants had not taken kindly to their intrusion.

Shaking his head, the Leafeon made a ninety-degree turn straight through a grouping of shrubs, snaking through the branches and ending up in a small clearing. "Here... This is where he should be."

The Umbreon quickly took a position behind Kaidelong. If the Trouble Ticket they had taken the mission from was right, they could soon be facing some tough opponents. Whatever they were, he couldn't be sure... But there hadn't been a mission the two had taken that they didn't complete.

"Here somewhere...." Kaidelong took a few absent-minded steps deeper into the clearing. Leaning down, he noticed much of the grass seemed to be uprooted, in two thick lines of overturned dirt, heading across the clearing. Glancing further down, his suspicions proved right. A clump of orange fur glinted against the sunlight on the other side of the clearing. "Hmm.. He was taken through those bushes. Probably just behind them. We should go and--"

"Hold it right there yah talking salad!!" Before either of the two Eeveelutions could react, Kaide was toppled over by a screeching feathery Pokemon, which immediately began pecking at his sides while its talons dug into his back. Kaidelong was effectively pinned to the ground. Any shift he made to try and crawl out from underneath his feathery captor only caused the sharp things to dig into his back more harshly.

Growling fiercely, Dunder leaped over to Kaidelong, flinging himself around so his tail bashed right into the Flying-Type's head, the two instantly at their feet after a short moment of the Leafeon getting his bearings. Shaking the dust off of him, the Grass-Type Pokemon was ready for whatever else this bird had for in for him. "Heh! A Spearow? I've dealt with sharper beaks."

"SpeearOOOOOOOOOOOw! Leave these woods! Our woods! Leave!" The disheveled, enraged Spearow held its wings out, squawking loudly, as his fellow birds descended from the trees. Kaide smirked, staring them all down.

"A fight? With pleasure."