Mission Rank: C

Reward: $150

Location: The Wilds

Summary: Textile Factory in the industrial district requires String Shot producing caterpillar Pokémon. A minimum of six Pokémon required for mission completion. Any additional Pokémon will earn $40 bonus pay each. Trainer has 24 hours to complete mission on accepting. Acquire non-registered mission pokeballs from the Pokemart. Trainer must hand over captured Pokémon and unused pokeballs to the mission office to receive payment.

***

"Sorry," George said to me breathlessly, just two minutes before 9AM. "My errands ran later than I thought they would. I didn't get much sleep."

"No worries," I said. "You ready to go?"

He nodded. "You have your mission pokeballs?"

I patted my backpack. "All set."

"Then let's head out," he said.

The gate shift supervisor wished us luck and signalled the trainer manning the gate to open it. We moved passed the gate and stopped as the gate closed behind us. In front of us, we could see the path that led to the forest. George pulled out four pokeballs and released his Pokémon. A Golbat, Poliwhirl, Rhyhorn and a Swellow appeared in front of us.

I also pulled out my two pokeballs, releasing Zatanna and Beleric. Zatanna tensed up as she saw the other Pokémon before I calmed her down. Beleric simply took a glance and ignored everyone as per usual.

"What's with that one?" he asked me while pointing at Beleric.

"Oh him? He's always like this..." I said.

He frowned. "Can you trust him to watch your back?"

"Yep," I said popping the 'p'. "We came to an agreement." I continued while Beleric was out of earshot. "He knows what happens if he turns..." The edge of my mouth curls up ever so slightly.

George nodded after a moment. "Let's get started then," he said.

The two of us began walking towards the forest with our Pokémon spread out around us.

"Have you been to the forest before?" George asked me after walking in silence for a few minutes.

I shook my head. "Not this one," I told him. He gave me a curious glance. "I took my Ordeal in the North-West forest." I explained.

He winced. "Damn," he said. "The North-West forest is actually worse than the North-East forest and the mountains when it comes to the Ordeals. I'm sorry."

"I'm not," I shrugged nonchalantly. "Wouldn't have gotten Zatanna or Synin otherwise."

"True," he said. "They are crazy loyal to you. You really lucked out with them."

I nodded in agreement, though my Pokémon didn't seem to be that hard to control, even Beleric. You simply needed to make sure that you were the ones with the reigns, not them.

After walking for a bit longer we finally reached the edge of the forest. We stopped before entering. George reached into his backpack and took out two radios and handed me one.

"Here," he said. "These are special radios that have a feature that we can use to triangulate each other's location. I don't want us wandering too far from each other."

I took the offered radio. "I thought we would be moving through the forest together?" I asked.

He shook his head. "It will be better if we have a little distance between us," he said. "We'll make less noise that way and won't alert too many Pokémon of our presence. We'll remain close enough that if one of us is in trouble the other can quickly move to their location to provide backup. Just keep your radio ready in case of anything."

I nodded slowly. "That makes sense I guess," I said. "So, what's the plan?"

"The Pokémon we're looking for will most likely be up in the trees," he said. "We both have Pokémon that can fly up and knock the Pokémon down. Caterpillar Pokémon are not really difficult to capture so you won't have to weaken them too much. Just be careful not to accidentally kill the Pokémon you're trying to capture."

I nodded. "So, we need either Caterpie, Wurmple, Sewaddle, or Scatterbug right?" I asked.

He nodded. "Weedle would be acceptable too but I'm not brave enough to go after any," he said. "And Blipbug aren't really caterpillar Pokémon. It's best to avoid them entirely."

He did not need to explain. I knew my stuff. Blipbug, by nature, held grudges too easily. I am unsure whether it is true that its final evolution are serious advocates for world domination.

"Check in every 15 minutes," he said. "Between the two of us this shouldn't take very long. Let's give ourselves four hours or until we've both used up our mission pokeballs."

I nodded again. We walked through the forest together for a few minutes. Finally, George wished me luck and moved away from me. I kept an eye on him until I could no longer see him through the line of trees. I turned to Zatanna and Beleric.

I moved onto other instructions after giving them a brief description of what kind of Bug Pokémon we were expected to capture. "Keep an eye on the ground but be ready in case a Pokémon in the air tries to attack us. If you spot one try to let me know without alerting the Pokémon. If it's one that we need, I want Bel to use Astonish to try knock it from the tree. Once it's on the ground, Zatanna will use a weakened Snarl on it. Make sure you don't kill the Pokémon we're trying to capture. Understood?"

While Zatanna could easily transverse treetops herself, I took this chance to promote their rapport. I had complete confidence in Zatanna to keep Beleric in line.

After getting confirmation from them we began slowly walking through the forest. I kept my eyes on the ground but would periodically scan the trees around us. After walking for a while Zatanna made a soft sound to get my attention. I turned to the direction she was looking and spotted what she was staring at after a few seconds. I almost missed the Caterpie as its body blended in with the leaves it was currently munching on. The Pokémon didn't seem to notice us.

"Beleric," I ordered quietly.

Beleric vanished from sight. A few seconds later, he appeared suddenly next to the Caterpie and let out a shout while releasing waves of Ghost type energy. The surprised Caterpie was knocked off the branch and landed with a thud on the ground. No sooner did it hit the ground did Zatanna let out an underpowered Snarl, disorienting again.

I threw one of the mission pokeballs at it while it was trying to right itself again. The Pokémon was sucked up and the ball shook a couple of seconds before stopping.

I moved over to Zatanna and began to pet her.

"Good job," I said. "Both of you."

Zatanna wagged her tail happily. Beleric just gave me a bored look.

We continued our mission. Every 15 minutes either George or I would radio each other to check in. I ran into several Pokémon while looking for more caterpillar Pokémon.

Most of the time Zatanna would chase them off, very rarely did we have to kill. I was extremely careful as to not to walk into a Spinarak's web and become its meal or to trip over unsuspecting Pokémon.

By the time we reached the two-hour mark, I had managed to capture four more Pokémon. I captured another Caterpie, a Scatterbug, and two Wurmple. What turned out to be a rather easy mission turned out to be quite difficult. Perhaps, I should have taken Synin instead? This task would be perfect for training his Keen Eye ability.

"We only need one more," I told them. "Once we capture one more we can meet up with George and then head back home."

We continued walking a bit longer when Zatanna suddenly stopped and began to sniff the air. She turned and began walking through the trees slowly. I was curious of what she sensed and began to follow her quietly. She stopped suddenly behind a tree and I crouched down behind her. I carefully glanced around the tree and saw what Zatanna tracked down.

"A Rockruff," I muttered in disbelief. "What's a Rockruff doing in the forest? They normally live near mountains."

I continued to stare at the Pokémon until I felt Zatanna nudge my leg. When I looked down, I saw her staring at me with an expectant look on her face. I turned around and saw Beleric staring at the Rockruff with some interest. I turned back to the Rockruff licking it injures, most of which were burn marks.

There was no way I wouldn't pass up this opportunity. Beleric has a type advantage and Zatanna is larger than the Rockruff. Our current position was also downwind from the Pokémon just up ahead.

"Beleric," I ordered quietly. "Use astonish on that Rockruff, then immediately follow it up with Confuse Ray. Whether the Confuse Ray takes effect or not, I want you to back out after that. Understand?"

Beleric slowly made an affirmative sound. I turned to Zatanna.

"Ready?" I asked her.

She made an affirmative sound as well and stood staring at the Rockruff intently. I quickly radioed George what I was about to do. I did not wait to hear his reply as I gave the signal to commence, desiring to finish this as soon as possible.

Beleric vanished from sight. A few seconds later, she appeared in front of the Rockruff and landed a direct hit. The attack didn't do much damage, but it caused the Pokémon to flinch. Beleric quickly shot a Confuse Ray at the Rockruff then floated back a bit.

"Zatanna! Assurance!"

Zatanna charged at the Rockruff while gathering her Dark energy. The Rockruff turned to face her and let loose a loud Howl while gathering sharp stones around itself, forcing Zatanna to veer off track. As she rolled onto the ground, her daily training kicked in and she managed to right herself with a flip.

'Shit!' I thought. 'The Confuse Ray didn't take!'

I could see it opening its mouth and getting ready to Bite Zatanna.

"Beleric! Branch Poke!"

Beleric appeared behind the Rockruff holding a sharp branch shortly infused with Grass energy. He prodded the Pokémon, disrupting its attack and its focus on the levitating stones. He must have prodded one of its burn marks as it reacted almost instantly injuring Beleric gravely with Snarl.

"Zatanna! Feint attack!"

The trickster fox vanished. A moment later, she slammed into the Rockruff's blind spot, coated with Dark energy and sharp canine teeth bared for all to see. As I threw a pokeball that I had brought earlier this morning towards the downed canine, I also recalled Beleric back to his pokeball. He deserved some rest.

"We did it!" I exclaimed, three shakes later.

I did not celebrate any further because Beleric required medical treatment. I stopped rummaging through my backpack as Zatanna began to growl. To our misfortune, three canine like Pokémon emerged from the bushes, their foreheads adorned with stylized skulls and eyes of fire.

"Well...shit!" I cursed under my breath. It was fortunate that I had the foresight to contact George earlier.

"Sorry, Gentlemen/Ladies," I smiled with false bravado. "I don't suppose I can convince you to leave us alone. I'm sure we'd taste terrible, no?"

As expected, I received a menacing snarl from the lead Houndour who did not appreciate my joke. He/She, I couldn't tell, gave a few short barks to its two lackeys.

They pounced on us immediately. On reflex, I jumped backwards, knife in hand. But before I could use it, I heard a familiar voice shout out some commands.

"Aerial Ace! Air Cutter!"

A blue blur out of nowhere hit the incoming Houndour in the side, felling it in one swell swoop.

George's Swellow appeared near me while the man himself stood on the other side of the clearing with his Golbat hovering in front of him. His Rhyhorn and Poliwhirl stood next to him.

I noticed the other Houndour, not fully down, was inflicted with deep cuts by Air Cutter. Heart thumping against my chest, like a marionette on strings my body moved on its own. The knife struck down repeatedly, stabbing the skull headed beast in the eyes.

As exhausted as it already was from chasing the stubborn Rockruff, it did not go down gently. It bit empty air as it thrashed erratically injuring me in the process, a knife still in one of its eye socket.

Once it cried its final death throes, the forest fell into a deathly silence.

Houndour were never known to leave their sick or injured behind. What would they do with someone who just killed one of them right in front of them?

With Houndour blood on my hands and attire, it was now either do or die. Under the murderous gazes of grim-reapers-to-be, I found myself frozen, unable to move an inch as pain made itself known.

With a mournful howl, the lead Houndour led the charge.

Where to?

Why, who else but the human who had slain its brethren? Who else but me?