Assault on Darts Prt 1
As we were heading back into town, I had learned that the names of the Chikorita and Cyndaquil I had met were Aroma, and Brimstone. I had introduced myself as Derek and was surprised to find that they were both female and that they even knew a bit of my current predicament... of being transformed into a Totodile and waking in the middle of a forest clearing.
"So you're saying that I'm not the first human who's come here, and that usually when one does, it's a sign of bad luck?" I asked as we were nearing the town, I could see it's outline just over the next few hills.
"Correct," said Aroma as she explained, "We've actually had this happen twice in the past. Both times, a human woke up in our world as a pokemon with no idea how or why. And both times, a catastrophic incident nearly destroyed the entire world!", saying this put me on edge. I didn't like the thought of being perceived as a harbinger of death and destruction, it was likely they'd try to dispose of me if that were true.
"Don't worry, Derek! Both times that those incidents occurred, it was the humans themselves who fixed the problem, you're more likely to be considered a great hero rather than a bad omen." said Brimstone as her back flared up for a few seconds, "Of course, we haven't had any unusual events happening lately, so I'm not sure what could be coming along the way." she added.
"By the way, Derek." said Aroma with a hesitant giggle before looking to Brimstone who nodded in agreement as she continued, "We've been trying to form a Dungeon Explorer team for quite some time. We need three members, but nobody is willing to join us thanks to the Poke Whores owning most of the world map. They think it's a waste of time! Would you like to join us?" she told me.
I was a bit skeptic, I had no idea what a dungeon explorer team was or how I could possibly be of any use, but if it meant staying on friendly terms with them, I would accept. Upon hearing my answer, they cheered gleefully and by that time, we had just arrived at the town entrance.
I saw that the town was most impressive for something that one would expect Pokemon to build, there were shops for food and various items, and I even noticed a store selling out what looked to be tiny computer disks that I remembered were known as TM's, or Technique Machines.
We continued walking through town until eventually coming to a rather large building set into a cliff side which had dozens of pokemon from nearly all kinds of species patrolling around in a rush.
"This is it, the Dungeon Explorers Association. It was built after the Wigglytuff guild disbanded nearly fifty years ago..." said Brimstone, "The Poke Whores ran them out of business." she added while we began to head inside the large building who's entrance was designed to look like a Wigglytuff's head.
As we entered, we were met with the disgruntled face of a Raichu who was filing some paperwork at a check in desk and trying to pass them out to passing Pokemon. When he saw the three of us, he frowned at Brimstone and Aroma before looking at me and rolling his eyes.
"Back again to try forming a team, I see?" said the Raichu while stamping papers, " I'm telling you that it's a waste of time. Even with the missions that Poke Whores don't bother with, I've got every other team in the region pouncing at them the instant they turn up. You will never get even a single mission done at this rate..." he added.
"That's why we're going to try staking claim to territories of our own. Making them off limits to others unless they challenge us! We're going to start by claiming dominance over Woodland Meadow!" said Brimstone, causing the Raichu to stifle a laughter.
"Alright, have it your way. But don't come crying to me when the Poke Whores come kicking down your door and taking it as their own." said the Raichu before handing her a slip of paper. "The Woodland Meadow is currently being controlled by a single pokemon, but only because it's such small time work that nobody even cares about it. If you defeat them in a challenge for dominance, the area is yours..." he added.
I noticed that Brimstone had been given some form of sign up sheet which she and Aroma began to fill out before handing to me to sign it. I noticed it was a dungeon explorer sign up sheet, and the name of the team had been chosen as Team Sea Forest Fire! I was a bit confused until I realized that along with me, Aroma and Brimstone made up the three elemental starters common to Pokemon Trainers in the human world. I signed my name and then we were given another form of paper that showed the image of a Nidorino with information below it.
Name: Darts
Species: Nidorino
Info: Darts is a loner Pokemon who has staked claim to the Woodland Meadow. Although he is not officially a Dungeon Explorer team, he has been savagely attacking and kicking out any teams who venture into the area, thus preventing them from doing any rescue missions in the area.
We took the paper and left the building to head back through town, but not before stopping by a store run by two very unusual chameleon type pokemon. I was confused because they kept speaking in unison while introducing themselves to me as both named Kecleon , but I learned that we would be stopping by there very frequently due to the shop having most of the items we would need. Aroma used the money she had intended for the mission and bought three apples for us to take on the trip before we were ready to head out again.
"Guys, I just realized," I said as we were nearing the edge of town once again, "Even though I'm a pokemon, I have no idea how to use any special attacks! How am I going to be of any use in a fight with this Nidorino?" I asked, causing both Brimstone and Aroma to look at me in a questioning manner. They tried to think of an answer for a few moments before Brimstone approached me and grabbed my claws with her stubby paws and showed them to me.
"Just swing with these open and you should be able to do a basic scratch attack!" she said cheerfully as I noticed the sharp points at the end of my fingers and was surprised at how powerful they looked. I didn't doubt that if I wasn't careful with them, I might even be able to deal some serious destruction with them, but that would have to wait until I was more powerful to learn advanced claw moves...
After a few more seconds of holding my claws, Brimstone gave a faint giggle and a facial expression that almost suggested she was blushing under her fur before letting go of my claws and rushing on ahead of us. Aroma giggled as well while looking at me and then we both ran out of town and into the wilds to claim ownership of Woodland Meadow!
"What exactly is a dungeon explorer team?" I asked as we were traveling on our way, I had looked at our map to see that we had a good while ahead of us, so it was as good a time as any to strike up a conversation as we traveled.
"A dungeon explorer team is a group of Pokemon who accept jobs to venture into mystery dungeons," said Aroma, "We collect items, rescue lost travelers, and even capture the occasional criminal if such a job is available." she added.
"Or at least that's how it's supposed to work!" grumbled Brimstone, "Ever since the Poke Whores took over most of the map, they've been getting ninety percent of all the jobs available! Eventually teams began to stake claim to smaller territories that the Poke Whores thought were too small time to even bother with." she added.
"So basically, if we can claim enough territory, we get more jobs and can start fighting back Team Poke Whores?" I asked. Aroma and Brimstone nodded quietly and I remembered them saying that Poke Whores had never in their history failed a single mission.
"The team is mostly made up of males who can't keep their urges to their selves, but the team itself is ruled by six founding members who act like the chain leaders." said Aroma as we were looking at the map. "Each of those six members is ruler over an entire region of the world map, they are extremely powerful and each one has been known to take down a legendary in a one on one battle!" she added.
"They're code names are Lust, Bondage, Mistress, Rape, Whip, and Master. We are currently in Lust's territory. He oversees all the small time areas, but if we can topple him, we'll be on our way to much bigger territory." said Brimstone as she circled the area on the map with her paws, I was surprised to see that this region only covered about a sixth of the map, but due to the fact that it was a map, the area was actually much larger than it appeared. We would have an awful lot of work ahead of us to conquer this area...
"Of course, it's a very small chance we're even going to meet Lust, each one has their own small squad of troops to defend their territory, we need to level up to even stand a chance!" said Aroma as she put the map away, "anyways, we're almost there and it's no use talking about maybes and possibilities. Lets focus on the task at hand..." she added.
Almost out of nowhere after she had finished talking, we heard a blood thirsty roar and turned to see a flock of Pidgey heading straight towards us! There were about four of them and they looked very angry at our presence as they came swooping in to attack.
"Oh no, wild pokemon! They must be working for Darts!" shouted Aroma as she and Brimstone prepared to attack, I was caught off guard as one of the Pidgey swooped in and delivered a peck attack to my face, knocking me backwards as it prepared for another pass as I tried to climb to my feet!
One of the Pidgey tried to dive towards Brimstone, but she unleashed a smokescreen from her mouth, causing the bird to become blinded as it swerved out of control, trying to clear it's vision while Aroma used a tackle attack to knock it unconscious.
Not wanting to let myself be shown up by two girls, I turned to the attacking Pidgey and swung blindly with my claws in hopes of hitting it with a scratch attack, I felt something impact with them and opened my eyes to see the Pidgey be sent crashing to the ground with a mess of feathers floating around behind it!
"Cool, it really did work!" I shouted before another Pidgey took advantage of my distraction and unleashed a fury attack by repeatedly pecking me as I tried to back away and defend against the assault. I noticed that Brimstone and Aroma were busy with enemies of their own, but at least the battle was stacked in our favor now with only two of the birds left.
Aroma swung her head quickly and I saw several green blurs fire from it with a swooshing sound towards the Pidgey she was fighting, "Razor Leaf!" she shouted as the Pidgey noticed the oncoming leaves and was just about to dodge out of the way before...
"Smoke Screen!" shouted Brimstone as she exhaled a cloud of black smoke towards the Pidgey, catching it full force and completely blinding it while shielding it from view just as the leaves flew into the cloud and there was the sound of several slicing noises from within it. Seconds later, the Pidgey fell from the cloud and smacked into the ground below as the black cloud cleared away, it was seemingly uninjured, but it was knocked out cold from the attack.
That only left my very angry Pidgey now who had finished it's fury attack, thus giving me time to strike. I stared at it right in the eyes and I was surprised to see that in doing so, I had accidentally used a Leer Attack without knowing how! The bird's defensive stance dropped just a little bit which gave me an opening as I swung with a claw attack, making a direct attack. The bird roared out as it fell backwards, but still maintained it's footing as it swung one of it's wings, unleashing a gust attack.
The wind from the gust slammed into me and made small cuts across my scales due to the pressure, but it wasn't anything too severe, Brimstone and Aroma quickly finished it off with a double tackle combo which sent the bird sailing across the ground and smacking into a tree!
With all four Pidgey defeated, we stopped to catch our breath before moving forward, during which time, we looked over each other for injuries, me having had the most of them. Aroma and Brimstone explained how they had a bit of experience fighting wild Pokemon due to how many there were roaming the world, and that in time, I too would become experienced enough to deal with them on my own. I wasn't sure about the idea of constantly fighting angry pokemon, but the battle had been fun, despite getting roughed up in the process.
"There we go, all done!" said Brimstone as she finished applying some medicinal herbs to my cuts, herbs that Aroma had helped her find and gather. I noticed how Brimstone and Aroma seemed to act a bit flirty around me, but I guessed it was just them having fun, maybe even teasing me since I was the only boy of the group. I noticed that I looked pretty weak with the bandages patching my body on my arms and legs, but they'd heal and so I didn't worry about it.
"Alright guys, we've still got a ways to go, and most likely Darts will know we're coming. The first thing a wild pokemon does before attacking is to alert it's leader, and if there is none, then they roar very loudly to alert as many others as possible. Lets keep our guard up..." said Aroma as we headed deeper into Woodland Meadow.
"So you're saying that I'm not the first human who's come here, and that usually when one does, it's a sign of bad luck?" I asked as we were nearing the town, I could see it's outline just over the next few hills.
"Correct," said Aroma as she explained, "We've actually had this happen twice in the past. Both times, a human woke up in our world as a pokemon with no idea how or why. And both times, a catastrophic incident nearly destroyed the entire world!", saying this put me on edge. I didn't like the thought of being perceived as a harbinger of death and destruction, it was likely they'd try to dispose of me if that were true.
"Don't worry, Derek! Both times that those incidents occurred, it was the humans themselves who fixed the problem, you're more likely to be considered a great hero rather than a bad omen." said Brimstone as her back flared up for a few seconds, "Of course, we haven't had any unusual events happening lately, so I'm not sure what could be coming along the way." she added.
"By the way, Derek." said Aroma with a hesitant giggle before looking to Brimstone who nodded in agreement as she continued, "We've been trying to form a Dungeon Explorer team for quite some time. We need three members, but nobody is willing to join us thanks to the Poke Whores owning most of the world map. They think it's a waste of time! Would you like to join us?" she told me.
I was a bit skeptic, I had no idea what a dungeon explorer team was or how I could possibly be of any use, but if it meant staying on friendly terms with them, I would accept. Upon hearing my answer, they cheered gleefully and by that time, we had just arrived at the town entrance.
I saw that the town was most impressive for something that one would expect Pokemon to build, there were shops for food and various items, and I even noticed a store selling out what looked to be tiny computer disks that I remembered were known as TM's, or Technique Machines.
We continued walking through town until eventually coming to a rather large building set into a cliff side which had dozens of pokemon from nearly all kinds of species patrolling around in a rush.
"This is it, the Dungeon Explorers Association. It was built after the Wigglytuff guild disbanded nearly fifty years ago..." said Brimstone, "The Poke Whores ran them out of business." she added while we began to head inside the large building who's entrance was designed to look like a Wigglytuff's head.
As we entered, we were met with the disgruntled face of a Raichu who was filing some paperwork at a check in desk and trying to pass them out to passing Pokemon. When he saw the three of us, he frowned at Brimstone and Aroma before looking at me and rolling his eyes.
"Back again to try forming a team, I see?" said the Raichu while stamping papers, " I'm telling you that it's a waste of time. Even with the missions that Poke Whores don't bother with, I've got every other team in the region pouncing at them the instant they turn up. You will never get even a single mission done at this rate..." he added.
"That's why we're going to try staking claim to territories of our own. Making them off limits to others unless they challenge us! We're going to start by claiming dominance over Woodland Meadow!" said Brimstone, causing the Raichu to stifle a laughter.
"Alright, have it your way. But don't come crying to me when the Poke Whores come kicking down your door and taking it as their own." said the Raichu before handing her a slip of paper. "The Woodland Meadow is currently being controlled by a single pokemon, but only because it's such small time work that nobody even cares about it. If you defeat them in a challenge for dominance, the area is yours..." he added.
I noticed that Brimstone had been given some form of sign up sheet which she and Aroma began to fill out before handing to me to sign it. I noticed it was a dungeon explorer sign up sheet, and the name of the team had been chosen as Team Sea Forest Fire! I was a bit confused until I realized that along with me, Aroma and Brimstone made up the three elemental starters common to Pokemon Trainers in the human world. I signed my name and then we were given another form of paper that showed the image of a Nidorino with information below it.
Name: Darts
Species: Nidorino
Info: Darts is a loner Pokemon who has staked claim to the Woodland Meadow. Although he is not officially a Dungeon Explorer team, he has been savagely attacking and kicking out any teams who venture into the area, thus preventing them from doing any rescue missions in the area.
We took the paper and left the building to head back through town, but not before stopping by a store run by two very unusual chameleon type pokemon. I was confused because they kept speaking in unison while introducing themselves to me as both named Kecleon , but I learned that we would be stopping by there very frequently due to the shop having most of the items we would need. Aroma used the money she had intended for the mission and bought three apples for us to take on the trip before we were ready to head out again.
"Guys, I just realized," I said as we were nearing the edge of town once again, "Even though I'm a pokemon, I have no idea how to use any special attacks! How am I going to be of any use in a fight with this Nidorino?" I asked, causing both Brimstone and Aroma to look at me in a questioning manner. They tried to think of an answer for a few moments before Brimstone approached me and grabbed my claws with her stubby paws and showed them to me.
"Just swing with these open and you should be able to do a basic scratch attack!" she said cheerfully as I noticed the sharp points at the end of my fingers and was surprised at how powerful they looked. I didn't doubt that if I wasn't careful with them, I might even be able to deal some serious destruction with them, but that would have to wait until I was more powerful to learn advanced claw moves...
After a few more seconds of holding my claws, Brimstone gave a faint giggle and a facial expression that almost suggested she was blushing under her fur before letting go of my claws and rushing on ahead of us. Aroma giggled as well while looking at me and then we both ran out of town and into the wilds to claim ownership of Woodland Meadow!
"What exactly is a dungeon explorer team?" I asked as we were traveling on our way, I had looked at our map to see that we had a good while ahead of us, so it was as good a time as any to strike up a conversation as we traveled.
"A dungeon explorer team is a group of Pokemon who accept jobs to venture into mystery dungeons," said Aroma, "We collect items, rescue lost travelers, and even capture the occasional criminal if such a job is available." she added.
"Or at least that's how it's supposed to work!" grumbled Brimstone, "Ever since the Poke Whores took over most of the map, they've been getting ninety percent of all the jobs available! Eventually teams began to stake claim to smaller territories that the Poke Whores thought were too small time to even bother with." she added.
"So basically, if we can claim enough territory, we get more jobs and can start fighting back Team Poke Whores?" I asked. Aroma and Brimstone nodded quietly and I remembered them saying that Poke Whores had never in their history failed a single mission.
"The team is mostly made up of males who can't keep their urges to their selves, but the team itself is ruled by six founding members who act like the chain leaders." said Aroma as we were looking at the map. "Each of those six members is ruler over an entire region of the world map, they are extremely powerful and each one has been known to take down a legendary in a one on one battle!" she added.
"They're code names are Lust, Bondage, Mistress, Rape, Whip, and Master. We are currently in Lust's territory. He oversees all the small time areas, but if we can topple him, we'll be on our way to much bigger territory." said Brimstone as she circled the area on the map with her paws, I was surprised to see that this region only covered about a sixth of the map, but due to the fact that it was a map, the area was actually much larger than it appeared. We would have an awful lot of work ahead of us to conquer this area...
"Of course, it's a very small chance we're even going to meet Lust, each one has their own small squad of troops to defend their territory, we need to level up to even stand a chance!" said Aroma as she put the map away, "anyways, we're almost there and it's no use talking about maybes and possibilities. Lets focus on the task at hand..." she added.
Almost out of nowhere after she had finished talking, we heard a blood thirsty roar and turned to see a flock of Pidgey heading straight towards us! There were about four of them and they looked very angry at our presence as they came swooping in to attack.
"Oh no, wild pokemon! They must be working for Darts!" shouted Aroma as she and Brimstone prepared to attack, I was caught off guard as one of the Pidgey swooped in and delivered a peck attack to my face, knocking me backwards as it prepared for another pass as I tried to climb to my feet!
One of the Pidgey tried to dive towards Brimstone, but she unleashed a smokescreen from her mouth, causing the bird to become blinded as it swerved out of control, trying to clear it's vision while Aroma used a tackle attack to knock it unconscious.
Not wanting to let myself be shown up by two girls, I turned to the attacking Pidgey and swung blindly with my claws in hopes of hitting it with a scratch attack, I felt something impact with them and opened my eyes to see the Pidgey be sent crashing to the ground with a mess of feathers floating around behind it!
"Cool, it really did work!" I shouted before another Pidgey took advantage of my distraction and unleashed a fury attack by repeatedly pecking me as I tried to back away and defend against the assault. I noticed that Brimstone and Aroma were busy with enemies of their own, but at least the battle was stacked in our favor now with only two of the birds left.
Aroma swung her head quickly and I saw several green blurs fire from it with a swooshing sound towards the Pidgey she was fighting, "Razor Leaf!" she shouted as the Pidgey noticed the oncoming leaves and was just about to dodge out of the way before...
"Smoke Screen!" shouted Brimstone as she exhaled a cloud of black smoke towards the Pidgey, catching it full force and completely blinding it while shielding it from view just as the leaves flew into the cloud and there was the sound of several slicing noises from within it. Seconds later, the Pidgey fell from the cloud and smacked into the ground below as the black cloud cleared away, it was seemingly uninjured, but it was knocked out cold from the attack.
That only left my very angry Pidgey now who had finished it's fury attack, thus giving me time to strike. I stared at it right in the eyes and I was surprised to see that in doing so, I had accidentally used a Leer Attack without knowing how! The bird's defensive stance dropped just a little bit which gave me an opening as I swung with a claw attack, making a direct attack. The bird roared out as it fell backwards, but still maintained it's footing as it swung one of it's wings, unleashing a gust attack.
The wind from the gust slammed into me and made small cuts across my scales due to the pressure, but it wasn't anything too severe, Brimstone and Aroma quickly finished it off with a double tackle combo which sent the bird sailing across the ground and smacking into a tree!
With all four Pidgey defeated, we stopped to catch our breath before moving forward, during which time, we looked over each other for injuries, me having had the most of them. Aroma and Brimstone explained how they had a bit of experience fighting wild Pokemon due to how many there were roaming the world, and that in time, I too would become experienced enough to deal with them on my own. I wasn't sure about the idea of constantly fighting angry pokemon, but the battle had been fun, despite getting roughed up in the process.
"There we go, all done!" said Brimstone as she finished applying some medicinal herbs to my cuts, herbs that Aroma had helped her find and gather. I noticed how Brimstone and Aroma seemed to act a bit flirty around me, but I guessed it was just them having fun, maybe even teasing me since I was the only boy of the group. I noticed that I looked pretty weak with the bandages patching my body on my arms and legs, but they'd heal and so I didn't worry about it.
"Alright guys, we've still got a ways to go, and most likely Darts will know we're coming. The first thing a wild pokemon does before attacking is to alert it's leader, and if there is none, then they roar very loudly to alert as many others as possible. Lets keep our guard up..." said Aroma as we headed deeper into Woodland Meadow.