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Chapter 8: The Big Test - Part 3

"You can do it, go get 'em," Fusion encouraged.

"Yeah, kick some ass Anko!" Nina echoed.

"What they said," Lee agreed.

"The final match begins now! Anko the rockruff and Smushy the goomy!" The announcer called. The final two rounds that Thursday were in a different arena from all the last times. The fighting area was roughly double the size of the previous arenas, covered in grass, and the stands were made of shaped terraced rock, providing a big series of stands that were filled with pokemon of all sizes, even some upper classes come to see the last match of the first years.

"I'm nervous, but I'm gonna win!" Anko shouted before running down to the field. He entered the field, but looked around in confusion after his opponent didn't show up.

"Smushy to the arena, Smushy your match is starting!" The announcer called.

"I'm coming!" A light voice shouted out. In the stands, a goomy wriggled fervently as she slid down the steps at a slow pace. "Sorry, I'm really slow!" She eventually got down after a minute or so and slimed her way to the other side of the arena. "Alright, I'm ready. Hi, you're Anko right?" she asked him.

"Yeah. Hi," he responded sheepishly

"I don't suppose you want to take it easy, do you?" Smushy asked.

"Easy? What?"

"Well, I don't really like fighting... I just made it this far cause I'm really strong."

"Oh, I'm the same way!" Anko perked up, tail starting to wag. "Yeah, let's have a friendly match!"

"Alright, you start it," she said.

"Okay, here I go!" A rock of roughly head size broke from the ground and floated into the air. He threw the rock over at her, without too much force. Her body puffed up, then she blew out a bunch of bubbles. One engulfed the rock, stopping its movement and allowing it to drift gently to the ground where the bubble popped. The rest of the bubbles floated through the air, but they were too far from Anko to stand any chance at hitting him.

Anko reared up and stomped the ground. Energy traveled through the ground and exploded next to Smushy, sending her flying. She splatted onto the ground, like a glob of slime. She was flat at first then reformed back to normal. She puffed up again, then breathed out a wave of dragonfire. They were both still at a good distance, allowing Anko to dive out of the way. As he recovered from the dodge, two more rocks, bigger this time, pulled out the ground, launching at her. These were too big to deflect and she was too slow to avoid them. The first clunked onto the ground just shy of her, but the other was dead on.

The rock mashed her face in, visibly distorting her body and causing it to ripple and jiggle. She moved backwards, letting the rock drop off her body as she returned to normal behind it. "Aw c'mon," Anko whined. "That was a good hit."

Smushy giggled. "Nope. My species is pretty unique. I have lots of types I can use, like grass and water. My body is also amorphous. So I use my water energy to suck up moisture from the air. That makes me squishier. Then I can dry up by using grass type energy to give my water to the grass. I gotta be careful though. If I get too dry, I can't breathe."

"What?" Anko asked, not understanding most of what she described.

"I'm super squishy so physical attacks don't work."

"Ohh!" Anko exclaimed in realization. "Well, that's all I know, so I'm gonna keep trying." He gripped the ground, energy visibly cracking the surface as it flowed out. It snaked over towards Smushy, before bursting out, splintering the ground into a stone edge attack. The explosion of stone sent her flying several feet forward. Again, she splatted like slime before reforming. Just as she did, the ground in front of her erupted into spikes. Several stabbed into her. If Anko had spiked them, it might have hurt her, but the tips were blunted. Instead, they sent her flying back.

Anko was panting from all the attacks, using his strongest moves again and again. But as she reformed, she seemed perfectly fine. After she recovered from being tossed around, her body puffed up again, growing three times its size. She then opened her mouth, a massive torrent of muddy water flowing out. It rapidly flowed toward Anko in a large wave, covering most of the field. He reacted quickly, pulling up a solid wall of rock all around him. The wave hit it with enough force to crack it, a bit of water leaking through, but not enough to hurt him.

A vine suddenly shot out of the crack, latching around Anko's front leg. He immediately stumbled as it started absorbing his energy. Instinctively, he reached over and grabbed it with his other paw, but only got more of his energy sucked out. The rock cracked more as vines shot out, launching towards Anko and tying him up. Struggling as much as he could, his rapidly diminishing strength left him unable to break loose. The wall crumbled as he lost his grip on the rock. Anko was pulled down to the ground and dragged towards her.

"Do you give up?" she asked.

Anko tried to break loose once more, even trying to muster enough energy to use rocks to cut the vines, but couldn't do either. "Yeah..."

"Smushy is the winner!" the announcer called out.

"Yay!" She smiled, jiggling excitedly. The vines died away, wilting into nothing and freeing Anko. "You did great too!"

"Ugh," he groaned, rolling onto his belly. "Thanks, you're really tough."

"You really put me to the test. I thought I was gonna pop a few times."

Anko climbed up to his feet shakily. "That was super fun," he smiled. "We should spar again some time."

"Totally. It's nice not having to take fights as seriously," she responded. "See you around." Anko turned around to see his team waiting on the sidelines, all looking a bit sullen. "Hey!" he shouted, running over to them. "Why are you all sad looking?"

"Cause you lost!" Nina cried out exasperatedly. "You were doing so good!"

"Yeah, why aren't you sad?" Fusion asked.

"I had fun and that's all that matters," he announced with a goofy smile. "Now, I'm hungry, so let's go get some lunch!"

+++

"This week just flew on by, didn't it?" Nina asked.

"Yeah. Just one more day," Fusion responded.

"I'm excited, are you guys excited?" Anko asked. "Our first time on a real mission!"

"Don't forget, it's still a test. Take it just as serious as the tournament." Lee commented.

"She's right. Tonight, let's all meet up and organize our items for the trip," Fusion suggested.

+++

The next day, they all gathered at the main area. Teachers were all over, each waiting for their groups. Team Union gathered in front of the darker colored luxray that they were assigned. They all had their treasure bags on, attached to straps and held to their back or sides.

"Team Union? I'm Phantom, the headmaster. Don't worry, I'm nice. Alright then. You all ready to go?" Phantom asked.

"Yes sir," Fusion nodded.

"Two pokemon with off colors paired up? What are the chances," he joked. "So, our mission." He reached into his own bag and pulled out a scroll of paper then gave it to Fusion.

Fusion unrolled it on the ground, his teammates moving around to read it too. "Request: Gather fifty geo pebbles from Submarine Cave. Reward: 3000 poke. Rank: D"

Nina got a confused look. "Geo pebbles? Throwing rocks? Why would somebody request those?"

"Some rock types love the taste of them," Phantom explained. "If somebody wanted those, they could easily buy them. But they want them from this specific place. I'd wager the minerals there have a salty rich taste, probably nutritious too. But with two fire types, it's gonna be tough."

"Why?" Fusion asked.

"Submarine cave is mostly underwater, home to plenty of rock and water types. The location is rank D. A simple gather mission is rank E. So the mission is ranked D for the danger of the area. Before we get going, my job is only to observe. I'll step in if things get dangerous, but otherwise, you're on your own. Any questions?" After a moment, he turned to lead the way inside. "Here we go then, follow me."

They went into the mansion like main building and up the stairs. An entire wall there was a different material with tons of papers pinned into it. "That's the main job board. You can get missions to do either here or at smaller ones in your dens. Once you get your badges, of course. Then you come up here," he led them past the board an into another room. They entered into a big room, mostly empty except for a giant blue sphere in the middle. There was a dark glassy floor surrounding it and lots of maps and charts on the walls. "This is the transportation system."

Phantom walked up to it. As his paws touched the sleek floor, everything lit up with color. The orb revealed a map of the world while the floor turned a light blue. "You use the maps to find where you need to go, then press your badge to that location. You'll be teleported to the closest marked site. Then you can use that marked site to come back here, using your badge again." He pointed at a small island, just off the coast of the Air continent. "That's our spot. Just have everyone stand on this floor and we'll all get sent together."

All members of Team Union stepped on, then Phantom pressed his badge to the map. Light filled all their eyes and when it faded, their surroundings had completely changed. They were now on a hillside, overlooking the ocean. In the distance, mainland Air was visible. An orb sat on a pedestal in front of them. "That's the marker. They're set up all over the world, so you can go just about anywhere."

"How does it work?" Anko asked. "It seems like magic."

"Pokemon power, just like orbs, and a big helping of science. I don't entirely understand it, but you can ask Brain if you really wanna know," Phantom told him. "The cave entrance is just down the way. You can take the lead, I'll be watching from a distance. Don't worry about a thing."

The younger pokemon looked between each other. "I'll take the lead," Lee announced, walking down the hill with everyone else falling in line behind her. The island wasn't too big, consisting of mostly hilly grassland and cliffs. In one of those cliffs was a cave opening, with a signpost next to it, reading "Submarine Cave, mystery dungeon, rank D".

"This is it," Lee said. "Ready?"

"Yeah, just a second," Fusion sat and reached into his pack. He took out his bracelet and slipped it around his forearm. He gave it a couple quick shakes. It fit nicely, perfect for his size. On it were four indents. He looked up to see Lee already leading the way in. Anko was right behind her, followed by Nina, so he ended up in last place. As he passed through the entrance, he felt a change in the air. A sense of foreboding, like the air suddenly got thicker, washed over him as soon as he entered the mystery dungeon. He felt tense, nervous, like he was being watched and his fur stood on end. They entered into a corridor. If they tried, they could walk two by two, but uncomfortably close, so instead they maintained single file.

After a bit, Fusion looked back. The entrance was out of sight, but so was their teacher. "Uhh, guys? Phantom's gone."

"Don't worry about it," Lee ordered from the front. "Focus on looking for deposits. Everyone knows what to look for, right?"

"Whitish stones on the ground or if they're in the wall, then white coloration," Nina said. "Got it."

"Anko, you help dig out any we find, Fusion you watch our backs and Nina helps anyone who needs it and charts the map."

"Yep!"

"R-right," Fusion muttered, looking back again.

They walked for a bit, coming to a fork and going right. Shortly after they entered a big open room. Lee started in, looking cautious for ambushes or traps. Once she was sure it was clear, she moved aside, allowing the rest of the team to enter. The room was square, with a higher ceiling than the tunnel before. Everything was made of stone, some stalactites and mites around. There were two other paths forward, one down and one forward.

"Oh, right there!" Anko called, running over to a spot on the ground. He started digging, parting rock to get at the white mineral rich ore inside the vein. One by one, he pulled out the chunks and set them aside, Nina packing them away. In all, they gathered seven of them. "That's all for here, ready to keep going?"

"South!" Lee shouted.

They all quickly turned that direction, where a roggenrola was peeking into the room curiously. It saw all the other pokemon and ran quickly in the opposite direction.

"False alarm," she announced. "Let's move on." The line reformed as they continued into another hall, going east. As they moved, the floor started sloping downwards, leading deeper into the ground.

As they got deeper, the ground grew wet, moisture on the rocks, seaweed and moss growing on the floors and ceilings. They entered into another room to find a couple more veins of geo pebble. There were exits on all sides. On the other side of the room, a corsola was munching on some seaweed. It froze upon locking eyes with Lee. It then leaned forward and started launching spines their way. Lee dove out of the way, not even having enough time to shout out a warning.

Anko was surprised when Lee disappeared around the corner, but even more so when he saw the barrage of spines flying towards him. He couldn't dodge, nor did he have time to raise a defense, so he took it head on. The spines dug into his skin, but his tough body didn't yield easily, resisting the normal type attack.

In the room, Lee launched a psybeam at the corsola, scoring a direct hit. Anko stepped forward, pulling some rocks from the wall to fling as well.

"You guys okay?" Nina asked, looking around the side of Anko. As Anko's rock throw flew, the corsola rolled out of the way, getting ready for the next wave.

"Anko, take this," Nina said. Anko looked back and was passed a seed. On it was a fire symbol. He threw it towards the corsola. Upon impact, the seed exploded, knocking the corsola out.

"We're clear, come on in," Lee told them. "You two get to work."

"Thanks," Anko told Nina before he trotted over to the closest vein and started removing the geo pebbles. As they did, Lee and Fusion kept lookout. "Oh wow!" Anko suddenly exclaimed.

"What? What's wrong?" Fusion asked, spinning around to look.

"I ate one. They're not bad." He leaned down and took another of the minerals into his mouth, loudly crunching on it. "Very salty."

"That hurts my teeth just looking," Nina muttered.

"Hey, stop that. We need those for the mission," Lee chastised him.

"Right, sorry, just got curious." He stuck his head back in the growing hole to keep digging.

As they moved to the second vein, another corsola wandered into the room. Fusion was the closest, leaping into action with a flame wheel, wrapping himself in fire as he rolled toward the wild pokemon, the moisture on the ground sizzling as he passed. They responded with a bubble beam. The bubbles popped painfully against Fusion as he charged, but didn't stop him. He crashed into the rock and water type, doing little. But now he was close enough and used his momentum to bite around one of the corsola's spines. She responded with a stream of bubbles to his gut, causing him to let go in pain. He looked up to retaliate, but the corsola stumbled back and fainted as a metal thorn hit her dead on. He looked back to see Lee recovering from the powerful throw. "Thanks."

"All done!" Anko called out cheerily.

"We got twenty-six now," Nina told them.

"Alright, fall in," Lee ordered, "We're going up."

As they continued deeper in, the moisture grew until a thin layer of water covered the floor and thin streams flowed from the walls and dripped from the ceiling. All the water had everyone but Nina trudging through uncomfortably. While she got away with damp fur, the cold salt water tingled on those weak to it. The next several rooms were mostly empty, only the occasional wild pokemon, who either attacked on sight or ran away.

They came into another room to find a big pile of stuff: berries, seeds and money, lying in the middle. Lee moved to the side, allowing the rest of the team to move in.

"Oh, free stuff!" Nina exclaimed. "Score."

"Hold on," Fusion said. "This is obviously someone's stash. Can we really just take it?"

"We learned the rules in class. Wild pokemon live by different laws. Their territory, their rules. No such thing as stealing." Lee explained.

"Yeah but-"

"Intruders." A voice said, echoing through the room. Cracks formed all over the room as pokemon began burrowing out of the rock. The shells appeared first, followed by the blue squid body of the horde of omanyte. There was even a large omastar among them.

"Monster house!" Lee shouted. She lowered her stance for battle and reached back to eat a passho berry.

"There's so many of them!" Nina exclaimed. Her fur bristled as she started building up dark energy.

They both started launching ranged attacks at the closest of the horde. Neither attack, even with extra power behind it, took out any of the over twenty enemies. Some of them shot water guns, the volley hitting most of the team while others moved closer.

"Anko!" Lee shouted, wincing from the several water type attacks she just took. "Use one of those big moves!"

"I can't! I'll hit you!"

Fusion was still stuck at the back, but he could see the sheer numbers against them, especially the large evolved leader. "There's too many, back up!"

None of his teammates seemed to hear him.

"I have a plan!" he roared. When he saw Nina's ear cock back to listen, he continued. "Nina, make an illusion to throw off their attacks. Lee, you get out first, Nina, then Anko."

"They'll have an easier target in the hall!" Lee complained.

"Do it!" he ordered with authority.

She grunted, turning and slipping back into the passage, past Fusion. The next barrage of water guns aimed short at the fake team Nina had created, giving time for her to escape. Anko was last, backing up as he finally had room to send out a semi-circle of spikes, forcing the closest few omanyte back.

"Anko, make a thick wall of rock, enough to keep them off our backs!" Fusion ordered.

Anko raised a thick slab, blocking off the room entirely. As the adrenaline faded, they were all left breathing hard.

"Nice thinking," Nina complemented Fusion.

"Thanks," he smiled bashfully. "I just didn't want us to blow it."

"Hey, Lee? You alright," Nina asked.

The fennekin was leaning against the wall, breathing hard. "Yeah... Yeah, I took a few bad hits. I'll be okay."

"Here," Anko squeezed past Fusion and took out a pair of oran berries. Lee hesitated for a moment then took one. Anko ate the other. "You want one Nina?"

"No, I'm okay."

"Everyone better?" Fusion asked. "I'll take the lead, so Lee can recover." Fusion moved to the front, leading the team back the way they came until they could take a different route. This led them to another couple deposits of ore, where they gathered the last of their quota without incident.

"That's the last of it," Nina announced.

"Great, let's get out of here," Fusion responded.

+++

"Welcome back," Phantom greeted them. He was waiting just as they came out of the cave. "So, Nina. You really didn't show too much. You didn't do anything wrong, but didn't stand out though good job sharing your items. Lee, you had a good authoritative presence, but when things got tough, you froze up and took the hard way. Fusion, great job coming up with a strategy that minimizes harm to both you and the enemy. You took charge when things got bad. Anko, nice work taking care of your team. It takes restrain to not fire off a big move if your team is in way, especially if you're outnumbered."

"Wait, how do you know all that?" Fusion asked.

"The same way I know you have an apple, three berries, a seed and ten throwing sticks." Fusion's eyes widened at his response. "My eyes see through everything. In fact, I was about to come running when you went into the monster house, but you managed. Overall, great work."

"So did we pass?" Anko asked.

"I can't decide that. You'll have your scores by next week. Let's go home."

+++

"We should celebrate!" Anko announced excitedly as they sat down for dinner.

"Why?" Lee responded. "We haven't even gotten the results."

"He's right. We had a good week. Nothing we can do to change our scores now," Nina said. "So, you guys ever have a good wine?"

"Wine?" Fusion asked. "What, fermented berries?"

"Yeah. My family always celebrates big events with a little alcohol."

"I hate that stuff. It makes you stupid," Lee complained.

"I've never had any," Fusion said.

"It's not that bad. Just helps you loosen up. We'll have a little drink and have some fun tonight, play some games or something," Nina explained. "I'm sure Santana has something good."

"Sounds fun, let's try it!" Anko smiled.

"Right, I'll go check it out," Nina got up and went to the shop. She came back a bit later with a bottle of wine and some glasses. "I got a nomel wine. Sour with a bit of spice." She sat down and poured each of them some. "To our success." She raised her glass.

"Yeah, for our future," Fusion said, doing the same.

"What he said!" Anko raised his.

"Mmhmm," Lee agreed.

They all drank together.

"Augh," Anko croaked, making a face. "It tastes like medicine."

"I like it. Makes me feel hot, but it tastes good," Fusion said.

"It's not exactly good, but it's not bad either," Lee told them.

"It isn't about the taste. My sis always called it social lube."

"And that's why I don't want to drink it. I don't wanna be some drunk idiot," Lee explained, setting her drink down.

"My parents came home drunk one time after a party. They seemed like they were having a great time," Anko said, gulping down more with a grimace.

"That's the spirit. Let's have ourselves a party!" Nina cheered.

By the time the wine ran empty, about an hour later, Nina had drunk the most, Anko right behind her, Fusion having drank a little less and Lee barely having any.

"So, I've been thinkin'. About games we can play and stuff," Nina said. "Wanna play capture?" The tiniest hint of a slur was in her voice.

"Okay, I'm in," Fusion said.

"Yeah, we've still got plenty of time left for today," Anko agreed. They still had several hours before dark.

Lee just shrugged. "Not it."

"Not it!" Anko followed up quickly.

"Not it," Fusion blurted an instant later.

Nina's mouth hung open for a second. "Alright, follow me." They all went down to one of the training fields. "This is home base," she pointed to the middle. "When I catch you, come here. One of your teammates can free you. No moves and you can't leave the Forest Den. You get a minute head start. Any questions?" Before they even had a chance, she closed her eyes. "One, two, three..." She heard them take off running.

Tipsy as she was, she still had enough sense to listen to which way they ran, particularly her first target. "And sixty." She opened her eyes, immediately turning the right direction and starting out. He couldn't have gone too far in only a minute. She made her way into the forest, eyes staying low, looking for prints or broken brush. As she climbed over a fallen log, she froze. On the other side were a pair of paw prints, fresh in the dirt. "Haha, stupid dog." She jumped around them, looking for more signs now that she was on the right path. A bush, branches pushed apart. She could almost see his path, leaping over the log in full sprint, diving through the bushes, no care for covering his path. She carefully moved around the bush, making barely a sound. That was when she heard it. Her nose might not be as good as his, but her ears were better. She could hear him catching his breath.

She crept closer, following the sound. Then she saw him. There was a bush, big and leafy. The problem was that it was a few inches off the ground when the leaves started. Below that, orange paws were visible. A smirk formed on her muzzle as she snuck up behind him. "Boo!" She shouted.

"Gah!" Fusion cried out in surprise, bursting out of the bush in a panicked run. Nina was ready, leaping onto the bush then springing off it to pounce Fusion. They tousled for a moment before she pinned him.

"Caught you."

"Okay, yeah," he whined. "You got me. Get off and I'll come back to base."

"Hmm, I don't think so." She sat further down, lying on top of him, face to face. "You know, you're kinda cute like this. Wouldn't mind having you under me more often. Nice and comfy."

"Wha-what are you doing?" Fusion asked.

"You know, I like you. You're cute and unique and a nice guy. But those 'vee girls snatched you up before I could make a move. But you're not really dating them, are you?"

"No, but-"

"Then we're dating now." She got off him, letting him roll over and stand up. She turned and walked away without another word.

Fusion stood there for a bit as she walked away, mouth hanging open. "Okay..." he eventually said.