Seven Years Later Chapter 6
Seven Years Later
CH. 6: Forest Dwellers
A month soon passed since Kutty and Unshi joined the guild. Team Well Wishers began to surprise everybody with their inspirational dedication. A few guild members took notice of this recent development and eagerly cheered them on while a couple of others began to step up their game to ensure that they wouldn't be outdone by the newbies. Soon enough, the deeds of team Well Wishers became well known in the area and job requests began to flood the guild. In this short amount of time, many apprentice teams easily reached silver rank and some had already started climbing their way towards gold.
"When we finish this job", huffed Unshi. "We'll be the first new team to reach gold rank!" Tackling an outlaw mission in Treeshroud Forest, Unshi and Kutty cautiously traversed through the mystery dungeon. Following Chatot's request, Growlithe and Sandshrew tagged along to help them catch the infamous Nuzleaf trio. "This job will be a breeze", growled Growlithe. "Kutty and I will roast them up, so you two just stay back and watch our backs." Sandshrew only sighed with concern. "Remember that we're dealing with experienced criminals. Considering that some up us have a type-disadvantage, we can't just charge in with flames blazing and expect to come out on top." A rustling of a bush made the group stop in their tracks. Somehow they knew that it couldn't be one of the rowdy locals. They knew that they were being watched with blood thirsty eyes and the feeling they got was unsettling.
"Tch, they resisted torment's effect. These kids are tough." Descending from the trees, a brownish pokemon with a white mane covering some of its face and back stood in front of the group. "I take it that you're looking for me?" Taking the front, Kutty and Growlithe faced the enemy and launched their fire moves. Easily dodging the attacks, the pokemon countered with razor leaf and hit the pair. "So you evolved into Shiftry", gasped Unshi. "Did only you evolve or have your buddies evolved to?" From behind, two other shiftry popped out from the forest and pushed the group forward by using whirlwind. Trapped up against a wall of thorns, the group had no other choice but to fight. Bathing the field with flamethrower proved to be ineffective as the combined force of all three Shiftry's whirlwinds extinguished the flames.
"You fire types are all the same", Shiftry spat out. "It's because of your kind that my brothers and I had to suffer. We watched in horror as our home and our family was engulfed in flames. The reason why we became outlaws was because we tracked and murdered our family's killer. We killed him, but it wasn't enough. So we tracked and killed his friends and family, but it still wasn't enough. Now that we're on the run, we kill any fire types that we meet...and that includes you two." Charging in, they all released a flurry of razor leaves. Sandshrew quickly used sand tomb, disrupting most of the leaves from hitting them. Kutty blew out out a protective layer of smokescreen, which managed disrupt the senses of one Shiftry. Before getting affected by smokescreen, the Shiftry used sunny day to boost his comrade's speed. Unshi charged in with ice fang while Growlithe shot out powered up blast of his flamethrower. Both moves hit and knocked out the afflicted Shiftry, sending the others into a rage.
Already boosting their special attack by using nasty plot, the remaining pair unleashed a super charged leaf storm. Jumping in and taking a majority of the damage, Growlithe was immediately knocked out. Low on health, Kutty fired of her own flamethrower while and Unshi attacked with aqua tail. The boosted moves took down another Shiftry. Meanwhile Sandshrew threw an oran berry towards Kutty and Unshi. Splitting it, they recovered a small portion of health and prepared themselves for the final Shirtry's attack. In a state of blinded fury, he jumped into the air and used his second most powerful move; solarbeam. Normally a move that requires charging, the heated power of the sun nullified that requirement and he fired it at Kutty. As the large scale attack fell, Kutty looked with terrified eyes and froze in place. Even though the move wasn't very effective to her type, the overall battle left her weak and exhausted. Taking this as one of her last few minutes alive, she shut her eyes and littered the ground with a few tears.
Time slowed down as a sudden shove shocked her. Looking over to find her treasured friend taking her place, her heart began to beat rapidly. Unshi was probably in the same state as she was, except he was weak against the move. "No...", Kutty whimpered. "Don't worry about it...", Unshi smiled, "because now it's my turn to save you." Mouth glowing blue, Unshi closed his own eyes and felt a sheer coolness bathing his tongue. With fierce devotion, he put his all into this move and fired it off. The ice beam pierced through the solarbeam and began to freeze and shatter it. Shiftry snapped back from his insanity and watched in shock as the tip of the ice beam finally reached him. The remains of the frozen and shattered solarbeam began to drift off into the forest as a trapped Shiftry fell from the sky. Smashing into the ground freed him, yet he had been knocked out due to the large amount of power that was concentrated in the blast.
Exhausted, Unshi collapsed onto the ground. Coming to his side, Kutty hugged her friend and cried onto his shoulders. Coming from behind, Sandshrew patted the totodile's back before going over to Growlithe. Kneeling down, he spoke to his fallen friend with a hushed tone. "You're very lucky that they had that reviver seed with them." Sighing, Growlithe got up and brushed the dirt off of his fur. "If I had known that you would be like this, maybe I shouldn't have taken that hit for you. Besides, I was just waiting for an opening to surprise the enemy." Chuckling, Sandshrew placed a paw onto his partner's back. "Taken that hit for me? Gee, I didn't know that you cared that much for me." Blushing, Growlithe shook the paw off his body. "I-It's not like that. I meant for the group. I..." Growlithe was soon interrupted by the shaking of the leaves. Emerging from the forest, a group of seven Nuzleaf arrived with anger in their eyes.
"You dare defy the masters?", they shouted at the exhausted pokemon. Charging in to rescue the three fallen Shiftry, they were immediately stopped by another pokemon. "Your aura. I feel much confusion from within", it calmly spoke. "The ones that you call masters are not who they have said to be. I know that you all have been taken from your homes when you were merely children. Being separated from your family for all this time, I can feel that sadness. However, the ones who took you in are actually the ones who took you from your homes in the first place." Gasping, the Nuzleaf stared at the Shiftry with confusion. "How do you know that they kidnapped us?", one of them asked out of desperation. "I know because I read their aura. I know of all of their dark deeds. I even know of the darkness that tainted them in the first place. I wanted to rescue you all but I first had to prepare something." Coming from behind, many pairs of Shiftry emerged from the shadows with tears in their eyes. "I had to find your parents."
Settling this whole emotion confrontation, the mysterious pokemon approached at the exploration group. "My name is Lucario and I thank you for your help in dealing with these miscreants." Bowing their heads, they looked at the strong pokemon with honor. "It's not a problem." said Sandshrew. "It was our job to arrest the trio. See, we're exploration teams training under Wigglytuff's guild and we try to unearth the mysteries of the land. Expeditions cost money, so we take up jobs to fund one. We're doing this all just for gain while you save these pokemon all in the name of justice. We should be the ones who are thanking you for saving our hides." Thinking, Lucario nodded. "Point taken. However, I do wish to see this guild of which you speak of. If what you say is true, then there must be many requests out there that come in." "Sure, you can come with us", nodded Unshi. I bet the guildmaster would love to meet such a devoted and strong willed character such as yourself. Right guys?" With the group agreeing all together, the five pokemon began their journey towards the guild. Lucario chuckled to himself, hiding a faint smile with his paw. 'I don't know how, but all of this is very amusing.'