FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 2 Cyril awoke just as the morning sun began to filter through the windows. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up in his hammock, giving himself a moment to wake up a bit more. After nearly a minute had passed, Cyril carefully slid out of the hammock, stumbling slightly as he landed on his feet. He let out a yawn before glancing at the other two Pokémon in the room. Lance was still asleep, as was Zira, the odd Charmeleon they'd rescued the day before. Cyril walked over to Zira's hammock and gazed at the sleeping Charmeleon. Zira was lying on her back with her hands resting on her chest. Cyril's eyes ran over her entire body, from her peaceful face to her bright white belly, down her long red legs to the tip of her tail, where her flame burned calmly. Her majestic body was outmatched only by the shroud of mystery surrounding her. What brought her to the Pokémon world? Was she destined to fill an important role? Cyril sighed as he turned away from Zira, knowing that he wasn't likely to find answers to those questions any time soon, if ever. He walked over to Lance's hammock and began to shake the sleeping Golduck. "Hey," he whispered. "Wake up." Lance opened his eyes and lifted his head. He stared bleary-eyed at Cyril for a few seconds before putting his head back down. "Oh gods..." he said, rubbing his eyes. "It's nice to see you too, Sunshine," Cyril said. "Come on. It's time to face the music." Lance nodded before quietly sliding out of the hammock. As Cyril and Lance walked past Zira's hammock, Zira suddenly turned onto her side, her tail lashing upward. Cyril jumped away, eliciting a stifled laugh from Lance. Slightly embarrassed, Cyril looked wide-eyed at the grinning Golduck for a moment before grabbing his bag off of the desk and stepping outside. Lance grabbed his bag as well and quietly closed the door on his way out. "Do you think we have time for breakfast?" Lance asked. "I don't think I could eat anything right now," Cyril replied. "Let's just hear what Cale has to say." "Try not to worry, Cyril," Lance said, placing a hand on the Grovyle's shoulder. "I don't think Cale will shut us down. We may have strayed from our patrol, but we made a discovery and saved a life. He'll take that into consideration." "I hope you're right," Cyril said quietly. I'd hate to go back home and tell everyone that we're failures. Failure. It was the word that often kept Cyril awake at night. Leading his own rescue team was his lifelong dream. The thought that he would fail to keep his dream alive terrified him to no end. Just the other day, before setting out on their patrol, he'd broken down into tears in the town square after realizing that they wouldn't even be able to pay the month's rent for the cabin. At least he still had his friend Lance. It was only because of Lance's unwavering support that he hadn't given up yet. As Cyril and Lance walked into the square, the wonderful aroma of food filled Cyril's nose. The surrounding restaurants had just opened and many of the Pokémon in the square were streaming into them for a quick meal before either heading to work or out of town. The scent of the food and the beautiful morning sky, however, did little to put Cyril's mind at ease. He let out a sigh as they passed by the fountain in the center of the square. The Federation building was not much further away. "What do you think of Zira?" Lance suddenly asked, shaking Cyril out of his thoughts. "Huh? Oh... she seems like a nice person," Cyril replied. Lance gave Cyril a sly grin. "You're just interested in that nice ass of hers, aren't you?" "What? No!" Cyril glanced at the Golduck, seeing that he was not entirely convinced. "Okay, fine, I think she's cute, but that's not the only reason I offered her a place to stay." Cyril returned his gaze to the looming Federation building. "There something about her that I find... I don't know... fascinating." "Aye, she's certainly unique in many respects," Lance said. "You don't see too many Charmeleons with a bright white belly, certainly not with a Human mind as well. And with that slender body and long legs, I bet she'd be a speed demon in combat." "Ha-ha! Yeah..." Now standing before the entrance to the Federation building, Cyril took in a deep breath. "All right," he said, taking a step forward. "Here we go." As they entered the lobby, Cyril looked around for Commander Cale, the Nidoking who was in charge of the facility. The scene was chaotic as the night shift was being replaced with a bleary-eyed day shift. Commander Cale, however, was nowhere in sight. "Maybe he's in his office," Cyril said as he started walking towards the hallway in the back of the lobby. As he and Lance made their way through the crowded room, Lance looked at the job board. "Damn... no E or D rank jobs," Lance said. "Looks like we're volunteering for another patrol." "Assuming this meeting goes well," Cyril reminded him as they continued walking. Cale's office was at the end of the hallway to the right. Reaching the door, Cyril tried to turn the door handle, but the door was locked. He turned to Lance. "I guess he's not in yet." "He'll be here shortly," a male voice from behind said. Cyril turned around to see Shar exiting the office across from Cale's, closing the door behind him. Even through the Flygon's red lenses, Cyril could see the fatigue in Shar's eyes. Cyril then noticed that Shar was holding a file in his left hand. As Shar locked the door leading into his office, Cyril caught a glimpse of part of the file's label, which ended with the letters OTA. It's our file, Cyril thought, his heart sinking. "I saw Cale and Jake having breakfast at the Starlight Café," Shar said. "It shouldn't be much longer--oh, there they are." Cyril and Lance both turned towards the lobby entrance. Jake the Ampharos, Cale's other lieutenant, walked in first, carrying his signature coffee mug with the phrase "I hate mornings" printed on the side of it. Cale himself walked in next, his eyes immediately zeroing in on Cyril and Lance. Cyril began to tremble slightly as Cale and Jake made their way through the crowded lobby towards them. He hoped that he would not have a panic attack. "Commander!" Shar yelled over the commotion in the lobby. He held the file up in the air as he walked towards Cale. "I need to talk to you." He handed the file to Cale, who immediately began to browse its contents while Shar spoke. Cyril sighed heavily as he watched the exchange. He began to fidget with his hands as he waited for them to finish their discussion. Lance placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. After a few minutes, the conversation ended and Cale and Jake walked over to meet them. "How are you holding up, Cyril?" Cale asked. "You seemed rather distressed the other day after you were given your assignment." Cyril's eyes widened. "Uh... you saw that?" "The whole square saw it," Jake said before taking a sip from his coffee mug. Lance looked at Cyril. "Saw what?" Cyril's face flushed in embarrassment. "Oh gods. I can explain..." Cale held up a hand. "We'll talk about it in a bit." Cale reached into his bag and pulled out a set of keys. He opened the door and walked into his office. "Come on in," he said, holding the door open. As soon as Cyril and Lance walked into the sparsely decorated office, Cale closed the door behind them. "Shar told me about what happened regarding your patrol," Cale said as he walked past Cyril and Lance. Taking a seat behind his desk, he opened the file that Shar had given him and again browsed through its contents. "That was a risky move on your part, straying so far from your patrol route, but I understand why you did it. A strange rift and a legendary Pokémon's sudden interest in it are certainly worthy of investigation, so I'll let this incident slide." He put down the file and looked directly at Cyril. "But next time, ask for authorization first. Your badges still should've been able to communicate with us from that distance." "Y-yes sir," Cyril replied, hanging his head. He wanted to smack himself for forgetting such an important detail. "Sorry, Cyril, I should've thought of that too," Lance said, looking at the embarrassed Grovyle. "And the Human-turned-Charmeleon you rescued..." Cale skimmed over Cyril's report. "Zira... what's her status?" "She's resting at our base right now," Lance answered. "She has gaps in her memory regarding who she is, but she's otherwise all right. We've offered to help her out any way we can." "Thank you for that," Cale said. "It takes some weight off my shoulders. Now, going back to what I was saying earlier..." Cale locked eyes with Cyril "What was that breakdown about the other day?" Cyril started fidgeting with his hands again. "Well sir, we've been having a hard time finding enough work. We're almost out of money and we're about to lose our cabin." Cyril sighed in resignation and looked down at the ground, too ashamed to look at Cale in the eyes. "Our team will be defunct by the end of the month." "I'm sorry to hear that," Cale said. "You're one of the few rescue teams here in Seneca that shows any promise. The other so-called rescue teams came here just because they thought they'd get rich or make a name for themselves. They don't actually care about the rescuing part. And don't even get me started on the Explorers Guild. Greedy lot." It was no secret that Cale wasn't a fan of the Explorers Guild. Cyril had heard that Cale had a really bad run-in with an exploration team before his transfer to the Seneca outpost. Exploration teams going bad wasn't an unusual occurrence on the continent of Andara and Cale watched the local explorers like a Staraptor. "I can't promise anything," Cale said, "but I'll see if I can find some special assignments for you." Cyril lifted his head upon hearing Cale's words. Finally, a glimmer of hope! "Really? You'd really do that for us, sir?" "Really, Cyril," Cale answered. "As I said, your team is one of the few here that shows any promise, and I don't want to see it fail before it has a chance to get off the ground." He stood up. "Now, I need to attend to my duties. Good luck to both of you. I'll be keeping an eye on your progress." "Thank you, sir," Cyril and Lance said in unison, smiling brightly. For Cyril, this was a huge confidence boost. He may have made a mistake starting a rescue team in the frontier, but there was still a chance that he and Lance could recover from that mistake. Team Dakota wasn't finished yet. Cyril and Lance were still smiling as they left the office and made their way through the lobby, which had calmed considerably with the departure of the night shift. As Team Dakota walked out into the square, Lance nudged Cyril's arm with his elbow. "See? I told you he wouldn't shut us down," Lance said jubilantly as he walked beside Cyril. "Well, we're not out of the woods yet," Cyril noted, heading straight for the fountain. "Hopefully, Cale will find us some of those special missions he was talking about. In the meantime, we need to keep looking for work." "There's also the matter of Zira," Lance noted. "We offered to help her decide what to do, but to be honest, I don't have a clue where to start." Cyril remained quiet as he considered Lance's words. He wanted to help Zira, but like Lance, he wasn't sure how to go about doing it. As Cyril and Lance approached the fountain, they sat on the fountain's stone edge, gazing at nothing in particular as the Pokémon around them went about their business. The sun was rising higher in the clear sky, bathing the small frontier town in its warm light. Cyril closed his eyes and slowly breathed in and out. As he relaxed, an idea occurred to him. Opening his eyes, Cyril turned to face Lance. "Maybe we should ask Zira to join our team," Cyril said. Lance look at Cyril with a curious expression on his face. "Are you serious? Being a rescuer is a dangerous job and she doesn't know a damn thing. She doesn't even know any moves aside from an unreliable flamethrower." "She can be taught," Cyril said, looking straight ahead again. "This is a dangerous world and she needs to learn how to defend herself. As a member of our team, we can teach her how to fight while at the same time giving her a home and a purpose in life. Given some time, I think she'd make a great rescuer. Maybe we'll discover what brought her to our world along the way." Lance sighed. "Well, assuming she's willing to give it a try. After what happened to her the other day, she might not be interested." Cyril stood up and looked at Lance. "Let's ask her." Zira awoke on her side in her hammock. The morning sun filled the interior of the cabin. After a few moments, Zira rolled onto her back and placed her hands over her belly as she tried to make herself more comfortable. Just a few more minutes... As Zira tried to get back to sleep, she brought one hand up to her chest to scratch an itch. She yawned as her fingers ran over her pectoral muscles on her otherwise flat chest. Flat chest? Zira's eyes snapped open. Alarmed, she lifted her head and looked over her body. Though initially shocked by what she saw, Zira quickly relaxed with a sigh as she recalled the events of the previous day. Her thoughts then shifted to her two rescuers. From the way that they had spoken the other night, they seemed to be in dire straits. Zira glanced at the other two hammocks in the room, seeing that they were empty. They must be at that meeting they spoke of. I hope it turns out all right for them. Zira didn't think that she'd be able to get back to sleep, so she turned over and slowly got out of the hammock, being careful not to brush her flaming tail against the wooden floor. Zira yawned again before performing a few stretches, during which her tail's flame caught her attention. She grabbed the tip of her tail and cradled it in front of her, staring into the flame. "You're not so bad," Zira said softly. She found herself mesmerized by the flame, her beautiful flame. Despite her shock upon first seeing it the other day, Zira was already starting to warm up to the idea of the flame being an ever present part of her. She lightly blew on the flame, causing it to flicker. Zira chucked before releasing her grip on her tail and allowing it to move around behind her. I could be waiting a while till Cyril and Lance get back, Zira thought. She looked around the cabin for something to occupy her. It appeared the only items of any interest in the rather empty cabin sat on the worn desk, where Zira spotted several books standing between a pair of bookends and what appeared to be a newspaper. She walked over to the desk and looked at the spines of the books, spotting a number of interesting titles such as Team Apex and the Falling Star, The Time Crisis, Rescue Team Essentials, and History of the Pokémon Federation. As interesting as the books were, it was the newspaper, the Seneca Weekly News, that grabbed her attention, specifically the headline at the top in large print. PRESIDENT SURVIVESASSASSINATION ATTEMPT Zira picked up the newspaper and sat in the worn chair in front of the desk, curling the end of her tail upward to keep the flame off of the floor. As she read the article, Zira learned a number of things about the world she now found herself in. The continent of Andara was home to a nation known as the Pokémon Federation, a republic that spread across the western two-thirds of Andara. The president, a female Blaziken named Kara, had narrowly escaped death after a bomb composed of about twenty blast seeds detonated near her while she was on her way to speak with the Federation Council, the governing body of the Pokémon Federation. Though Kara survived with only minor injuries, several security officers and civilians lost their lives in the blast. The attack was blamed on the independent territories on the eastern side of the continent, who denied any involvement. After Zira finished reading the article, she looked at the remaining headlines in the paper, most of which were bad. It would seem that things were not going well on Andara. As Zira began to read another article, the cabin door suddenly opened and Cyril and Lance walked in. Zira stood up with the newspaper still in her hands. "Hey, you're finally awake," Cyril said, smiling. "How are you?" "I'm all right," Zira said, folding the newspaper. "I've just been doing some reading." The smile disappeared from Cyril's face as he eyed the newspaper. "Ah... I wish there was some better news in there. It's not exactly the best introduction to our world." "Are things really so bad right now?" Zira asked. Cyril sighed. "I'm not going to hide anything from you. Things are bad on this continent right now, and I don't see it getting any better in the foreseeable future. At least, not unless something miraculous happens." "I'm sorry to hear that," Zira said, still holding on to the newspaper. Her gaze shifted to the floor for a moment before laying the newspaper on the desk. "At least we're relatively isolated from current events out here in the frontier," Lance chimed in. "Life here in Seneca is still somewhat normal." As Zira turned to face her rescuers, she noticed that Cyril was holding something in his right hand. "What's that?" "Oh!" Cyril held up a loaf of bread with both hands. "Here's breakfast." He broke off a third of the loaf and handed it to Zira. "It's multi-berry bread. You'll love it." "It has healing properties as well," Lance said. "Not as much as the raw berries it's made of, but it'll still leave you feeling full of energy." Zira accepted the piece of bread and quickly devoured it. As it turned out, Lance wasn't exaggerating the effects of the berry bread. Zira felt like she was ready for any challenge the day might throw at her. Cyril divided what remained of the loaf between himself and Lance and they too quickly finished their meals. "By the way, Zira," Cyril said. "I've been thinking about what you said the other day about wishing you could repay us. There might be a way that we could help each other." "Really?" Zira asked. "How?" Cyril fidgeted with his hands. "Well, I was wondering..." Cyril took a deep breath. "How'd you like to join our rescue team?" Zira's jaw dropped as she stared at the Grovyle. This was totally unexpected. As much as she wanted to repay Cyril and Lance for saving her life, joining their team wasn't exactly what she had in mind. What could she possibly contribute to Team Dakota when she couldn't even defend herself? She didn't want to be a burden on them. "Uh, that means no," Cyril said nervously after a few seconds. "I-I totally understand. It wasn't my intention to make you feel uncomfortable or anything. I just... oh gods..." Lance placed a hand on Cyril's shoulder. "Why don't you let me handle this." Releasing Cyril's shoulder, he took a step towards Zira. "What Cyril means to say is that we feel you have a lot of potential. We can teach you about our world and how to fight. Admittedly, being a rescuer is a dangerous job, but it's also very fulfilling. And maybe, with a little luck, we'll discover what brought you to our world. If you're interested," he held out his hand, "we'd be honored if you would join us." Zira pondered Lance's words for a moment. She'd already had a taste of just how dangerous this world was, so perhaps it was in her best interest to accept their offer. She had nowhere to go and she could certainly use their help. Her only alternative was to venture out on her own, which was likely to end badly. With her mind made up, Zira reached out and shook the Golduck's hand. "I accept." Cyril shook Zira's hand next. "Thank you. And I'm sorry if I was a little awkward a moment ago." "There's no need to apologize," Zira said. "I was just surprised." "Well, let's get you a bandana," Cyril said, releasing his grip on Zira's hand. He walked around Zira and opened one of the top desk drawers, pulling out a blue bandana just like the one that he and Lance wore. Cyril positioned himself behind Zira, being careful to avoid the Charmeleon's tail flame, and tied the bandana around Zira's neck. "It looks good on you," Lance said. "It sure does," Cyril said. He pulled a hand mirror out of another desk drawer and handed it to Zira. "Have a look." Zira held the mirror out as far as her arm could reach so that she could get a good look at herself. She had to agree with her new teammates; the bandana looked great on her. Zira smiled brightly as she brought up a hand and ran her fingers over the embroidered, light blue hexagon and claw that served as the team's logo. "I love it!" "Welcome to the team, Zira," Cyril said. He and Lance both smiled as Zira gazed into the mirror. "So what's next?" Zira asked, placing the mirror on the desk. "First we need to get you registered with the Rescuers Guild at the Federation building," Cyril replied. "After that, we'll take a look at the job board and see if there's any work available." Zira, however, had a more basic need on her mind at the moment. "Um, before we head out... is there a toilet or something around here? I really have to pee." Lance chuckled and then pointed towards a small shack outside. "There's an outhouse right over there." "Th-thank you," Zira said as she embarrassedly excused herself. Once Zira was ready to depart, the team left their cabin and headed towards the square. With the sun rising higher in the morning sky, Zira was getting a much better look at the village than she had the night before. Walking behind her new teammates, Zira took in the sights, the sounds, and the scents of the village that she would now call home. As Team Dakota entered the square, Zira scanned her surroundings. The square was bustling with activity as the various Pokémon went about their routines. It still felt strange to her to walk around nude in public, but it was something she could get used to. After all, everyone else was nude too. Zira was reminded of her conversation with Athena the day before regarding the topic, as well as her subsequent abandonment. She wouldn't even give me a ride, Zira thought. She couldn't make any sense of the Lugia's motives. Athena seemed so willing to help her at first. Why did Athena just abandon her like that? It was a question that Zira intended to ask if she ever saw the Lugia again. For now, she resolved to assist her new team any way she could. There was really nothing else she could do at this time. Zira sighed as she and her teammates walked up to the large stone building where her injuries had been treated the night before. Stepping into the busy lobby, Cyril and Lance led Zira to the right towards a desk near a large bulletin board staffed by a Nidoqueen. "Hey, Anna," Cyril said, waving to the Nidoqueen. "We're Team Dakota." He gestured towards Zira. "We've just added a new member to our team." "That's good to hear," Anna replied cheerfully. She handed Cyril a clipboard and a fountain pen. "Just fill out this form while I grab a badge and a travel bag for her." She glanced at a list she had sitting on her desk, then she walked into the storage room behind her. Zira watched as Cyril filled out the form. Most of it was basic information that she'd expect to see on such a form. She couldn't help but notice Cyril's honesty on some of the fields, such as Species and Birthplace. He had written "Charmeleon, formerly Human" and "Human world" respectively for those two fields. "That won't raise any red flags?" Zira asked. "Nah," Cyril replied. "You're not the first Human to come to our world and a lot of them tend to find homes in the Rescuers Guild or similar. In fact, the Charizard on Team Apex is a Human. We've got a book about them at the cabin. You should read it when you've got a chance." He finished filling in the final field just as Anne walked back into the room. Cyril placed the clipboard and pen back on the desk. "All done." "All right, let's have a look," Anna said, picking up the clipboard. It didn't take long before she raised her eyebrows and gazed towards Zira. "Well, this certainly is a surprise. I never imagined I'd actually get to meet a Human all the way out here." She leaned over the desk and held out a hand. "It's an honor to meet you, Zira." "It's nice to meet you too," Zira replied, shaking the Nidoqueen's hand. Anne handed a travel bag and a badge across the desk to Zira. "I wish you the best of luck, Zira. Take care." "Thank you," Zira replied as she swung the strap of the travel bag over her head and onto her shoulder. Her attention then shifted to the badge. Holding the rescue team badge in both hands, her eyes ran over its features, from the circular center to the pair of golden wings on each side. The center of the circle was occupied by a pink crystal, which glowed slightly as she rubbed her fingers over it. "That crystal will allow you to communicate with the Rescuers Guild," Cyril noted. "It also acts as a tracking beacon, which is nice when a rescue team needs to be rescued themselves. Now, let's see if there's any jobs available." Cyril turned around and looked at the job board. He let out a sigh almost immediately. "Still no jobs." Zira stepped up beside Cyril and examined the board. It seemed to be organized into four categories, baring labels such as E and D rank on the left side to star rank on the right side. The E and D rank category was totally empty, while the C and B rank category next to it only had a few papers pinned to it. Most of the papers on the board were concentrated in the A and S rank and the star rank categories. A Fraxure wearing a purple armband stood nearby with his arms crossed, gazing briefly at Team Dakota before shifting his attention back to the board. Zira figured that he was part of another rescue team looking for work. Cyril's comment a moment ago about there being no jobs had Zira confused. It appeared to her that there were plenty of jobs to choose from, yet neither Cyril nor the Fraxure appeared to be considering them. Were those jobs not available to them? "Hey, what about those jobs there?" Zira asked, pointing towards the star rank section. "Those are way outside of our league," Cyril replied. "As a normal rank rescue team, we're only permitted to take E and D rank jobs, but there's none available." He sighed once more. "We'll talk to one of the security personnel and see if we can take on a patrol instead. It doesn't pay worth a damn, but beggars can't be choosers." Just as Cyril stopped talking, Anna left her desk and walked towards the left side of the board where she then pinned a single job posting. As Anna walked back to her desk, Cyril and the Fraxure immediately sprinted towards the far end of the job board. Despite the Fraxure's head start, Cyril easily overtook him and, with a mighty leap, he snagged the job posting, rebounding off the board before landing on his feet, facing the Fraxure. This annoyed the Fraxure considerably. "Aw, son of a bitch!" the Fraxure yelled, slamming the side of his fist into the job board before glaring at Cyril. "Fine! Take the damn mission! It probably doesn't pay shit anyway!" He turned away from Cyril and stomped towards the exit. Zira and Lance stepped aside, giving the angry Fraxure a wide berth. The room went silent at the Fraxure's outburst. After the Fraxure walked outside, all eyes shifted towards Cyril, who was still standing by the board with the job posting in his hand. Cyril glanced uneasily at the onlookers before walking quickly towards Zira and Lance. "Let's head outside," Cyril said, walking past his teammates. Zira and Lance followed Cyril out of the Federation building just in time to see the Fraxure flip over a wooden bench near the fountain, attracting the attention of several bystanders. The Fraxure gazed briefly at the onlookers before looking back at the Federation building, where Team Dakota was still standing. The Fraxure glared at them for a moment before turning around and walking out of the square. "Wow, he's really pissed," Zira said. "He's just frustrated," Cyril said with a note of sympathy in his voice. "There's a lot of low ranking teams around here and not enough entry level jobs to go around." Lance turned to face Cyril. "So what's the mission?" Cyril looked at the job posting. "It's a standard item recovery mission. Someone lost their journal in the Howling Woods dungeon. They're paying 200 poké for its return." "Is that good?" Zira asked. "It's not bad for an E rank job," Cyril replied, placing the paper in his bag. "In any case, this'll be a good starter mission for you. Howling Woods is a three hour walk from here, so we'd better get moving." Cyril took a step forwards, then stopped and turned to face Zira. "Uh, I should mention... Howling Woods is the dungeon that you escaped from yesterday." Zira hesitated for a few seconds as Cyril's words sank in. "You're taking me back to the place where those outlaws tried to capture me?" Cyril nervously rubbed the back of his neck, the expression on his face revealing his discomfort with the idea as well. "Y-yeah, I'm afraid so." He stepped towards Zira and placed his hands on her shoulders. Looking into her eyes, he said, "Don't worry. You're not alone this time. Lance and I will be with you all the way." Zira stared back into the Grovyle's eyes. She was still uncertain about going back to that place, but Zira believed that Cyril and Lance had her well-being at heart. Besides, she wanted to learn how to fight and she desperately wanted to pay her rescuers back for everything they've done for her. It was time to face her fears. "All right," she said, giving Cyril a nod. "Let's do this." And so, Team Dakota left the square along the main road leading west out of Seneca. As they walked into the nearby forest, Zira took a moment to look back at Seneca, admiring the view of the small frontier town against the background of the trees, the mountains, and the nearby river. It was as though the scene came straight out of a dream. Zira smiled as she turned around and jogged to catch up with her teammates. While the three Pokémon walked through the forest, they talked occasionally to pass the time. Most of the conversation was casual, covering a wide range of topics, though Cyril and Lance briefly covered some of the basics of being a rescuer. Zira couldn't help but notice that her teammates seemed to be steering clear of the subject regarding the political situation on Andara. Maybe they just didn't want her to worry about it. Or perhaps Lance was right about the isolation of Seneca and the locals simply weren't affected much by events so far away. After a few hours, the scenery began to look familiar to Zira. She and her teammates had just crossed a river near the base of a waterfall, reminding Zira of her close encounter with death the previous day. She shuddered as she recalled the feelings of fear and helplessness that she felt after her tail's flame had been extinguished. That's not going to happen this time, Zira thought. There's no way I can be that unlucky. Right? After climbing up a hill and passing through more forested area, Zira and her teammates stepped into a clearing. Not far from where they were standing, Zira spotted a familiar patch of dense vegetation, along with its shimmering entrance. "That's the place," Zira mentioned, pointing towards the dungeon entrance. "Yep, it certainly is," Cyril said. He turned to face Zira. "Before we head in, try using your flamethrower attack." "Um... I'll give it a shot," Zira said. She took in a deep breath as she pulled her head back, and then she blew all of the air out of her lungs as she lunged her head forward. But like the day before against Galen, only air came out. Zira stomped the ground in frustration. "Damn it! "Hey, don't worry," Cyril said, holding the palms of his hands outward to calm her down. "We were all new to this once. Give it another try, but this time, imagine a fire burning in your chest trying to get out." Zira nodded and then closed her eyes. She tried to imagine flames burning within her as she took in another deep breath. Then, opening her eyes, she blew the air out of her lungs once more. This time, however, she erupted into a coughing fit, with each cough emitting a thick plume of dark smoke. Lance placed his hands on his hips. "Hmm... perhaps we should try a normal type move instead. Even scratch would suffice." "Agreed," Cyril said. He looked around for a moment before his eyes came to rest on a nearby tree. "Zira, try attacking that tree with your claws, but imagine that you're channeling all of your strength through your claws while you're doing it." Zira stepped toward the tree and began swinging her claws at it. She felt silly attacking a tree, especially while being watched, but if it helped her learn a new move, then she was willing to do it. After a short time, she noticed that her claws had grown in length and were now glowing. With her newfound power, Zira was now doing major damage to the tree, leaving deep gashes in its trunk. "That's good," Cyril finally said. "It appears you know slash, and better yet, you can sustain it." Zira turned to face Cyril, panting from the exertion, but smiling. Even if her flamethrower turned out to be a dud, at least now she had something to defend herself with. "Awesome!" she said. "Sorry about the flamethrower though." "It's no problem," Cyril said, smiling in return. "We'll work on that flamethrower another time. Now, let's go find that journal." Zira followed her teammates to the dungeon entrance. Cyril passed through first, followed immediately by Lance. Zira watched as the entrance shimmered wildly as it reacted to her teammates passing through. Before stepping through herself, Zira took in a deep breath and exhaled. As ready as she was going to be, Zira stepped into the dungeon entrance, feeling the frigid wind of the threshold that was now very familiar to her. After appearing on the other side, Zira noticed that her teammates had concerned expressions on their faces. "Is everything all right?" Zira asked. "I forgot to mention something," Cyril said. "Don't take too long to enter a dungeon after your teammates have entered, or the threshold will send you to another part of the floor. The same rule applies to the stairs as well." "Got it," Zira said. "By the way, do you think we'll find Galen here?" "I doubt it," Cyril answered. "After I gave my report to Shar yesterday, he issued an arrest order for Galen, so I'm pretty sure he's long gone. With his flightless teammates dead, he has much greater range now." What a relief, Zira thought. She wasn't too eager to deal with that Charizard again. "Cyril, do we know what floor the journal is located on?" Lance asked. He seemed to be eager to get on with the mission. "The job posting didn't say, but this dungeon only has three floors," Cyril replied. "We shouldn't have too much trouble finding it." Zira and her teammates spread out and carefully searched the entire room for the lost journal. There wasn't much to the room, being rather devoid of any distinguishing features other than the short grass that covered the floor. A brief walk around the room's perimeter was all it took to confirm that the journal wasn't there. As the group moved on to the other rooms, Zira noticed that the layout of the dungeon had changed since her last visit, which left her wondering just how much stranger these dungeons could possibly get. Cyril and Lance had told her about some of the quirks of mystery dungeons along the way to Howling Woods, but seeing these quirks in person was still a shock. The team searched room after room, but it would seem that the journal was not on the first floor. Walking towards the room where the stairs were located, Zira wondered about the name of the dungeon, which made absolutely no sense to her, given the oppressive silence. "Why is this dungeon called Howling Woods?" Zira asked. "It's totally quiet here." Cyril chuckled. "It was probably someone's idea of a joke. Honestly though, I have no idea where people come up with some of these dungeon names." Upon entering the room with the stairs, Team Dakota was spotted by two Nidorinos, who immediately charged at Zira and her teammates. Cyril ran towards one of the Nidorinos, the leaves on his arms extending into deadly scythes, while Lance stood his ground, waiting for the other Nidorino to come closer. Zira readied her slash attack as she stood by Lance. She wasn't confident in her combat abilities yet, but she would do what she could to help out if one of her teammates got into trouble. Fortunately, her help didn't seem to be required. Zira watched in amazement as her teammates dealt with the Nidorinos. Lance's eyes began to glow blue as he made a lifting motion with his hands. The closing Nidorino's body became enveloped in a blue aura as it was lifted off of the ground. Lance then spun around towards a nearby tree and made an overhead throwing motion, causing the Nidorino to sail through the air and smack into the tree, breaking its neck. Cyril flipped around the other Nidorino several times before jumping up and bringing his leaf blade down onto the Nidorino's neck, killing it. "You're such a showoff, Cyril," Lance teased. Cyril, walking over to his teammates, looked up at the taller Golduck and stuck out his tongue. "You're just jealous that you don't have my jumping prowess." "You two were amazing!" Zira exclaimed. "I wish I could fight like that." Cyril smiled at Zira. "You will, Zira." Team Dakota headed up the stairs, one by one, to the second floor. Zira followed closely behind Lance, heeding Cyril's advice from earlier about not waiting too long to follow her teammates. Though she knew an attack move now, she was nowhere near ready to traverse a dungeon on her own and didn't want to risk being separated from her teammates. After passing through the cold, windy threshold separating the floors, Zira was relieved to see her teammates waiting for her. As before, Team Dakota began by spreading out and searching the room that they were in. Zira looked within patches of tall grass, in hollowed out tree trunks, and even within the dense vegetation that made up the dungeon walls--at least, as much as was possible. When Zira attempted to search within the "walls," some kind of unseen force pushed back against her. It served as a further reminder that the laws of nature didn't apply in mystery dungeons. Finding nothing in the room they were in, Team Dakota headed for a nearby corridor to search the other rooms. As they traversed the seemingly endless corridors, Zira looked up at the blue sky beyond the dungeon canopy, wondering if it was even a real sky. She estimated they they were already in the dungeon a couple of hours, yet the position of the sun never changed. After fruitlessly searching the remainder of the floor, Team Dakota headed up the stairs to the next floor without encountering a single feral Pokémon. "Do you think we missed it?" Zira asked as she joined her teammates on the third floor. "It's possible, but I don't think we did," Lance answered. "We've been pretty thorough." "Even if we did," Cyril said, "we can just enter the dungeon again and start over. At least this isn't a 50 floor dungeon... or worse." Lance chuckled. "Yeah, that would really suck." As Cyril and Lance turned away to explore the room, Zira stood still for a moment. Looking down at the ground, Zira wondered if she overlooked the journal on one of the previous floors. It wouldn't look good to her new teammates if that turned out to be the case. Zira sighed as she turned around and walked towards a tree near the center of the room. She looked up at the sky beyond the dungeon canopy, hoping to purge the doubt from her mind, when she tripped and fell face first onto the ground, letting out a yelp as she did so. Cyril and Lance rushed over to her. "Are you all right?" Cyril asked, crouching by her side. "Ugh... yeah, I'm all right," Zira replied. As she turned herself over and sat up, she got a look at the object that she tripped over. Picking up the object, Zira realized that she'd found what they were searching for. "Hey, I found the journal!" Cyril and Lance both giggled as they helped Zira get back onto her feet. Zira brushed the dirt off of the journal's leather cover before handing it to Cyril. "Yep, that's the journal all right," Cyril said. He placed the journal in his bag. "Good job finding it, even if it was an accident." Cyril grinned at Zira. "Today must be my lucky day," Zira said, returning Cyril's grin with one of her own.

An explosion suddenly reverberated throughout the dungeon, making all three Pokémon jump. "Me and my big mouth," Zira lamented. Cyril began running towards a corridor on the far side of the room. "I think it came from this way!" Zira and Lance rushed to catch up with the Grovyle. "Wait a minute," Zira said, jogging at Cyril's side. "We're running towards the explosion?" "Yeah. We have to investigate it," Cyril answered. "Someone could be--" Cyril was cut off by another explosion, this time much closer. Before Team Dakota could reach the corridor, a Krokorok and a Sandslash sprinted into view. They both appeared to be wounded and frightened completely out of their wits. "RUN!" the male Krokorok screamed. Cyril looked down the corridor as the other team ran past. His expression immediately changed to one of horror. "Oh shit!" He turned around and started running. "Follow them!" As Zira turned to follow Cyril, she caught a glimpse of what was coming down the corridor: a horde of angry Nidorinos and Nidorinas. Far too many to fight. Zira ran as fast as she possibly could to catch up with the others, not wanting to suffer the same fate as the outlaw Sceptile the other day.

"The exit's this way!" the Krokorok yelled. He was leading everyone into another corridor. I sure hope he's right about that, Zira thought. She and Lance were at the back of the pack, so if the Krokorok was wrong, she'd be one of the first to die. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she sprinted down the corridor. It was just her luck that she'd be running for her life again. Though Zira didn't dare look back, she could tell by the growls and the footsteps behind her that the ferals were closing in on them.

Zira glanced at Lance, who was running beside her, and noticed that he was digging for something in his bag. After a few seconds, Lance pulled a seed out of his bag, cracked the shell, and tossed the seed over his shoulder. A moment later, Zira heard--and felt--an explosion behind her. "That was our last blast seed!" Lance shouted. "We're almost there!" the Krokorok shouted. "Just a little bit further!" The two teams sprinted into another room. Zira immediately noticed the shimmering exit on the far wall, but there was a problem. Several feral Pokémon stood between them and the exit. To make matters worse, the ferals that survived the blast seed explosion were closing in on them. They were surrounded. "Engage!" Cyril shouted before unleashing a bullet seed attack on the ferals close to the exit. All around Zira, a massive battle erupted. While her teammates and the other team fought the ferals, Zira stood in the middle of the fray, utterly overwhelmed by what was taking place. As she looked around at the carnage, a Nidorino jumped towards her. Zira shielded herself with her hands, preventing the Nidorino's horn from striking her, but it still managed to knock her off of her feet. The Nidorino wasted no time jumping onto Zira. It attempted to bite her as she held its head away from her face. Zira began to claw at the Nidorino's throat with her right hand, but her bare claws weren't doing much damage against the Nidorino's hide. With her anger rising to its boiling point, Zira gritted her teeth and put all of her strength behind one more attack. This time, she managed to activate her slash attack. Her claws slashed through the Nidorino's throat, causing it to fall off of her as it bled out. Zira quickly stood up and looked at the exit. There were four feral Pokémon standing between her and freedom. Escape was so close that she could almost taste it. As Zira focused on the ferals blocking the exit, a familiar pressure formed in her chest as smoke billowed from her mouth and nostrils. Realizing what was happening, Zira took in a deep breath and then exhaled in the direction of the ferals. A spark seemed to go off within her as her breath ignited into a stream of fire that engulfed two of the ferals.

A powerful jet of water suddenly whizzed by Zira's head, blasting away the other two ferals. Zira spun around to see where the hydro pump originated from. Her eyes landed on Lance, who was standing near her, water dripping from his mouth. "The way's clear!" Lance shouted. "Let's get out of here!" Everyone still fighting the ferals immediately disengaged and sprinted for the exit, as did Zira and Lance. Zira dove through the exit, landing harshly on the ground beyond the shimmering threshold. She quickly stood back up and readied her slash attack in case the feral Pokémon followed them. Zira jumped when she felt a hand land on her shoulder. "Easy," Lance said. "Feral Pokémon can't follow us beyond the dungeon thresholds. We're safe now." Zira bent over and placed her hands on her knees. After taking a moment to relax, she looked around to see if they'd lost anyone. Miraculously, everyone had survived. The Krokorok and the Sandslash sat on the ground as they addressed their wounds, and Cyril stood nearby, looking at her with a concerned expression on his face. "Are you all right?" Cyril asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," Zira replied. "You did good today, Zira," Cyril said, smiling faintly. "I'm sorry your first mission turned out this way. That was a lot more action than I expected from a small dungeon like this." "It's all right," Zira said, standing up straight. She smiled at Cyril. "Besides, now I can do this." Zira looked up towards the sky and attempted to fire off a flamethrower into the air, but she erupted into another coughing fit. The other four Pokémon laughed as Zira coughed up thick, black smoke. Cyril place a hand on Zira's shoulder. "We'll have you using that flamethrower reliably in no time," he said with a great big grin on his face. With everyone now in high spirits, both teams began the three hour walk back to Seneca.