Her disguise had been rather simple, altering as few of her visual aspects as possible. Hiding her fluffy tail as a huge ponytail was probably the most significant change. But as a middle-aged woman in her prime, with a tight-clinging yellow and white sundress that rippled in the winds, The Lady walked with a soft-power confidence. Her fuzzy yellow hat sprouted her two pointy ears up top, with long dangling attached mitts for her ‘paws’. Though her purple-gloved hands were nearly equal to her previous form’s, she still wanted the warm space for when it got chilly (and a convenient way to hide several sharp knives in the ‘fingers’).
As she approached the mouth of the cave, with five young dragons in tow, she took note of the two Team Flare grunts standing guard outside. They somehow hadn’t noticed her entourage yet, leaving her team free for a pre-game strategy meeting. “Now, do you all remember the rules?” she asked softly, her voice commanding attention from sheer allure.
Dratini nodded, “Stick together, don’t go it alone. No attacking the trainers until their pokemon are unconscious first. Every human inside is with Flare, so everyone’s a target. And, uhm,” they trailed off, as the watching Noibat, Axew, Bagon, and Skrelp waited for the final rule.
“And when you’re done, just walk outside. The police should be here soon enough to do cleanup,” she clarified, standing up with a smile. The five nodded to each other, eager to play ‘Super Sentai Squad’ in the caves.
“Y’know, this is really similar to the Mystery Dungeon games, just with the bad guys as humans,” Dratini remarked, going through their limbering stretches. Bagon and Skrelp shared a questioning look, as Axew and Noibat simply laughed; used to their leader’s weird ideas.
“If you are all ready,” The Lady began, receiving five agreements, before a powerful turn and swish kicked off the operation. The five dragons sped ahead as she walked towards the cave with a power strut that’d make Cynthia look like the copycat.
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Andre was bored out of his mind, unlucky enough to pull front door duty with that psychopath Elise. Sure, their organization took all types, but while he wanted to elevate the power of the beautiful, she outright wanted to eliminate everyone she perceived as ‘ugly’. He was just thankful she wasn’t ranting today about some random person whose looks offended her. ‘How dare any cafe hire an employee for customer service with pimples?!’ was her last tirade, and somehow had only gotten her a commendation for loyalty to the cause.
His monotony was ended when he began to hear something faint, steadily growing louder. “Hey Elise, do you hear that?” he asked his coworker, who sneered at him but didn’t respond. It sounded like someone was playing a grand piano, but the song was unfamiliar. That was when he noticed the blonde woman walking towards them in a yellow sundress. Crowding around her feet appeared to be five smaller pokemon- wait, shit, that was a Bagon!
“Heads up, we got a guest,” he warned, calling out his faithful Houndour partner as she brought out her Electrike. “And she definitely isn’t one of ours,” he muttered to himself, prepping for a fight. The music steadily escalated as she approached, and he began to recognize three of the other four approaching ‘mons; almost a full team of Dragon types.
“Who does this bitch think she is?” Elise complained, clearly more annoyed than worried. But Andre, between the rising music from nowhere, and the oncoming team of Dragons, recalled the taste of fear. By the time he could see her smile, her blue eyes seemed to be shining, piercing his resolve, promising untold levels of pain and misery as her team got within striking distance.
Elise shouted something, but Andre couldn’t hear her clearly. His buddy since he was a kid, the dark dog, was pawing at his leg, begging to go back into its pokeball. He obliged, recalling them and slowly putting his hands atop his head in prayer, promising to chart a new path for his life if he made it out of this situation alive.
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Noele, growing bored of her task to keep the wild pokemon away from the dig site, was scrolling through her holocaster feed. She subscribed to dozens of makeup and hair care channels, as she had made it her duty to ensure she was among the prettiest women in Kalos. Every once in a while, a video would have an annoying soundtrack, forcing her to mute the device or skip the video. Kids these days just had terrible taste, new artists couldn’t even create their own songs; they just remade the old ones, but worse!
A harsh glance from her, and a Woobat on the ceiling ducked behind one of the spikes jutting down from the ceiling. Pivoting to stare down a Cubone peeking out from behind a large rock on her right, the ground type wailed in fright and ducked back behind the ineffective cover. Pleased at her ability to keep these mongrels in their place, she went back to browsing her inspiration feed.
She clicked on a video about a new braid style trending in Lumiose City, which was going fairly well until some random classical music began to play and obscured the speaker’s voice entirely. In frustration she hit the mute button… but the piano music continued to play, even louder. To her credit, she managed to glance up in time to see a Dratini flying towards her head before everything went black.
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Bagon couldn’t believe his luck, running into this group by sheer chance. He and the Skrelp had been arguing over a berry on the shoreline, food which was his by right of his strength, when the Dratini had managed to calm him down simply by being nearby. It was indescribable, the sheer peace he felt from the serpent’s presence. That and the food the two were given quickly won over any loyalty he could muster.
Confused, he asked his leader why a team of proud dragons would include the Skrelp, which earned him a joyous laugh before being told that just because Skrelp wasn’t a Dragon now, didn’t preclude her from the group. It seemed even Skrelp herself hadn’t known that, after she was given confirmation she could evolve into a proud Dragon.
The two of them had grown since then, learning how to combine her ranged abilities with his brute force and mobility. She’d spray acid and water to force their foes into a specific spot, so all he had to do was run as hard as he could and bash them with his hard skull. Barely a day with the group, and he had gained as much strength as a whole year training by himself. To top it off, sticking with the team seemed to keep the rage suppressed, allowing him to think clearly and realize just how much both he and the Skrelp dreamt of traveling the world.
Free food, massive jumps in power, a best friend, and all it cost was his willingness to follow the strongest dragon he had ever seen. Totally worth it!
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The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Axew paused to survey the damage. Sure, they all knew their leader was strong, but something about this just didn’t look right. Dratini had used a Slam on the human, which caused them to go flying into a wall, creating an oval crater about half a meter deep. The human was completely fine, if unconscious, but the fall to the ground had injured them more than the process of compacting the dense rock.
Pointing to the two pokeballs on the woman’s waist, she called out to their leader. “Weren’t we supposed to defeat her pokemon before attacking her?” Dratini froze, as clearly they had forgotten that rule. Noibat, with a spark of inspiration, poked each ball to release their held pokemon. The appearing Gulpin and Zubat glanced nervously between the team and their trainer.
“Now, just to be sure, you two surrendered before our leader attacked your trainer, correct?” Noibat asked, his eyes darting between the two ‘mons and Dratini, pleading. Gulpin nodded quickly, returning itself to its ball as Zubat twisted in shock at the apparent betrayal. The blue bat leaned over in defeat, before nodding and returning itself as well. “There, see, we didn’t break any rules!” Noibat was clearly proud of himself, as Axew rolled her eyes before admitting he was right.
“I think we’re almost halfway done,” Dratini announced, gathering the group up again to push further in. “Once we find the scientists with the fossils and secure them, the mission is complete!”
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Calem and Serena rubbed their backs in sync, both worn out from the Rhydon ride through Route 9. “Remind me not to catch one of those,” she pleaded, as her travel partner gave a wince before promising to keep it in mind. Only a few minutes later, they spotted an odd woman in mostly yellow standing outside the entrance to Glittering Cave, almost like she was standing watch. Calem felt the pain vanish immediately as he was put on-guard, the woman clearly powerful and deserving of unquestioning respect. He mentally noted to address her as “Ma’am” unless told otherwise.
Serena, on the other hand, was experiencing her first ever crush; her teenage hormones working overtime to drown out any cortisol in her system, forcing her fight or flight response to take a number and wait their turn. Once they were within speaking distance, the woman turned her head to smile at the pair, motioning for them to approach. “Well, quite the pleasant surprise to see you two here to help out,” her melodic voice rang out, pushing the woman up another threat level in Calem’s mind.
“How can we help, ma’am?” Calem asked, restraining Serena from approaching the woman any closer. She opened her mouth to respond before the clatter of pebbles near the entrance drew the three’s attention. A man dressed in a ridiculous red outfit was attempting to sneak by, but froze up once he locked eyes with the mystery woman. As she began her domineering approach, he tripped and fell, panicking as he scrambled to try and crawl away until the woman inevitably caught up to him. She towered over him, as the man seemingly lost all control of his ambulatory functions, and how to form sentences.
“Were you trying to sneak off?” She teased, crouching down so that her captive wasn’t looking straight up at a weird angle. “I must say, being able to creep past my team isn’t very impressive. Nor is it very beautiful,” she teased, inexplicably pulling a flip-flop from one of her dangling mittens. “But maybe you were just aiming to garner my attention instead, child. Could it be that you know you’ve been naughty?” she teased, as the Team Flare grunt continued to ruminate over his mistakes and poor choices. “And you know what happens to naughty boys~” she teased, running the edge of the slipper down the right side of his face before pulling it back to swing forward, smacking him across the cheek with a resounding “PLAP”.
The man screamed, cried, and promised he would be a good boy as the woman continued to smack him with the business end of her slip-on footwear. Calem’s grip on Serena grew white as he vowed to steer clear of this monster at all costs. Serena, caught in a trance, merely whispered “Dommy Mommy…”
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The crew found themselves emerging in a large chamber, with various lanterns strung across the walls, dozens of piles of rocks, and a minecart packed with fossils. A handful of humans dressed as miners gripped their pickaxes with their backs against the far wall. Clearly they had heard the commotion, deciding to place their backs against the wall for a last-stand.
“Noibat, can you hit them with a Supersonic? Or have you managed to figure out Sing yet?” Dratini asked as the five approached. The miniature wyvern leapt to the top of the fossil pile in the cart with a flap of his wings, taking stock of the humans before him. With a hum, his ears began to vibrate, slowly rising in frequency until they produced a soft melody. The sound carried across the humans, who fought valiantly to remain upright until their bodies succumbed to the siren’s song and collapsed.
“Great job team, we beat Team Flare!” Dratini cheered, as the other four joined them in celebration. There was a slight clatter as a Kangaskhan revealed itself from the passage behind them. She strode over to the group, weary but without fear, as her child barely stuck his head out from her pouch.
“Are you here to claim my territory?” she asked of the little dragons, who had done what she could not and cleared out the invasive humans from the cave. When the five shook their heads in rejection, she visibly relaxed; her child sticking out from the pouch more to view the strange helpers from the outside. “Then as thanks for your deeds, what can I grant you?”
Dratini stepped forward, “I was asked to find the strongest Fighting type in the cave, as The Lady wanted to request a favor from them,” they explained, as the other four went over to tie up the miners. “She’ll be inside once the police arrive to help out. But for now, you can relax; those humans won’t be bothering you again.” The noodle stuck out their tail, letting her child grip it for a moment of bliss. “As for what you can do,” they said, trailing off as they slithered over towards the wall where some bones of an ancient pokemon were exposed in the wall.
“Think you can help me gently remove this guy from the wall? He’s gonna be important later, I can feel it,” the dragon explained, using their tail to scrape a groove vertically up the wall.
“I do not possess the ability to move or shape the earth or rock,” she began, confused over what was asked of her.
“That’s OK, I just need you to keep him from hitting the ground and turning into rubble,” they elaborated, now being carried in the air by the wyvern to continue cutting an indent into the wall. By the time they were done, a rectangle had been carved into the wall. “Skrelp, can you combine your Water Gun and Acid abilities into a single stream, and dig into the rock along that line?”
The Kangaskhan simply watched as a combination of teamwork led to the five carving away at the rock, until they motioned her over with a simple task: ‘catch’. With a resounding ‘twack’, the Dratini hit the wall hard enough she heard the rock fissure, as the slab slid and began to tilt towards her. The mother was grateful she had the foresight to have her child wait off to the side and play with the green one. Exerting more strength than he had to put forth in years, she slowly guided the massive stone tablet towards the ground, gently tilting it backwards to be at an angle. In concert, the small ones lined the bottom with random rocks to keep it from sliding forwards.
Now that she was up close, a primal wave of fear rose up her spine, the sight of the ferocious ancient pokemon’s skull was that of a vicious predator, and it could easily fit half her body in it’s jaws. The Noibat asked their leader how they planned to get it out of the cave, to which the Dratini said an extremely foul word. Had the Axew not covered her child’s ears in time, she might’ve felt the need to discipline someone for bad language.
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The Lady, Calem, and her new number one fan Serena, steadily progressed through the cave. Police officers followed in their wake, each one breaking away from the group to handcuff a member of Team Flare and drag them outside. Some of the wild pokemon, emerging from their hiding places, watched the procession with caution and gratitude. Once the group emerged into the central cavern, the woman in yellow surveyed the rocks with a smile. “Good job team, no injuries and we caught them all, though you did forget to come back out when you were done.” This led to a round of cheers, including one from the baby Kangaskhan standing near a giant stone leaning against the wall.
Her gaze caught on the massive stone slab leaning against the wall, and the pieces of fossilized pokemon bones visible on its surface. “I see, that would explain things; you are forgiven for now. Though, did you manage to find the Fighting type as I requested?”
From the crowd of assembled pokemon, a Machoke stepped forward, presenting itself. “Good, I am glad Dratini was able to find you; it makes the next part simple.” The woman’s captivating blue eyes began to glow, casting highlights of skies and shades of oceans across the cavern, which reflected in dozens of the shiny rocks embedded in the walls and ceiling. A weighted presence descended upon every being in the room, locking them in place.
{Of thee I request two acts. The first act, to teach a Charmeleon in the ways of Fighting Energy such that he may utilize the move Rock Smash. The second act, in concert with any others you choose to rally, is to ferry this stone slab to Ambrette Town with the Charmeleon from the first act. Complete these tasks, and thou shall be granted the evolution to propel your strength to a new level.}
The weird lights and presence faded as two black silken ribbons affixed themselves around the Machoke’s biceps, drawing into picturesque bows on the outside so as not to interfere with any movement. The Lady smiled, “Not to worry, he isn’t far away. Unless he faces some meddling, your quest should be complete within the week.” While everyone was stunned, trying to make heads or tails of what occurred, the woman reached the cart of fossils and began to sift through them. “Do you two happen to have any preferences? It seems like they have almost every fossil from the cave in here,” she asked.
The two young trainers scuttled over, discussing their options with the mystery woman, all while the police were escorting the remaining troublemakers to the entrance of the cave.