Team Vagabond: Mission #1 - The Steadfast Forest Bounty
 
“Fairies,” Kaiden repeated, ensuring the other two had heard him the first twenty times he had told them. The Umbreon still found the idea highly amusing, his voice cracked as he lead the group through the Mystery Dungeon, “A group of -fairies- are the outlaws. What’re they doing? Pouring glitter on people?”
 
“Please don’t underestimate our opponents before we’ve even met them, Kaiden,” the Absol replied as he glanced over his shoulder, the pauldron resting on it clanking with each step he took, “If they’ve been around this long, they must be doing something right… Cale, have you found anything?”
 
“Nothing yet. Lots of Pokemon, but none that look like our targets.” The Lucario replied, the aura sensors on the back of his head levitating in the air as he followed the other two. The group had to move slower to accomodate for the Lucario’s slow pace while he concentrated, but being able to know where the rest of the Pokemon on the dungeon floor were at all times meant that the reward justified the cost. “We really need to get X-Ray Specs.”
 
“With the money we’ll make from this bounty, we’ll be able to buy all the X-Ray Specs we want!” The Umbreon insisted with a wide grin, his rings flashing in excitement. Cale and Arlen shot each other a look behind their leader’s back, though as Arlen began to smile the Lucario couldn’t help but smile back. Kaiden’s energy certainly was infectious.
 
It wasn’t long before the group had managed to find the stairs to the next floor, and Kaiden was quick to race into the shadows at the bottom with Arlen quickly following after him. Cale closed his eyes, relaxing as best he could as he made his way down the stairs. He still hadn’t gotten used to the concept of stairs in mystery dungeons; you made your way down a set of stairs, then found yourself in a completely new area with no stairs behind you, it was as though you had just walked out of the sky. The brief weightlessness between the top and bottom of the staircase always left him feeling queasy.
 
He opened his eyes, and as he had expected the world around him had completely changed. Kaiden gasped as he made his way towards him, “Oh my god, dude! Where’ve you been? We’ve been waiting for days!”
 
“W-wait, what? days?” the Lucario blinked, glancing over his shoulder to where the staircase should have been. Of course, it had already vanished, there was no going back when it came to Mystery Dungeons, “What are you talking about? I was just behind you.”
 
“Yeah, we thought you were too. You must’ve entered some kind of weird distortion zone,” the Umbreon explained dramatically, flailing his paws as he fell onto his back, “We’ve been looking around this dungeon for days trying to find you, we thought you got ate by Giratina or something!”
 
The Lucario recoiled in fright as he looked around. Everything seemed the same, and yet somehow days had passed by. He moved one hand to his head, his heart racing as he stared down at the Umbreon, “K-Kai, Arlen, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened,” Cale stammered, “I-I was just following you both and--”
 
“That’s enough, Kaiden.” Arlen grumbled, his eyes narrowing on the Umbreon. He stepped forward, shaking his mane out of his right eye as he turned his gaze to the Lucario. “Don’t listen to him, Cale. He’s pulling your leg. You were right behind us the whole time; no distortion, no weirdness,” he narrowed his eyes at the Umbreon, who was busily gathering pebbles together while the Lucario was distracted, “No parallel universes where we eat rocks.”
 
“Aw man, you always ruin the fun.” Kaiden huffed as knocked over his pile of stones and got to his paws, shaking the leaves off of his short fur, “I was just messing around, I thought a little humour might help Cale get over his stair thing.”
 
“I don’t have a ‘stair thing’,” the Lucario replied, looking away from the group as he crossed his arms, resting them just under the spike on his chest, “They’re just disorientating. You never know where you’re going to end up when you go down them.”
 
“There’s nothing to be ashamed about, Cale. I didn’t used to like them either, navigating mystery dungeons takes a whole lot of getting used to,” The Absol replied as he began to walk forward once more, “But you do get used to it, after a while. Try not to close your eyes when you’re going down stairs, might end up walking right into a dragon’s mouth.”
 
“That’s probably what he’s hoping for,” the Umbreon grinned, winking up at the Lucario. Seeing as his initial teasing failed to get a reaction from his friend he stood on his hind legs, his forepaws rested on the Lucario’s hips as he opened his jaws wide, revealing the pink of his maw as his tongue flicked playfully up at Cale, “Next time just jump, you can count on me to catch you~”
 
“K-Kai,” Cale huffed, gently pushing the Umbreon off of him. Kaiden grinned to himself as he made his way back to the front of the group, his tail wagging happily in the air. He had gotten his teammate to blush. Mission accomplished. The Lucario rolled his eyes and began to focus once again, his aura sensors flicking out for a moment, only to immediately drop again, “They’re here.”
 
“They’re here?” Arlen repeated.
 
“Just up ahead and around the corner, three auras. Definitely Fairy-types.” Cale replied with an affirmative nod, “I didn’t think we’d run into them so soon, do we even have a plan for how we’re going to capture them?”
 
“I think the plan is to kick their butts,” Kaiden grinned back at the other two, his rings beginning to shine once again, “Come on, they’re fairies!”
 
“They’re going to have a type advantage against us,” Arlen replied, keeping his voice down as he gestured for the others to come closer. Cale picked up his pace, quickly moving to joining the other two as Arlen began, “We need a solid plan before we--”
 
A siren wailed to life beneath Cale, startling the trio as it rang in their ears. As the Lucario looked down he could see the alarm trap he had just stepped on, barely covered by the leaves on the ground. Cale whimpered, his ears tucking back as Kaiden rapidly slammed his paws against the trap, trying to break it and stop the alarm. Arlen sprinted past both of them, almost knocking the Umbreon into the Lucario as he did so, “Run!”
 
Kaiden opened his mouth to yell back, only to find himself being hooked under the Lucario’s arm and carried along. The wild Pokemon of the forest began to race out to see what was causing the noise, and as they saw the adventurers they gave chase. “Dude, put me down, I can run by myself!”
 
“There’s no time!” Cale replied, continuing to sprint after the Absol. The Umbreon struggled, finally managing to get a grip on the Lucario’s back. He climbed up onto it, his forepaws rested on his shoulders and one of his hind paws finding its footing on the bag at the Lucario’s side. Dragon-type Pokemon assaulted the team as they ran, swooping down from the canopy and swiping at them as they ran past the trees.
 
“Look out for the traps!” Arlen shouted back, leaping to the side to avoid stepping on a Blast trap. The Lucario followed his steps precisely, though as the wild Pokemon reached the traps they rampaged through them haphazardly, resulting in bursts of fire, light and occasionally the odd chestnut dropping from seemingly out of nowhere.
 
“That’s the bulk of them,” Kaiden called ahead, keeping his eyes on the cloud of smoke the team had left in their wake, “We’re going to need to lay low for a while, find us someplace to hide!”
 
“Down there!” Cale called out, pointing off the path towards a slope of grass. Arlen pounced off the path, skidding down it and disappearing into the underbrush shortly before the Lucario leaped after him. The grass was wetter than he had anticipated, and as he reached the bottom of the hill he collapsed onto his front with the Umbreon sitting on his back, “Oof!”
 
“Damn, that was crazy… is everyone okay?” Kaiden asked, trying to keep his rings bright enough for them to see, but dim enough that they wouldn’t be seen by the Pokemon passing on the path at the top of the slope. Once the crowd had gone by the Umbreon breathed out a sigh of relief, “All in a day’s work, eh guys?”
 
“Usually missions don’t go this catastrophically,” Arlen frowned, his eyes scanning the darkness, “And usually rescue teams stay on the path, who knows what we might encounter out here.”
 
“Sorry guys,” Cale sighed as he sat up. The Lucario shuffled over to a nearby tree, sitting at its base and hugging his knees, “This is my fault…”
 
“Hey, don’t worry about it, we’re going to make mistakes once in a while,” the Umbreon grinned, patting the Lucario’s shoulder, “How about you focus on finding the fairies while Arlen and I keep watch?”
 
“We might still have a chance to find them, if they didn’t flee during the commotion anyway,” Arlen agreed. The Lucario nodded, his eyes closed as he tried to focus on finding the trio of auras he had seen before. His sensors twitched, the world around him faded into darkness as the various auras of the surrounding Pokemon began to shine through. There were his two friends, their dark grey of their auras practically invisible against the blackness surrounding him, then there was the lustrous purple of the main Dragon-types that inhabited the floor.
 
Finally he spotted two light pink auras in the distance, seemingly travelling together and in their direction. [i]’Weren’t there three before?’[/i] the Lucario’s brow furrowed in concern, He felt a gentle rumble beneath him, one that caused him to look down just in time to see the pink aura speeding towards him. The muffled voices of his companions became clearer, he could see Kaiden’s aura racing towards him.
 
“Cale, look out!”
 
His eyes shot open as the ground underneath him burst open in a deafening crash, launching him a few feet into the air as it did so. Rocks and dirt hammered against his back, and soon his upward propulsion came to an end, leaving him falling back towards the ground. His rear hit something warm and slick, the Azumarill looked up at him with a smirk, its jaws spread around the Lucario’s rump as it narrowed his eyes, gulping loudly in an attempt to drag the wide hips into its jaws.
 
“Damn it, Az. You were supposed to get the Umbreon!” the Granbull shouted as he leaped out of the shadows, a small Slurpuff plodding along behind him, “You can’t swallow a Lucario in a single gulp!”
 
“Hey, screw you, pal. You couldn’t swallow me in one gulp either!” The Umbreon shouted back, his rings flaring out to illuminate the area around him. The flash blinded the Azumarill long enough for Arlen to pounce towards it, his heavy paw landing directly on its throat. The force caused it to let out a wheezing cough, eventually spitting out the Lucario in favour of moving its paws to where the Absol had struck.
 
“Ugh, thanks,” Cale muttered, patting some drool off of his backside as he turned to face the Azumarill, his hands raised as he prepared to fight. The trio stood back to back, each looking at one of the three surrounding them. “These must be the outlaws we’ve been sent to capture.”
 
“And you must be the daily delivery of tasties sent from the guild to bring us in. I love how you always come with napkins~” The Slurpuff replied, gesturing the green scarves the team wore around their necks. Its tongue ran across its flat muzzle, creating a loud slurping sound as it did so, “You’re a little bit bigger than what we’re used to, but I’m sure we’ll handle you~”
 
“You’re mine, Absol,” the Granbull grinned, cracking its knuckles as it stomped forward towards Arlen, “I’m going to be picking my teeth with that horn of yours, maybe I’ll make twin daggers out of it and your tail.”
 
“You won’t have teeth to pick by the time I’m done with you,” Arlen responded gruffly, his horn glowing in a challenge towards the larger Pokemon. The Azumarill climbed out of its hole, and soon the outlaws began to close in on them. The wind began to pick up around the Absol, and as the Granbull leapt forward Arlen swung his horn forward, sending out a gust so sharp it leave a large cut across the Granbull’s front, leaving it letting out a roar of pain.
 
The fight had begun, and the Azumarill barreled towards the Lucario with more rage than he had expected from a Fairy-type. He dodged the left, his foot outstretched to trip the rampaging rodent and leaving it collapsing onto its front with a thud. Kaiden barely had time to laugh at the sight before he found himself lifted into the air and launched back by a glittering Fairy Wind attack.
 
 Having landed its attack the Slurpuff pursued the Umbreon, bouncing off the Azumarill as it passed it by. Kaiden’s jaws opened, ejecting a black, sticky burst of Toxic that splashed over the Slurpuff’s face. The attack distracted it enough for him to roll out of the way, his rear wiggling briefly before he pounced on it in return.
 
Arlen continued to swipe left and right with his horn, leaving the Granbull backing away from him to avoid getting cut. It suddenly thrust its fist forward, slamming it into the Absol’s stomach as a cloud of white smoke appeared around them. The Granbull disappeared from view, for a moment Arlen wondered if it had retreated, though as he felt the Pokemon’s fists pummeling him from seemingly every direction he desperately tried to keep up with him, “Play Rough.” he growled, “The move of a coward who can’t fight his opponent head to head.”
 
“Call it what you want. guldie. I like to think of it as tenderising ya,” the Granbull chuckled, his fist slamming into the left side of the Absol’s head, only to appear from the right to hit him again the next moment. Arlen growled, his blade-like horn and tail flashing purple as he span in a circle, dispersing the mist and managing to slash the Granbull with his Psycho Cut, “Ack, damn it!”
 
“Surrender now and it’ll be a whole lot easier on everyone,” The Absol warned him, trying not to reveal just how much the super effective move had hurt him.
 
“Ha, you think we’re gonna give up?” the Granbull scoffed, his paws clenching into fists as he prepared to attack once more, “We’ve got you outmatched, Absol. You and your team don’t stand a chance against-”
 
“Mmph!”
 
The Granbull’s right ear perked at the noise, and his jaw slackened at the sight before him. The Umbreon had the Slurpuff’s waist dangling from his muzzle, its legs kicking desperately to try to escape as Kaiden’s tongue slurped over him. The Umbreon noticed him looking and gave him a teasing wink, one of his paws curling around to rub the bulge the outlaw’s head was making in his stomach.
 
Cale was having slightly more trouble with his opponent, but only due to the egg-like shape of the Azumarill’s body. He had followed Kai’s lead on eating the Water-type head first, drool dripping from his jaws to wet the already slick body of the rodent. The Lucario took his time, his hands pressed against the Pokemon’s backside as he forced it into his maw, taking small, frequent gulps to bring his prey closer and closer to its destination.
 
“What the hell happened?!” The Granbull snarled, stomping his feet as the Slurpuff’s legs disappeared into the Umbreon’s jaws, leaving him letting out a satisfied belch as he sprawled out over the forest floor, his bulging stomach practically pinning him to the ground. “How’d a couple of low level rescue mons beat you two idiots?!”
 
“Well, that’s easy.”
 
The dog stopped as he felt something sharp against his neck, the edge of the Absol’s blade. “We’re not a low level team,” Arlen explained, a little smile appearing on his muzzle. His horn sparked with lightning, and the Granbull fell to the floor, twitching and sparking with electrical energy, “You underestimated us, then gave them the perfect cover to deal with your team while I kept you occupied. Using Play Rough may have blocked my view of the battle outside the cloud, but it also blocked yours.”
 
“That thunder ought to keep you paralysed for a little while, but unfortunately not long enough to get you back home so we can put you in jail,” The Absol continued as he loomed over him, one paw resting on the canine’s muscular chest. He pinned him under his entire body weight, his eyes sparkling in predatory delight, “Now… what do you think would be the best way to make sure an outlaw doesn’t get away?”
 
The Granbull’s eyes shifted back to his teammates, or rather, what he could make out of them. Kaiden was sitting against a tree, playfully pressing his paws down into the thick bulge of the pokemon trapped in his tight gut. He licked his lips, seeming to have enjoyed the flavour of the Slurpuff so much he didn’t want to let it go. “Haha, quit struggling so much, you’re not going anywhere anytime soon~”
 
Cale’s eyes were shut tightly, tears forming in the corners of them as he strained his throat, trying to get the bulbous bulge of the Azumarill’s lower half past his neck. He finally yanked off his scarf, allowing himself a bit more room to work with. His hand trailed over the bulge to guide it downwards and, with a particularly loud ‘Glrrrk!’, the bulge disappeared from his neck and dropped into his stomach like a rock, leaving him gasping for breath as his throat was finally cleared.
 
“Yeah, the kid’s not much of a predator. I’ve been trying to train him, but it’s a long road.” Arlen commented, offering the Lucario a nod as he glanced in his direction. As the Umbreon moved to help his friend with the bulge, the Absol’s red eyes drifted back to the Granbull under his paws, “Which of course brings me to you, big guy… feel free to Play Rough when you get down there, my stomach’s not as sensitive as Cale’s or Kaiden’s.”
 
The Granbull could hardly believe what was happening. He was larger than the Absol, and yet the way he looked at him made him feel much, much smaller. He tried to struggle but himself unable to move as Arlen parted his jaws, his muzzle opening wider and wider until it was finally parted enough to cater to the Fairy-type’s head.
 
The Absol worked with a surprising amount of efficiency for someone wearing a guild pauldron. The Granbull hadn’t known any rescue team to devour other Pokemon, it was what had made them so easy to pick off in the past, and yet there he was, with his head being dragged into the neck of a rescue team Pokemon.
 
Arlen adjusted his stance, stepping backwards off of the Granbull as his jaws reached his shoulders to pull him into a sitting position. As he continued to work the Pokemon into his throat he glanced in the direction of his teammates, Cale was laying splayed out on the floor while Kaiden rubbed his stomach with both paws and encouraged him. The Absol smirked around the Granbull’s upper body, he loved seeing the two supporting each other.
 
The Granbull began to struggle as the paralysis wore off, but he was already past the point of no return. The Absol shoved his head down over the Granbull, timing it perfectly with a powerful gulp to swallow him in up to his hefty gut, and forcing the canine’s head into his own.
 
“Heh, down the hatch, doggo~” Kai grinned broadly, his tail wagging as he watched Arlen work, offering a quick side glance to Cale to see his reaction. As he caught the Lucario’s blush he winked playfully at him, “You want to be next, blue?”
 
“Kai, We’re on a mission!” Cale whined, raising his hand to block the Umbreon’s view of his face. With his friend sufficiently teased Kaiden went back to watching the show. Arlen’s neck bulged out with the Granbull’s midsection, untying his uniform green scarf and leaving it fluttering to the ground. The Pokemon began to kick its legs desperately as they left the ground, his descent now aided by both gravity and the powerful, ever more frequent gulps that the Pokemon took.
 
Finally the Granbull’s paws entered Arlen’s maw and, after a quick slurp over his soles and toes, the Absol shut his jaws with a ‘clack’. He tilted his head back, swallowing the last of the Fairy-type before resting one forepaw on his squirming gut, feeling each lively punch his prey gave the walls of of his stomach. “Uurrahp. Heh, yeah, keep that up. It’s worked so well for the last few outlaws.”
 
“Nice going, Arlen.” Kaiden beamed, bouncing on his own stomach as his tail continued to wag in a blur. His rings were glowing so brightly Cale had to shield his eyes, “That was awesome!”
 
“All in a day’s work, right?” Arlen smirked back at him, stumbling as his stomach jerked underneath him. “Woah, settle down. You’re going to get yourself digested if you keep that up.” he grunted, taking a deep breath before letting out a long, hearty belch. “Uurrrrrrp! Hff, there, that oughta shut you up.”
 
“Don’t take too much of his air, we need him alive if we want to collect the bounty,” Cale reminded him. As Arlen looked his way the Lucario could only blush and avert his gaze, suddenly taking an interest in the canopy as he continued to idly stroke his gut. “I-I mean, unless I’m wrong. I’m probably wrong.”
 
“Nah, you’re right, kid. I don’t want to lose ‘im and have to waste a Reviver Seed,” Arlen replied. He reached down to his scarf, tying it around his neck as he unclipped the metal badge from its underside. The others followed his lead, taking their badges off their scarves and holding them up towards the sky. “Mission complete.”
 
“Let’s get that cash!” Kaiden agreed enthusiastically. The badges shone became brighter and brighter until the light coming off of them engulfed the trio, causing them to disappear in a flash. They would soon arrive back at the dungeon entrance and make their way back to the town, dragging their stomachs as their prey struggled, and getting odd looks when they finally arrived and coughed up their captured convicts to be taken into custody of more permanent prisons.
 
Sometimes it seemed like it would be easier to simply use Reviver Seeds and deliver the outlaws when they reformed, but Kaiden had encouraged the team to learn to control their stomachs and avoid digesting their prey instead. It meant a lot less spending money on the most expensive seeds on the market.
 
Besides, that way was a lot more fun.
 
The End