Team Vagabond Mission #2: The Crazy Fields Rescue
 
Cale breathed in the fresh air. He loved overground mystery dungeons, particularly ones that appeared to be fields that stretched far into the distance. The wind billowed through his new forest green poncho, causing it to flap as he walked, for once the Lucario felt like he looked like a true adventurer.
 
“It really suits you, dude.” The Umbreon leading the group grinned back at him as he turned left down the path, “You’re like ‘The Lucario with No Name’.”
 
“Thanks Kai,” Cale replied, tugging at the poncho gently with one of his hands before turning his gaze back to the path ahead, “It shouldn’t get in the way of my attacks either, it’s quite breezy.”
 
“Makes me think I ought to get an accessory,” Kaiden agreed with a nod, “You’ve got your poncho, Arlen’s got his pauldron.”
 
“My pauldron is not an ‘accessory’,” Arlen spoke up from the back of the group, having to lean around the Lucario in order to be seen past his billowing clothing, “It’s a symbol of who I was and who I still strive to be. This pauldron bears the mark of the guild, wearing it is a pledge to be a shoulder to lean on for anyone who needs help.”
 
“If it’s all that, it’s kind of silly to wear it now, isn’t it?” The Umbreon grinned back at him with a wag of his tail, “Y’know, ‘Team Vagabond’ and all. It’s not like you really need a symbol like that on your arm..”
 
“Eh, I’m nostalgic,” Arlen chuckled with a shrug of his shoulders, causing the pauldron to clank as he did so. “Anyhow, enough talk about our gear. What’re we looking for again?”
 
“A Tailow,” Cale reminded him. The aura sensors dangling on the back of his head began to rise as if they were lifted by some invisible force, the Lucario sighed and shook his head, “But they’re not on this floor. I’ve been looking for them while we’ve been walking.”
 
“We’ll find them, bud.” Kai insisted, sniffing the ground curiously as he walked. His means of tracking weren’t quite as mystical or accurate as the Lucario’s, but he often picked up on things that slipped past the jackal’s radar. “Lotta Bug-types around here.”
 
“Ugh, had to be Bug-types.” The Absol grumbled at the back of the group, his blade-like tail slashing in frustration at the air behind him. “Someday we’re gonna walk into a Mystery Dungeon and not have to worry about type disadvantage.” he frowned, “But that makes me wonder, why does a Taillow need an evac from a dungeon like this?”
 
“The mission said he hurt his wing and can’t fly,” Cale explained, clapping his palms together and creating a quick burst of bright pink energy, “I’m hoping I can use my Heal Pulse to tend to his wing when we find him. I know we’re just getting paid to rescue him, but I think he would appreciate some help right away.”
 
“That’s really nice of you, Cale,” Kaiden smiled proudly up at his friend. Before long they had found the first set of stairs in the ground, their stone grey texture clashing with the lush green fields surrounding them. The Umbreon leaped down them with a shout of ‘AAAADVENTURE!’. Arlen rolled his eyes at the Umbreon, then nudged the Lucario to follow him into the darkness of the stairs.
 
Cale closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he stepped into the out-of-place stairway. He felt the stomach turning weightlessness of being between floors, the way the air changed in temperature just enough for him to notice. The lack of wind and sudden gust of wind as his foot touched grass once more, letting him know he had arrived on the next floor. Breathing out a sigh of relief he opened his eyes.
 
The field was quiet around him, though the grass seemed much taller on this floor than it had been on the last. The Lucario glanced back the way he had come, seeing no indication of the stairway ever being present. He knew Arlen had been behind him, but there was no sign of the Umbreon. “Kaiden?” the Lucario called out as he began to search for his friend.
 
His foot brushed something as he took a step forward. It was a long, slender vine. Cale gasped and leaped back to avoid it, only for another vine to shoot out of the tall grass and wrap around his chest, knocking him off his feet as it yanked him off the path, sending him hurtling through the grass and out of sight with a yell.
 
He finally landed with his head on something soft, only for the light of the world to be shrouded behind a wall of dark pink flesh. The world shifted around him, leaving his feet above his head as he sank into whatever strange creature had managed to catch him off guard. He could feel a large flat leaf pressing against his backside, scooping him upwards as his feet left the ground, the fleshy walls surrounding him becoming more apparent as his poncho was covered in slime and drool.
 
Cale tried to call out, only to find his voice muffled as his snout was forced against one of the nearby fleshy walls. Whatever this predator was, it was packing him away at an alarming rate. As his head was finally forced into the bottom of the plant he was met by the blinding rings of his Umbreon friend. “Cale!” the Dark-type yelped, pressing himself to one side of the stomach to keep some space between himself and the jackal.
 
“Kai!” Cale yelled in response, kicking his legs as his arms were pinned to his sides by the throat suddenly tightening around him, preventing the Lucario from making any escape attempts until he was completely inside. “Wh-what happened?!”
 
“I snagged by a Victreebel, I didn’t even see it!” The Umbreon explained, his hind paws pressing against the Lucario’s face as he pushed with all his might, “You can’t be in here too, go back out there and kick this thing’s butt-less butt!”
 
“I can’t!” the Lucario shouted, finding himself caught between the Victreebel’s wide throat and the Umbreon’s dirty paws. He turned away as much as he could as Kaiden continued to push his paws up against his cheeks and nose, though for all his shoving the Lucario continued to descend rapidly.
 
Soon the two friends were forced to share what little space they had, the Lucario curling up against the wall as the Umbreon sat in his lap, with only Kaiden’s rings and a sliver of daylight from the Victreebel’s jaws for them to see each other by. “Well, this is embarrassing,” Kaiden rolled his eyes with a huff, “You think it’s going to get Arlen too?”
 
“I can’t really sense anything from in here,” Cale replied, his sensors reaching out curiously as he tried to detect the auras on the Mystery Dungeon floor. All he could sense was the Victreebel surrounding them and, judging from the colour and shade, it was very pleased with itself for capturing not just one, but two adventurers.
 
“You know the worst part about being eaten by a Victreebel?” Kaiden pouted as he turned away from the Lucario, his hind paws kicking rapidly against the stomach wall. It gave a low rumble and a gurgle in response, squeezing its prey even tighter to keep them from fussing, “Ugh, it takes a freaking DAY to digest its prey. This suuuuuuccckkks!”
 
“And the more prey it digests, the stronger its acid gets…” the Lucario noted, raising his hand as he felt the fluids beginning to cling to it. He rubbed his fingers together, sniffing the goo on them curiously, “and the scent of its honey gets more attractive. Given how bland this smells, I’d say this acid isn’t particularly strong. We’re not in any danger… well, not for a while at least.”
 
“Well, glad we’ve got time to figure out a way out of here,” Kaiden replied, his eyes drifting up to the Victreebel’s jaws. He began to climb up the Lucario towards the trickle of light, slipping his paws into the gap as he tried to pry the jaws back open, “Hhhnggh, c’moooon!”
 
Cale adjusted his grip, his hands to hold the Umbreon up as he worked. The crack slowly began to part, but the Lucario could feel his friend beginning to tremble in his hands. “Wait, I’ve got an idea, let go for a second.”
 
“Let go? Are you kidding me?!” the Umbreon growled down at him, though as he began to sweat he knew he was fighting a losing battle. With a frustrated sigh he brought his paws back, causing the jaws to snap back into place with a vengeance as Kaiden collapsed back, panting heavily from the exertion. “Hff, hff, this better be… good…”
 
“I just hope it works,” Cale replied, propping himself up against the stomach wall as he tried to stand up inside the Victreebel. Given the difference in size between himself and the predator he found he had plenty of room and, with Kaiden holding his feet to help him balance, he raised his hands up towards the Grass-type’s maw.
 
The Lucario closed his eyes, breathing out a gentle sigh to focus himself as his hands began to glow. The energy moved from them and towards the Victreebel’s jaws, gradually building up a force that rammed against them from the inside. The Umbreon reached out curiously towards the glowing outline, only to watch it disappear as his paw came close. “Psychic…” Kaiden muttered, “...Oh! Because it’s also a Poison-type. Duh!”
 
Cale grinned, his eyes opening as he began to force more power into the move. The jaws struggled to stay shut, and the world shook around them as the Victreebel thrashed its bulging bulb against the floor to stop the attack.
 
 Finally it turned upside down, it’s jaw opening wide as the Lucario and Umbreon were deposited onto the ground, covered in the slime and honey, but otherwise completely unharmed. “Y-yeah, that’s what I thought!” Kaiden spluttered, staggering to his feet to yell at the fleeing Grass-type, only to slip on the honey and land on his face.
 
“Oof! - Damn it! - Ack!” Each time he tried to stand up he found his forepaws slipping again, eventually he managed to get his hind paws up, hoping that the stance was still intimidating to the long-gone Grass-type, “Y-you better run, chump! [i]-Arceus, that’s sticky-[/i] We’re Team [i]-ugh, gross, it’s in my fur-[/i] Vagabond!”
 
“Cale? Kaiden?” Arlen called out. The Absol’s horn slashed through the grass, creating a pathway for him to reach his teammates; Kaiden with his rear in the air and Cale sitting back, both breathing heavily and covered from head to toe in sticky fluids. The Absol blinked, then turned with a flick of his mane, “Damn, you two. Sneaking off to have some fun, I see. No invite for ol’ Arlen?”
 
“We got grabbed and eaten by a Victreebel!” Cale insisted, covering himself with his poncho. Kaiden finally crawled out of the puddle of honey, shaking his fur rapidly to get it off of him as the two got to their feet.
 
“Yeah, I saw some Poke and went to grab it before I came down the stairs, when I arrived you guys weren’t anywhere in sight,” The Absol replied, canting his head towards the way he had come, “C’mon, this way’s back to the path. Reckon we’d best get back to it if you two are done having your fun.”
 
“I mean, if you’re really that sore about it I’m sure we can find another Victreebel,” Kai grinned mischievously up at the Absol as he did a little skip-run to get ahead of him. He was the team leader, after all, “Bet you’d have just slashed your way out though.”
 
“I bet I would’ve, and I wouldn’t be grinning about it like I just had a day at the fair,” Arlen replied as he followed after the Umbreon, glancing over his shoulder at the Lucario following him, “What’s up with him anyway? Usually when you get eaten you’re not supposed to be happy about it.”
 
“It’s because Cale was freaking awesome,” Kaiden replied, beaming over his shoulder at the Lucario, “He used his Psychic to get it to spit us up. I think the poncho really sold it, he looked like a total badass.”
 
“A total badass in a plant’s stomach,” Cale chuckled uncertainly. Arlen gave him a proud grin and a little nod before returning to following after Kaiden, who happily recounted the tale throughout the entire floor, even during fights with other wild Pokemon.
 
Each fight filled the Lucario with more confidence, he repelled attackers with blasts of his Psychic, leaving Arlen stunned by the level of resolve the usually timid Lucario was showing. Kaiden talked less and less the more Arlen praised him, soon finding himself at the back of the group while the two larger Pokemon cleared the way ahead of them. By the time they had found the stairs Arlen was jostling Kaiden to the back of the group. “Hey, we don’t want a repeat of last time.”
 
“It won’t happen again,” the Umbreon groaned, stamping his paw against the ground as he tried to retake his position leading the team, “I’m not stupid enough to fall for the same trick twice.”
 
“Just in case, we’d better send Cale first,” Arlen replied, his eyes drifting to the Lucario, “You beat the last Victreebel, right? I bet you could do it again. Probably even faster without Kai interrupting you.”
 
The Umbreon pouted and glared at the nearest wall of grass. The Lucario gave him an apologetic shrug as he stepped to the front of the group to lead them onto the next floor. He took a deep breath and made his way down the stairway, walking briskly and keeping his eyes wide open despite every instinct telling him not to. The weightless sensation remained the same, though the Lucario was surprised how quickly the trip down the stairs was when he wasn’t hesitating on each step. His foot finally touched the floor, and he looked over his shoulder to see the rest of the team appear behind him.
 
The floor was even more overgrown than the last, the grass of the field now so high it towered above their heads. It had gotten to the point that it was blocking the sunlight, leaving the team with walls of green grass and shadows either side of them. Kaiden frowned, his rings beginning to glow brighter to create a glowing field around himself so the others could see clearly, “Damn dude. They need to get a gardener in here.”
 
“Mystery Dungeons, huh? Gets weirder every time,” Arlen muttered, glancing over his shoulder to reveal the thick wall of grass behind them. “Dead end that way, hopefully we don’t run into a lot more. That last floor was like a maze.”
 
“It’s a Mystery Dungeon, Arlen. Every floor is like a maze,” Kaiden replied, digging at the dirt under his paws for a moment before sniffing the ground, “The grass is overpowering, I can’t really smell anything else. How about you, Cale?”
 
“I’ll try,” the Lucario replied, his eyes closing as he focused on the auras around him. His aura sensors slowly began to raise behind him as he reached out, only for them to drop suddenly as his eyes snapped open. “I think he’s here!”
 
“Yeah?” Kaiden grinned, his tail wagging in a blur as he hopped in place. “That’s awesome!”
 
“No, it’s not. He’s in trouble!” Cale told them, bolting down the pathway and turning the corner, “This way! Hurry!”
 
“Hey, I’m supposed to lead!” Kai called after him, chasing the Lucario with the Absol quickly following after him. Cale moved like a mon on a mission, his poncho billowing and shrouding his arms from view as he ran. The Lucario moved faster than the other two, turning corners without stopping for any of the items or Pokemon he passed. Finally they rounded a corner to find the Lucario was nowhere in sight, “Cale!”
 
“Damn it, what’s gotten into him?” Arlen growled, running up the path to the fork at the end of it. There was no sign of the Lucario on either pathway, “Doesn’t he know Rescue Teams are supposed to stick together? How’re we going to find him in this place?”
 
Kaiden flicked his ears back, his brow furrowing as he tried to come up with a plan. It really had been a disaster of a day. He had been upstaged by his best friend, devoured by a Victreebel, covered in honey…
 
The Umbreon widened his eyes, pressing his paw to his muzzle as he took a deep inhale. The Victreebel’s honey was still on his fur! His nose pressed to the ground, sniffing the left path and then the right. The sweet smell of the honey stuck to Cale’s poncho filled his nostrils, and soon he was sprinting off after him, “This way!”
 
The two Pokemon made their way swiftly through the dungeon floor, Kaiden sniffing at the air and weaving from path to path as he followed the scent. Finally they skidded to a halt as they entered a wide open clearing with Cale tied up in the center of it, forced to kneel in front of the Carnivine as its vines gripped him tightly.
 
“See adventurer? You were far too late,” the Carnivine chuckled, its large leafy appendages patting over its slender midsection. “You didn’t honestly think a wounded Tailow would last out in these fields for long, did you? I didn’t even have to swallow, I just tilted my head back!”
 
“No…” Cale whimpered, gritting his teeth as the vines began to squeeze him tighter. The Carnivine began to lift him, its jaws parting as the Lucario’s bindings began to twist him, causing the Lucario to cry out in pain, “K-Kaiden! Arlen!”
 
“We’re here, kid!” The Absol called back, his horn glowing brightly as he charged towards the plant. The Carnivine’s left leaf whipped up, causing a cloud of dust to spray up from its underside and over Arlen’s front. His legs fell out from under him, leaving him crashing headfirst into the floor, suddenly unable to move. “Ack, damn it.”
 
“It’s going to take you awhile to break out of that Stun Spore, Absol,” The Carnivine cackled, his eyes turning back to the Lucario in his grip, “Plenty of time for me to wring out your little friend here, he’s going to have to have to be a lot looser if he’s going to slip down my neck~” he grinned, twisting Cale with his vines as he yelled, his legs kicking weakly as the vines put more and more pressure on him.
 
“Hey, ugly!”
 
The plant turned to face the Umbreon, only to find him bending over and shaking his rear at him. “What are you, rooted in place? Come get me~” he grinned, his tail lashing at the air in a challenging flourish.
 
“Ha, as if I would fall for that,” the Carnivine smirked as he lifted the limp Lucario with his vines, “I’ve already got your Lucario friend here in my grip and your Absol friend on standby.”
 
“You know I can just warp them out, right?” Kaiden grinned, lifting up his scarf to reveal the golden badge on the underside. “All I’ve got to do is point this at them and you’ll be down a prey,” he winked, “I guess you’re not so smart after all, are ya, overgrown weed?”
 
“Wh-What did you call me?!” the Carnivine snarled as its vines unravelled around the Lucario, dropping him to the floor at its feet. From his new spot on the ground Cale could see a red aura beginning to surround the Umbreon, it only seemed to deepen as he continued to taunt the Pokemon, “I have half a mind to-”
 
“I’m going to stop you right there, wouldn’t want you to overexert yourself,” Kaiden snickered, holding up a paw to the Carnivine as he continued to mock him, “If you’ve got half a mind, you’d better save it for something like photosynthesis or gardening, or whatever dumb plant things you Grass-types do.”
 
“I-I-” the Carnivine stuttered, its leaves shaking with rage. It let out a roar, charging towards the Umbreon with its mouth wide open, aiming to devour him in a single bite. Kaiden grinned, leaping back at the last moment to give the carnivorous plant a mouthful of dirt and grass before opening his own jaws and spitting out a glob of sickly purple poison on his face.
 
“Hey, watch out!” the Umbreon winked as he turned, wiggling his rear at the Carnivine once more before leaping away before the plant could get back up, “Don’t you know that I’m toxic~?” he sang, skipping in a circle before the Carnivine.
 
“I’ll bite you in half, you little brat!” it cried out in a shrill voice, though as it swung itself towards him it began to stagger and shudder. It began to wipe the toxic off its face, only to have another glob land in the same spot as the last as the Umbreon spat out another attack.
 
“Bullseye!” The Umbreon laughed, doing a little victory dance as the plant desperately tried to shake off the poison clinging to its wide face, “I knew all that practice would pay off eventually!”
 
“What’s he doing?” Cale wheezed, carefully crawling back towards Arlen and hoping the plant wouldn’t realise the Umbreon was distracting him.
 
“That’ll be his Swagger… sends whoever sees it into a frenzy,” Arlen spoke up, tilting his head up to watch the battle as the feeling finally began to return to it, “Damn dangerous move if they manage to get to you, but Kaiden’s not exactly the type who gets caught.”
 
The Carnivine’s vines lashed out towards the Umbreon, slapping left and right of him as Kaiden continued to dance before it, grinning widely as he dodged the attacks, occasionally spitting another burst of Toxic towards the Grass-type. Suddenly one of the vines landed, wrapping around the Umbreon’s ankle and lifting him into the air, “Aha!”
 
“Ah!” Kaiden yelped, kicking his free paw to get his other free, only to find two more vines whipping up to wrap around his forepaws, binding them together.
 
“Oooh, you’ve got a lot of energy. I can’t [i]wait[/i] to see how you struggle~” the Carnivine grinned, leaning towards the Umbreon as its jaws parted before him. Kaiden whimpered, squirming as he tried to swing himself away from the jaws, though no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t put any distance between himself and the hungry predator’s maw. He shut his eyes tightly, feeling its breath against his fur.
 
The Carnivine coughed, and then spluttered and coughed again. Kaiden hesitantly opened one eye, watching as the Grass-type wretched before him. It gagged, holding onto its throat with both leaves before coughing up a slimy ball of feathers, along with the black ichor of the toxic Kaiden had been applying through their fight. The plant fell backwards and the vines loosened, leaving both Pokemon falling to the floor as Arlen and Cale staggered towards them. “Kaiden!” Cale shouted.
 
“I’m fine… ha… damn, right on cue.” the Umbreon chuckled, shaking his fur as he made his way over to the Carnivine’s side, “That toxic’s going to keep him knocked out for a while, guess he didn’t realise just how much I had gotten on him.”
 
“What about the client?” The Absol asked. Cale stepped forward, his hand outstretched towards the shivering Tailow. The light pink light of his Heal Pulse began to wash over its sodden feathers, causing it to slowly raise its head as more of the Lucario’s healing energy entered its body.
 
Finally the bird got to its feet, its body glowing with bright pink light as it stretched its wings, shedding the last of the slime from its body. The team breathed out a collective sigh of relief, only to go silent as the light continued to glow around the Tailow. “Oookay Cale, I think you got it. Wing fixed, cut the magic.”
 
“I'm not doing that,” the Lucario replied, looking down at his hands. The trio gathered around the glowing bird as it slowly began to grow. “He's evolving!”
 
“Haha, way to go, little guy!” Arlen grinned broadly as Kaiden gasped in astonishment. Finally the white light covering the bird burst off it's feathers, revealing the renewed Swellow standing before them.
 
“Thank you, my friends. You've saved my life this day!” The Swellow said, bowing before the three with a flourish of his wings, “I would have surely perished if it were not for your intervention, Sir Umbreon, Sir Lucario and Sir Absol!”
 
“Hey, that's okay. It's what we do.” Kaiden grinned at him, “We're team Vagabond.”
 
“I regret that I have no treasures to give you for saving me.” The Swellow replied, lowering his wings, “But I must repay my debt to you somehow… perchance, do you require the aid of the sky in your quests?”
 
“the aid of the sky?” the Umbreon tilted his head at the phrase, “Like… a Flying-type? Are you saying you want to join us?”
 
“At your request I would follow you into the darkest dungeons, Sir Umbreon!” the Swellow replied with a smile, his wing outstretched to shake the Umbreon’s paw, “I am Kasch the Brave.”
 
“Sweet! I've always said we need more members!” Kaiden grinned to the other two as he shook the bird’s wing vigorously, “What do you guys think? Should we bring him with us?”
 
“I wouldn’t mind having someone new around, so long as he’s okay with our team rules,” The Absol noted, getting the Swellow’s attention as he approached him, “You'd not receive any payment or benefits beyond a share of the loot.”
 
“I need neither medal nor metal, I would do it merely out of paying you back for saving my life,” Kasch replied as his beak curved into a smile, “It is good to be in the company of heroes once again.”
 
“I wouldn’t really call us heroes,” Cale smiled weakly, rubbing the back of his head, “We’re just a rescue team, really.”
 
“You put yourselves in danger to keep other Pokemon safe, I’d call that heroic.” Kasch replied, his wings flapping as he hovered in the air, “Come then, let us leave this dungeon and be off to our next adventure!”
 
“Heck yeah!” Kaiden grinned as he held up his badge. Cale and Arlen smiled as they raised theirs in unison. The team had completed another mission, and in doing so had gained a fourth member. They just hoped Kasch wouldn’t mind their… ‘unique’ approach to completing missions.