Chapter 3

One morning, when Clare came out of her house with Giovanni greeting her, the earth began to shake under their feet.

“Eh?”

“What’s going on?!”

They both whipped their heads around to the sound of someone popping out of the dirt.

“Tunnel over here!”

Pop!

“Tunnel over there!”

Pop!

“Tunnels everywhere!  Woohoo!  Digging is so much fun!” The new arrival– a Diglett– cheered and giggled to himself before looking around. “Err, umm… wait, where am I?”

“False alarm,” Giovanni sighed. “No real quakes; just a kid having a blast.”

Diglett whirled around, looking bashful. “Oh my!  My apologies!  My name is Diglett.  I was digging holes around the Pelipper Post Office, so much so that I kept digging all the way here!  I’m sorry I ruined your nice place!”

Clare chuckled. “Frankly, it can’t get much worse.  Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you saying you forgive me?” The Ground type’s eyes sparkled.

“Yup.  Just be careful; most people won’t appreciate holes around their properties.  Try not to dig too many, ok Diglett?”

“Of course!  Thank you!  I’ll still have fun digging, but I’ll make sure to patch up the holes from time to time!  Bye-bye!”  With that, Diglett dug back down into the hole and disappeared.

“He said that he was digging holes around the Pelipper Post Office.  I bet we could get there with this hole now without going through town!” Giovanni jumped in with no hesitation.

“…I’m slightly concerned that you did that with no prodding whatsoever.”

…

Another strange dream.  The same multicolored space.

“… … … … … …Back here again.”

Clare sensed another presence.  The same one from the last dream.  Whoever they were, they were a bit closer this time.

They tried to speak.  It was possible to hear them this time, but they were still quiet and unclear.  Clare strained to listen.

“Hello?  Hello?  Can you speak up please?”

Then, the ground rumbled.

“An earthquake?  In my dream?”

The ground shook louder and more intensely.  

“Oh jeez—!  This feels pretty real for a dream.”

The presence vanished, but Clare was too occupied by the ground to notice.

…

When the Chikorita woke up the next morning, she knew her first course of action was asking Giovanni about the ground shaking.  If it was real, he would’ve had to feel it too.  She stretched out on her bed.

“Uhh… hello?”

Clare jolted up.  Was there someone in the house?  A quick look around revealed no one.

“Um, hello?  You are Clare… correct?”

She stepped out of her bed and looked around again.  Still, no one.

“Are… you a ghost?”

“Oh!  You can’t see us, of course!  How very rude of us!” Clare yelped as a Dugtrio burst out of the ground right underneath her feet; she was thrown back a bit onto her bed. “We’re pleased to meet you.  We are Dugtrio.”

“…Charmed.”

“Last night, during the earthquake, our child Diglett was attacked!”

“What?  Diglett?  Attacked?”

“Yes!  He was whisked away to the peak of a tall mountain.  We couldn’t possibly climb somewhere so high up.  That is why we must call upon your help, Clare.  Diglett was abducted by a Pokemon named Skarmory.”

Clare shivered.  That wasn’t a good name to hear.

“It’s a vilely vicious ruffian!” Dugtrio continued, absolutely not calming Clare’s nerves. “Please do be careful.  We need your help!  We must go!” And with that, Dugtrio burrowed into the floor, leaving no hole behind.

………That was so fast, the Grass type barely had the chance to rub the sleep out of her eyes.  But Diglett being kidnapped was much more concerning.  She had to tell Giovanni immediately: they had a rescue mission.

She darted outside, and Giovanni wasn’t too far behind from the left path. “Mornin’!” He greeted her cheerfully.

“Dude.  We’ve gotta go now.  We’ve got a real-deal rescue mission.”

“Woah, woah, slow down; you just came outside.  What do you mean we have a rescue mission?  …I mean, that’s great!  But—”

“Yes, it’s true!” A voice came from below.  Dugtrio burst out of the ground, and Team Soup was flung backwards. “Our child Diglett was kidnapped!  He was taken to Mt. Steel’s summit!  Please, we need your help!  Bye-bye!” Then the Ground-type went back down, leaving a map behind.

Giovanni blinked at his rescue partner. “Alright.  I see what happened now.” A pause. “Wait, Diglett was the kid digging holes around here the other day!”

“Exactly!  We gotta go help him!”

“Mt. Steel doesn’t sound real nice though…”

“Rescue team work isn’t always parades and parties; now, c’mon!!”

…

The two stood across from the menacing cave opening of Mt. Steel.  They couldn’t see inside at all.

“Here we are,” Clare said simply. “Dugtrio said Diglett was whisked up to the peak of this mountain.”

“That’s right!” A voice from underground jolted the two rescuers for a moment.

“Dugtrio?!  You followed us all the way out here?  Without telling us?” Giovanni cried.

“Indeed!” The three-headed (three-bodied?) Pokemon emerged violently from the ground, startling the rescue team again. “The peak is the ninth floor!  Thank you for helping!  Farewell!” He descended as quickly as he came up.

“Er… It’s no problem at all, Dugtrio.”

The two rescuers looked at each other, and nodded.  They both knew what had to be done.

Mt. Steel was the biggest challenge Team Soup had faced thus far.  The first few floors weren’t so bad, but the climb only became more treacherous as the pair went up.  The enemies were tougher, but that meant Clare and Giovanni also got stronger in the process.  They even learned some new moves (though Giovanni wasn’t thrilled about his move only raising his defense while Clare’s was poisoning other Pokemon).

…

“…What’s our strategy for Skarmory?” The Chikorita asked when they had a little room to breathe.

“What do you mean?”

“Giovanni, Skarmory’s a Steel and Flying type.  We’re at a huge disadvantage here.” Giovanni started to open his mouth to respond. “And before you say, ‘Oh, then we’ll just hit him as hard as we can’, almost all of our moves won’t be very effective.”

The Squirtle clamped his mouth closed, looking annoyed that he was read so easily.  Then he put a hand to his chin. “Then how about… we POISON him?!” A devious grin flourished on his face.

“Can’t.  Steel types can’t be poisoned.” And the grin immediately fell off his face. “Our best bet is probably using the items we’ve collected.  We can try to talk him down, but I get the feeling he won’t be very chatty.”

“Hey!  No matter what, we got this!  We haven’t failed a single mission, and we’re not about to start now!”

Clare smiled at Giovanni’s optimism.  It put her a bit more at ease, even as they were climbing up to the summit.

…

The wind whipped around sharply at the top of Mt. Steel, and the near completely flat ground provided no cover.  Square-cut rocks shined like metal in the sun.

“Clare, look!  Diglett’s over there!” The little Ground-type was secluded on a small ledge, which seemed to be Skarmory’s perch. “Hey, are you alright out there?” Giovanni cried out over the wind. “We’re here to rescue you, kid!”

“I… I’m scared…” Diglett whimpered.

Suddenly, something shot up from the chasm between Team Soup and Diglett.  The rescue team jumped back in surprise as it zipped down to the ledge just as quickly.

The Pokemon was a sleek metallic gray with crimson wings and sharp yellow eyes.  

Skarmory. “You!  What do you think you’re doing here?!”

“Uh, I just said what we’re doing here.” The Squirtle said indignantly. “We’re here to rescue Diglett!”

“Skarmory, let him go.” Clare stepped up, trying not to let Giovanni agitate Skarmory further. “Diglett’s done nothing wrong.”

“How can you believe that?!  This is all their fault!  I haven’t slept in days because the earthquakes frighten me so!  Every night we have them!  And it’s all because of that brat’s ilk running around underground!”

“Well, you’re not wrong about the earthquakes; there have been quite a lot.  But it would take more than one Diglett to cause something as big as an earthquake, especially if it can be felt all the way up here.”

“You be quiet!  We’ll fight if you keep that up!”

”It’s no use.  Skarmory’s too agitated to listen to us.“

”We’ll have to fight it out!“ Giovanni got into a fighting pose alongside Clare.

Skarmory let out a shrill cry at the two and the battle began.

Skarmory wasted no time in closing the distance between them, and proceeded to slash and peck at the two with his talons and beak.  The two retaliated with their own elemental attacks.  Giovanni was mostly successful at taking the brunt of the damage thanks to Withdraw.  But with Skarmory using Leer to lower his Defense back down, the combatants were at a stalemate.

Clare kept the team healthy with Oran Berries from their supplies, but they only had two left now.  They had to switch strategies and fast.

What did they have?  Pecha Berries, Cheri Berries, Blast Seeds… That’s it!

”Gio, catch!“ Clare called out to her partner as she threw a Blast Seed towards him.  The Squirtle caught it and didn’t hesitate on shoving it in his mouth.

His face quickly contorted into wide-eyed shock as he covered his mouth with his hands.  Skarmory paused for a moment in confusion.  But that was just the hesitation the team needed; the Steel-Flying type got blasted in the face from an explosion from Giovanni’s mouth.

Skarmory screeched and stumbled back.  From that and the team’s other attacks, it looked like he had been beaten.  ”Grrr… I can’t keep up!  I’ll flee for now!“ The steel bird shot up into the sky once more, crookedly flying away.

It was quiet for a bit before Clare let out a little laugh. “We did it Gio, we did it!!”

“Hey Clare,” The Water-type breathed heavily. “Could you do me a little favor and WARN me next time you DO THAT?!”

”Oh.  Yeah.” Now that feeling of pride was pushed down by embarrassment.  “Sorry about that; it was the only thing I could think of.“

”…Eh, it’s alright.  I get it.  Water under the bridge.  Now let’s worry about Diglett.”

The pair walked to the edge of the chasm.  Clare looked down for a moment, but quickly shot her head back up.  “I can’t see the bottom,” she noted with a scared strain in her voice.

“How do you think we should do this?” Giovanni asked, seemingly oblivious to Clare’s fright.  He put a hand up to his chin in thought, then pounded one fist into his palm with a smile. “You can use your vines to stretch me across the gap and I can grab Diglett from there!  Then you’d just reel us back in.”

“…I don’t have vines.”

“…You, should have vines.  Don’t Grass-types usually have vines?”

“Sure, but not all of them.  And I’m pretty sure I’m one of them.”

There was a long pause.

“Oh Arceus, what are we gonna do.”

An electronic sound from above caught the pair’s attention.  Looking up, two Magnemite were floating down to them.

“Oh, hey!  You’re the Magnemite from Thunderwave Cave!” Clare tilted her head as the Steel/Electric pair drifted closer. “What are you doing here?”

“WE HEARD WORD OF THIS.  WE CAN RESCUE DIGLETT FROM THE SKY.”

“With… your magnets?  What would he grab onto?  Can he grab on?” The Squirtle quietly talked to himself as the Magnemite flew over the opposite side of the cliff and approached Diglett.

“HOLD ON TO US TIGHT.” “DON’T BE SCARED.  WE WON’T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ZAPPING YOU.”

“Oh… Alright…” It seemed the poor kid had been frozen with fright the whole time.  But now with the helpful Magnemite, his nerves calmed a bit.

…

“Ohhh… I was very scared.  Maybe because I was up somewhere so high… My feet feel like they’re still walking on air.”

The whole party had descended down the mountain and were huddled outside Team Soup’s rescue base.

Giovanni glanced sideways to Clare with squinted eyes. “…Feet?” He whispered.  The Grass-type just shrugged.

“HE HAS THEM?  FEET?” The Magnemite attempted to whisper to each other.

“Well, you’re safe and that’s what really matters,” Clare said to the little Ground-type, trying to steer the conversation away from appendages that may or may not exist.

“Yeah!  Thank you very much.”

“Oh, you’ve been rescued!  Great!  Great!”

Everyone paused and whirled around themselves, trying to find this new mystery voice.

“HM?  WHAT WAS THAT?” “AM I HEARING VOICES?”

“…Dugtrio?” The Squirtle asked to the ground.

“Whoops!  You can’t see us?  That’s terribly rude of us!” As predicted, Dugtrio erupted from the earth right next to Giovanni, making him shriek, jump, and nearly crash into Clare. “Hello.  Dugtrio here.”

“Oh!  Papa!” Diglett chirped.

“Diglett!  You had us worried!  You’re not hurt?”

“Nope!  It was scary, but I’m all right.  It’s all thanks to Clare’s team.”

“Thank you for everything.  You’re heroes.”

“Thank you, but… You should really be thanking the Magnemite.  This rescue would have been impossible without them.” Clare flicked her leaf towards them.

Dugtrio turned to the pair of Steel-Electric types. “Oh, how rude of us!  Thank you so much!”

“NO, NO.  IT WAS THE ONLY THING TO DO.  AND… HOW BOTH OUR EVOLVED FORMS ARE JOINED TRIOS… I FELT A CERTAIN KINSHIP.  AFTER ALL, POKEMON MUST HELP EACH OTHER.”

“I’m impressed.  Sincerely, thank you.” Dugtrio then looked back at Team Soup. “We must be going.  Clare.  Giovanni.  Thank you.  Farewell!”

“Bye!” 

With Diglett’s final goodbye, the two Ground-types buried under the soil and zoomed off, leaving behind a few rewards for the rescue team.

“WE’LL BE ON OUR WAY TOO.” Magnemite said.

“Wait, wait, wait; hold on a sec, you two!” Giovanni stepped in front of the two.

“WHAT IS IT?”

“Well, I’ve been standing here thinking we couldn’t have done that last mission without you guys.  And we’re probably going to need help like that again.”

“To put it in a less long-winded way: Would you like to join our team?” Clare didn’t fail to notice her partner’s unamused side eye.

“JOIN YOUR TEAM?”

“Yes.  We’d love to have you with us.  O-Only if you want to, of course!  We won’t force you or anything.”

“RESCUE TEAM… THAT SOUNDS FUN!” The Magnemite on the left’s magnets buzzed with excitement. 

“BUT… IF YOU NEED US TO RUSH OVER TO RESCUES… WE NEED SOMEWHERE TO LIVE CLOSE BY.  IS THERE ANYWHERE WE CAN LIVE IN THIS AREA?” The Magnemite on the right tilted itself at an angle.

“Er… Well…” The Squirtle scratched the back of his head.

“OH… THERE ISN’T… TOO BAD.  SORRY, BUT WE CAN’T JOIN YOU.  SEE YOU!” Their magnets continued to buzz as the pair left.

“Well, that’s a shame,” Clare said with a sigh. “But they’re right.  Team members should live close by so they can leave quickly or we can contact them easily.”

“Then we need to find some real estate that we can use!  Then we can start recruiting.”

“How are we gonna do that?”

Giovanni thought about it for a moment, then gained a wide grin and started pushing the Chikorita towards her house. “Let me worry about that!  You just get some rest tonight.”

“…Could you try and sound less suspicious when you say that?”

But he was already running off. “See ya tomorrow!”

Clare just huffed.