Chapter 22: Mass Outbreak: Start!
Tulip's eye twitched in annoyance as she looked at the trainer standing beside her.
"Yosh! Let's stop these Tinkatink!" No, Not that trainer.
"While I would gladly share in your enthusiasm, This mission is that of investigation first and foremost, And so if everything goes well, Fighting should remain minimal." Tulip hated her, not for her personality, but for her looks.
"How can she look so beautiful with so little makeup?!" Tulip wanted to scream in anger, but she remained silent as "La Primera" kept talking.
"I will once again go over the plan," The newest Top Champion of Paldea told the two trainers, "Once we reach the Ruins, we split into groups of three and spread out, we will each clear out a third of the site from as many Tinkaton and Tinkatuff as we may come across, before grouping back together at the rise on the other side of the ruins and investigate any irregularities we may come across." Geeta told Dendra and Tulip, "I'll assume you brought your radios with you, keep them powered at all times so we may keep in contact,"
Tulip begrudgingly nodded her head at the Champion's plan while Dendra shook excitedly.
"Now without further ado, Let the investigation into the Mass Outbreak, Commence!"
........
"And there," Dishon smiled to himself as he looked at the short trailer he created for Cave Story, He looked down at the Shiny Salandit lying on the table beside him, "Now all we have to do is Upload this video to this funding website, and promote it when we stream next weekend, and We should be getting money," He reached out to scratch his Partner.
"Landit?" Fanny asked as she flipped herself over to lay on her back, letting Dishon scratch her stomach as she melted into his fingers.
"Yep, We'll be able to buy more clothes, Hopefully we'll be able to afford a new phone, and if everything goes well, A Car or vehicle of some sort so we won't ever have to use that damned flying taxi ever again," He told her with a smile.
"Sal..." Fanny nodded and Dishon smiled at her.
"Yep, Now let's go buy some clothes, Our Paycheck came in and I need a new wardrobe,"
"Salanidit Sal!" The Spoiled Pokemon immediately perked up at the mention of going outside. Quickly climbing onto her trainer's waist and wrapping around him like a Belt, or a Fanny Pack.
...........
"Hariyama! Don't let them take you down! Counter!" Dendra yelled as a group of four Tinkatuff jumped at her Starter Pokemon after a few minutes of walking.
"Hari-" The Bulky fighting-type shouted as his muscles tensed at the ready for the incoming attack from the Fairy-Steel types.
"Tinka!" The Largest Tinkatuff of the group screamed as she jumped into the air, the hammer in her hands glowing with Steel-Type energy before slamming into Hariyama's exposed belly.
"-YAMA!!!" Hariyama yelled as his body exploded with red Fighting-Type energy, the damage inflicted upon him by the Tinkatuff bouncing back at the fairy-type with twice the power.
"Tink!" She yelled as the Orange/Red energy slammed into her, sending her flying into a nearby tree and knocking her out.
The three other Fairy-types looked at their sibling, knocked out and defeated, before coming to a conclusion.
"Tinka?" "Tuff tuff," "Katink!" With a nod to each other, the three Fairy-types ran away from Dendra and Hariyama, grabbing their fallen friend as they ran back into the tree line and away from the path the Fighting-type specialist was walking down.
"Hariyama! After them! Don't let them get away!" Dendra yelled as she started running after the runaway Tinkatuff, Her Starter running after her on his short yet muscular legs.
.......
"That will be 26,450 Pokebucks,"
Nodding to the cashier, Dishon flipped out his Trainer ID, which luckily also acted as a sort of Credit Card. And paid for the bag of clothes he just bought.
Leaving the Clothing Store, Dishon looked down at his partner still wrapped around his waist and reached down to scratch her neck.
"How about we go buy something nice to eat? I'm thinking Ice Cream, what about you?"
"Salandit Sal!" Fanny exclaimed excitedly at the prospect of a sweet treat for the hot spring day.
"Atta' girl," Dishon scratched her neck as the two started heading for the nearest Ice Cream shop.
As the Trainer and his partner walked, a bag of newly bought clothing in hand, Dishon remembered hearing from Orchid that Dendra and Tulip had some work they had to do nearby regarding the Ruins and the overpopulation of Tinkatink.
"I wonder how the girls are doing?"
......
"Kirlia, Teleport away from them! Florges, Petal Blizzard! Cleo, try and hold them in place with Psychic! Farigiraf, Keep that Reflect up and use Crunch and Twin Beam on them if they get close!" Tulip was already breathing heavily.
After the three trainers split up, with Dendra going South and Geeta going directly East, Tulip was left to go the Northern path.
On any other day, this path would be home to the regular Pokemon usually found at the Alfronda Ruins, from the common Hypno line to the less common Bronzong line or the occasional Sinistea.
Today, however? The usually calm and relaxing dirt road was crowded with Tinkatink, Tinkatuff, and even several Tinkaton.
"Tinka!" Tulip had to quickly call all of her team out to help her fend off the small army of the Tinkaton line.
"Grr, We need to get the Tinkaton with Rock Throw!" She yelled loudly to make sure her team heard her over the cries of the many Fairy-Steel types.
"Kirl!" Her Kirlia agreed with her, her slim form elegantly teleporting around the battlefield, blasting the nearby Tinka's with Confusion and Psybeam. Another Teleport allowed her to quickly dodge the soccerball-sized rock that flew towards her.
"Tinka-" The Largest Tinkaton in the area held her hammer like a Baseball Bat, A nearby Tinkatuff threw a rock into the air for her to hit, "-TON!!!"
With the velocity of a speeding car, the rock flew over the heads of the territorial Fairies and crashed onto the invisible Wall of Farigiraf's Reflect.
"Far!" The Normal-Psychic type cried as some of the shattered remains of the rock passed through his barrier and struck him on his armored head.
"ENOUGH!" Tulip yelled angrily, "CLEO! SHADOW-BALL THAT TINKATON!!!" Her makeup was undone, her hair was ruined, and she had to work with Geeta on the same mission.
Tulip was done playing around!
"FLITTLE FLIT!!!!!" With a cry of effort, the small Psychic type floated above the rest of the Pokemon, rays of colorful light escaping the frills on its body as an orb of Ghost-type energy formed in front of her eyes, crackling with power before being shot like a cannonball at the Rock Throwing Tinkaton.
"Tinka-" An Explosion engulfed the Fairy-Steel type, Destroying the rock she planned to hit and throwing her back into a nearby pond.
"Tinka?" Tuff tuff!" "Tuff Tinka..." "Tinka Katink!?"
Many of the smaller Pokemon stopped fighting as the loud explosion echoed between the trees. They looked at each other with apprehension before turning back to the enraged Psychic-type specialist.
"ANYBODY ELSE WANTS TO TRY SOMETHING?" Tulip yelled angrily at the silent crowd of Fairy-types.
"Tinka! Tinkaton!" One of the smaller Tinkaton cried as she raised her arms up, her hammer waving behind her as she ran away from the terrifying human, Followed by her many sisters. They stopped by the pond on their way to grab their bigger Sister and a random Arrokuda out of the water before continuing their clumsy escape.
Breathing deeply and angrily, Tulip took out a portable mirror from her pocket and started reapplying her makeup.
"Damn that Champion..." She growled to herself as she looked at her ruined face in the tiny mirror.
"Wait..." She paused as she leaned closer to the mirror, thinking she saw something in the reflection.
"Is that-" Tulip quickly turned around and spotted what she saw.
Just above the tree line, looking down at her from afar was a Golbat.
Now, to many trainers around the world, having a wild Golbat following you isn't really something much to write home about.
Except for two very important things to take notice of.
One. Golbat are rarely active during the day.
And much more pressing; Two. Golbat aren't native to Paldea.
Which could only mean one of two things.
That somehow a Wild Golbat flew all the way from a neighboring Region and to the Alfronda Ruins, which seeing as how Alfronda is the south-westernmost town of Paldea and borders no other regions, should be highly unlikely.
Or the second option...
Tulip quickly grabbed the radio Geeta gave Her and Dendra before pressing the button to contact the other two trainers.
"Notice! I got a Golbat in my sight, A Foreign Trainer is in the vicinity. I repeat, A Foreign trainer is somewhere in the vicinity!" Tulip yelled at the radio, her eyes not leaving the mysterious Golbat.
Before long her Radio buzzed as La Primera answered her.
"Follow that Golbat, Keep constant updates coming in, I will catch up with you in a few minutes," Geeta told her through the radio, sounds of battle echoing through the machine.
"Understood," Tulip frowned at the new set of orders, but followed them regardless.
She might not like Geeta, but she's still her boss.
"You heard her Girls!-" Tulip cried, her Farigiraf huffing at being excluded, "-Follow that Golbat!"
"Flit!" "Kirl!" "Flor!" "Fari!"
.........
Licking his Ice Cream and looking at the Shiny Salandit beside him, her mouth covered in strawberry ice cream as she devoured her treat like a starving man with a source of water.
Dishon smiled at Fanny before grabbing a napkin to clean her up.
"Whatever the girls are doing, I'm sure they're fine," He smiled at the idea as he wiped the smeared Ice Cream off his partner's mouth.