Chp 18 Part 1

	"Alright then, let's stock up. We'll need berries, something for burns, some food, useful orbs..." Phantom continued listing off the things they needed. 

	"We should get some move boosters. Dragons are strong." Ashley added. 

	"Hmm? Move boosters? I already have a ribbon that does that."

	"Well, I don't. And buying some nevermelt ice is way cheaper than a ribbon. And I'm gonna be the one kickin' ass."

	"Good point. Okay, you go get the orbs and the ice, I'll get the food."

	"Uhh, I don't have any poke on me..."

	"Oh, all our team's money is tied to our badges. Just let them scan it."  He opened the box and tipped it towards her. "We've got this much space." 

	She nodded back. "Got it." 

	When she turned away, he breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't yet adjusted to her yet. She still made him uncomfortable with her forward personality. Mystic was one thing, but she was on a whole other level. How could someone be so... energetic? Even when she was in a place like this, he could feel the energy coming off of her. He shook his head and went to buy the berries. 

	Shortly later, they reconvened, Ashley dumping a bag of goodies at his feet. "Alright, let's hit it, day light's burning." 

	"You bought escape orbs right? This is going to be really dangerous."

	"What do you think I am? Stupid?"

	"Sorry..." He said, wincing. 

	"It's a saying. I wasn't trying to be mean." She said offhandedly. "C'mon. The anticipation is killing me!" She whined quickly. 

	"Don't get ahead of yourself. We can't rush this."

	"Yea, I know that." She said with a large amount of sass. She motioned with her head for him to follow her out.  She led the way out through the yard, stopping to wave at Mystic as she came out of the dorms, and into the main building. They went up and into the map room. "So, where to?" 

	"Destruction Valley." He said nervously. "All I've ever heard is how dangerous this place is, but... no way we can find a dragon gem anywhere else." He walked over towards the east end, near a large canyon painting. Near it, were several mountains, and then the ocean. He looked down at it and took a deep breath. "It's for our future." He said quietly to himself before pressing his badge onto the canyon.

+++

	"AHHH!" He screamed out as he fell. He had appeared a few feet in the air and fell head first into a pool of water with a colossal splash. In total panic, he accidently let out a burst of electricity, shocking the pond. He surfaced with a gasp and swam over to the edge and climbed out, water dripping from him. Once he caught his breath, he turned back to the water. There was a horsea in the water, looking angrily up at him. "Sorry..." He muttered, ashamed of himself. 

	"Oh shit!" Ashley yelled from behind him. She had similarly appeared in the air, but not over the water. "Ow..." She groaned upon landing. But she was back up on her feet. "I'm fine." She said, repeating it over and over while walking circles and hopping up and down. She eventually calmed down and looked over at him. "You look like a drowned rat." She said.

	"Yea, whatever. We should get looking." He gave his coat one last shake and started moving. Destruction Valley was not a dungeon, so the area was mostly open, but that didn't make it any safer. Many dragon types made their nests around here and the name came from the destruction their fighting brings, leaving the area mostly a wasteland. They followed a slope down, further into the canyon. They both froze when an echoing roar shattered the silence. Up above, several shadowy shapes darted through the sky, spewing gouts of purple flames at each other. 

	"Holy fuck." Ashley muttered. "Yea, maybe we should be quiet." One of the salamence swooped low, causing a gust of wind to blow past them. 

	Phantom lifted a paw to his lips. "Shh. We're small so just stay quiet and they won't spot us." He moved out of the middle of the path and got close to the rock walls. She followed his lead and joined him against the wall. 

	"Not like I'm scared." She said. "I can take those overgrown lizards. I just don't want to right now." 

	"Yea, okay. Keep your eyes peeled for anything sparkly." They continued on as the dragons fought overhead, loud roars often filling the air. The canyon was slowly sloping downwards, and several small streams and puddles were everywhere, formed by the scars of battles past. They continued on, until Phantom stopped dead in his tracks.

	"What?" She whispered after looking around. 

	He said nothing, but his eyes were trained on a cliff above them. The clouds parted briefly and something small sparkled up there. "Bingo. How do we get up there?" They both looked around, but the distant cliff was jutting out of the side of the canyon, with no path to it. 

	"I have an idea." She said. She looked around, before stepping out into the open. "HEY! Come on out you pussy!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. 

	Phantom's mouth fell open. Before he could ask her what the hell she was thinking, a noivern swooped down and landed in front of her. 

	"What was that!?" He roared, blowing her fur back with just his voice.

	"Hi. I was wondering if you would help us get up there." She said, pointing up at the cliff. 

	"Why you little..." He growled. His dish shaped ears wriggled a bit before a horrible sound echoed out. The volume increased sharply and the ground shook, rock splitting. A small explosion appeared out of nowhere near Ashley, knocking her aside. 

	Phantom dashed into action, gritting his teeth as the sound coming from Noivern got even louder. He leapt into the air and tackled him with his electrified body. The impact did little to harm the dragon, but it did cause him to stop releasing sound waves. Ashley got back up and fired an ice beam at Noivern, creating a line of ice across his chest. 

	This caused him to roar in pain, falling backwards and hissing wildly while clawing at his chest. Ashley moved forward and pounced onto his chest. She opened her mouth and readied another ice beam, shooting it right next to his head. "Now, you're gonna take us up there."

	Noivern bared his teeth and leaned forward, trying to bite Ashley, but she let out a breath of frozen air, which he stuck his head right into. He howled out again, and in his flailing, smashed his head back onto the rocks. This caused his resistance to stop.

	"Just fly us up there, and we'll leave you alone." Ashley said. She bared her fangs. "Or, I can kill you right here." 

	"Fuckin' bitch." He growled. "Fine." He rolled over, his body still shaking and lowered his body for them to climb onto. 

	"And don't try anything funny either." She warned as they both got on. He slowly flapped his wings and took to the air, staying low until he got to the cliff. He stopped just shy, allowing them to jump off onto the ledge. 

	That was when they noticed something. A nest was situated on the cliff and right in the middle of it, surrounded by three eggs, was a royal purple colored gem. Behind the nest was a small cave, presumably the den of whatever laid the eggs. 

	"Hah! Found it!" Ashley cheered. Behind her, Noivern flew away at high speed, not wanting to deal with the small ice type. 

	"This is bad. We should grab it and go." Phantom said. 

	"Thieves!" A deep female voice growled. A large female haxorus stepped into the light. "Get away!" She roared, firing a ball of purple fire at them. Stuck as they were on the edge of a high cliff, there was little room to dodge. Ashley moved to the side, but that left Phantom with no place to go. He stepped back with one paw, but it was half off the side when it came down. His claws came out and dug in for purchase, but the rocky ground was unyielding. The ball of flame hit him in the face, the force of it pushing him back. 

	This left him with only his forepaws on solid ground. His lower half quickly succumbed to gravity, leaving him grasping at the cliff, holding on for dear life. 

	Ashley had her attention wholly on the haxorus. She lowered her stance, and her fur bristled outwards. A wave of frost came off of her, scattering snow and hail around her. This cloud of frozen water flew forward, creating a blizzard of ice around the haxorus. Alongside this, the temperature plummeted, causing a layer of frost to cover the ledge. This had the unintended side effect of making Phantom lose his grip. 

	He fell, letting out a fearful howl while scrambling to grab at his badge and recall before he hit the ground. His descent was abruptly stopped, but he wasn't dead. He hardly felt any pain at all. His muscles relaxed from being completely clinched, and he looked up. He saw Zys looking down at him, his eyes wide. Zys floated back up and set Phantom down back on the ledge. When Phantom turned back to look at him, he was gone again. 

	The haxorus was entirely encased in ice now, frozen solid. Ashley looked back at him, panting from exertion. "You okay?" She asked.

	He reached up and rubbed his face, feeling a few burnt hairs but he was otherwise alright. "Yea. Let's get out of here before she thaws." He gingerly stepped forward, wary of the ice and snow covering the ground, and got into the nest. There was little ice in it, but plenty of snow, enough to cover up the eggs halfway. He stepped around, grabbed the gem and put it away. 

	"Sweet, let's blow this place. What are you doing?" She asked when he didn't move away. 

	He brushed the eggs off, clearing the snow off of them. "We can't leave them here, help me push them into the cave." He told her. She realized what she had almost done, and quickly helped him. 

	Once the eggs were out of the cold, they left the cave. The haxorus was almost thaw, the ice growing thin. 

	"Ok, we got it. I hope Mystic is doing alright..." He said, fiddling with his badge, before they both warped home.

Chp 18 Part 2

	After they split up, Mystic made her way towards the dorms. Once inside, she went to their room and found Zys sitting inside, looking out the window. 

	"Hey Zys. Wanna go on an adventure?" 

	He turned away and looked at her for a moment, before nodding. She wished he had more of a face, as the only thing that showed emotion was his eyes, and they were as stoic as ever. 

	"Alright then, let's go do some shopping, then we'll go." She turned and left the room, followed by him. Once outside, she spotted Phantom and Ashley across the yard and waved at them. They waved back and went into the main building. "Hope they'll be alright." She said, a bit worried. Zys rubbed her back with one tentacle, as if he was trying to comfort her.

	She looked up at him and nodded. "Yea, they're tough. We just have to do our part." She led him over to the market. They went inside, him following closely the entire time, and she went around buying everything they needed. 

	Once they were done, the box had some berries and an apple. Once they were back out in the yard, she turned and looked at Zys. "Okay, so we need to go get a fairy gem. We should probably go find Hunter and ask him where to go." They went to the main building and out the front, where Hunter was still on guard duty.

	"Hey Hunter, we need a fairy gem. Any ideas?" 

	"Well, they can usually be found where fairy types live. I would recommend going to Lovely Meadow. It's an area frequented by fairy types, and is quite popular among tourists. It should be mostly safe there. Fairy types aren't very aggressive."

	"Okay, thanks."

	"Look for pink trees to the northwest." He told them as they went back in and around the corner to the stairs. 

	Once they were in the map room, she started at the southern most point, Journey Town, then traced a line upwards. She came across an area that looked like a forest, except the green leaves were painted pink. "Guess this is it. Hold on tight." She told Zys. Once he was touching her, she touched her badge to the spot. 

	A moment later, they appeared on the ground in a small clearing, surrounded by pink and flowery trees. "So it wasn't a mistake. Wow," She said, looking around. "They're so pretty." All over, there were butterflies and cutiefly, dancing among the trees and flowers. Her ears perked up as she heard a faint murmuring in the distance. "C'mon. This way." She said, motioning for Zys to follow. 

	She crossed through the trees, spraying up the fallen leaves in her path, creating a trail of pink and red. They eventually broke through the trees and came into another clearing, much larger than the last. "Oh..." Mystic said, not sure how to react to what she saw. 

	In the clearing were many pokemon, all engaged in some form of sex. There were even several piles of pokemon, all rutting and humping at each other. The air had some sort of pink pollen floating visibly through it. Mystic's nose twitched when she smelled it. It was like sugar, but there was something more to it: the smell of sex and lust. 

	"Hello there, sexy." A voice said. 

	Her head snapped to the left to see the source. There was a sylveon, obviously male, based on his erection bobbing in the air as he walked closer. 

	"How about we get down to it?" He suggested. 

	"How about we don't. I'm here for-"

	"I'm sorry. I must have rushed you. I'm Prince. Welcome to Lovely Meadow, mating capital of the world."

	"Hunter didn't say anything about this... So, I came here to-"

	"Yes, yes, the same reason anyone comes here. I'd be honored to fulfill your every desire." 

	"Shut up and let me talk!" She yelled. 

	His mouth dropped and he looked shocked. "I... I'm sorry..." He said, sounding incredibly depressed. He turned away and walked off, his tail tucked between his legs and a faint whimper.

	"Well if you didn't act like such a jerk..." Mystic muttered. "Anyways, let's get lookin'. Maybe someone around here knows something." She scanned the area, but saw nothing worthwhile. 

	"Maybe I can help." Another voice said, this time from the other direction. This one was also much more feminine. Mystic turned her head to see a large mega gardevoir looking down at her. "I heard your desire."

	"Oh brother." Mystic complained. "What is with this place!?"

	"You mistake me. I sense why you came here. You are different than all these others." She moved her hand, referencing to the mating field. "You came here for a fairy gem, yes?" She asked.

	"Yea, we're a rescue team, and we got a job to get one." Mystic said. 

	"Ah, I am familiar with your kind. They often come here on vacation. Very well, come with me." 

	"Thanks. Come on Zys." Mystic said. 

	"%%%%." He buzzed behind her. She turned her head to see him looking at the mating pokemon with a confused look. 

	"It's nothing. We got a job to do." She said, snapping him out of it. 

	"Very well, follow me. We have a tourist shop, but I assume you would rather find your own." 

	"Yep. We're trying to make money, not spend it." 

	The gardevoir nodded and turned, beginning to float away. Mystic followed shortly after. As they walked, they passed by several other couples, all sitting close and cuddling lovingly or mating furiously. As they proceeded further, Mystic's eyes began to hurt, the pink overloading her senses. A short while later, they came out of the forest again, and into a small village, with even more pink. The buildings were thankfully a less vibrant shade, but still pink. The gardevoir lead them through, and to what looked like a well. 

	"Here we are." 

	"What is this?" Mystic asked.

	"This is, was our town well, until the underground lake dried up. Now it's a tourist attraction. If you take the lift down, tell the tour guide who you are. He should let you off the main path and you can go look for a gem." 

	"Alright then. Are you sure we can just take one?"

	"Yes, of course." She said. The gardevoir closed her eyes for a moment, before vanishing. 

	"Well then. Let's go." Mystic said. She climbed up onto the well and onto the lift that was built over it. There was a small bell attached to it, and she gave it a flick. A moment later, the lift began to lower. The lift eventually reached the bottom, revealing a room carved out of stone. There were two pokemon there, a dugtrio and a carbink. The carbink was floating near a passage leading further in and the dugtrio was sitting next to a rope. 

	"Wait a minute, how did you use the rope?" Mystic asked him. 

	The dugtrio's three heads looked up at her. "Don't ask questions you don't want answered." He said in a dark tone. 

	"O-kay." Mystic said. "Anyways," She turned to the carbink. "We need to get a fairy gem, rescue team business."

	"Alright." It said. "This way." It floated backwards, still facing them and guided them further into the caves. The cave itself was shaped like a giant dome, the rock worn smooth by the water it once housed. All along the walls were thousands of crystals, all different shining colors. There were several openings in the ceiling, allowing light to pour in and refract even more color from the crystals. 

	"Wow..." Mystic muttered. "Phantom has to see this sometime." 

	The carbink lifted higher into the air and floated off, seeming to look around at the crystals. While this happened, Mystic felt a whoosh of wind behind her. When she turned back to look, Zys was gone. "Zys? Where'd you go?" She asked the blank space, but received no response. 

	A second later, Zys appeared out of thin air, accompanied by another burst of air. 

	"Where did you go? You had me worried sick." She said, a bit of a scolding tone in her voice. 

	"%%%%%%. %%." He said, a serious look on his face.

	"Alright then. If it was that important," She turned back just as the carbink was floating towards them. 

	"I found the gem. This way." It said, slowly floating up and guiding them across the cave floor. It was rough going for Mystic, as the path quickly became rocky and covered with jutting crystals. Zys noticed this, and without a word, reached down and picked her up. She briefly struggled at having been suddenly lifted, but realized what was happening. Zys floated up and followed the carbink, until they arrived at a bright pink shard of crystal sticking out of the wall. "This is the fairy gem." The carbink said flatly. 

	"Uhh, we can't use this."

	"Why?" It asked with no emotion.

	"We need a small one. It's for someone's collection."

	"I do not understand." 

	Zys set her down and moved away.

	"We need a smaller one. We can't take this back, or chip off a piece or something. It has to be small and look nice."

	"I still do not understand. This is a fairy gem. You asked for a fairy gem."

	"Ughh, we need something smaller alright."

	"How much smaller?"

	"Geez, Zys, where did you go off to know." She said in exasperation. She looked around and saw him digging at a spot a little ways away. "Anyways, can you go find another one. Like, this big." She said, motioning with her paws. 

	"I will look." Carbink said, floating up and away. 

	"So what are you up to Zys?" She asked, looking over his way. 

	He looked over to her and let out a short buzz before continuing to dig.

	"That's nice. You have fun." She said, before sitting down and waiting, her paw tapping impatiently. 

	Eventually, the carbink came back. "I am sorry. I could not find a small fairy gem." 

	"Damn. Okay Zys, come help me chip off a piece of this. Something is better than nothing." She looked over to him, "Zys, is that?"

	He was holding a fairy gem. He bent over and set it in front of her.

	"Well shit, we need to bring you along more often." She said, beaming with joy. "Good job, let's go back." She put the gem away, and touched him with her badge, before touching herself.

Chp 18 Part 3

	All four pokemon appeared in front of each other after recalling. 

	"Hey, how did your adventure go?" Ashley said upon seeing them. 

	"We got it. How about you?" Mystic said. 

	Phantom nodded and popped open his box. "Got it."

	"Great, let's go turn this in." 

	All four pokemon went inside, to the main office. Once there, they handed the mienshao the letter and the two gems. Once she read it over, she set it down and handed them back everything. "The poster requested that it be turned in directly to him. Here is the address." She said. 

	With that, they were off once again, back into town. They went along streets until they found the right, then the right number, leaving them face to face with a large mansion. They went up, Mystic and Ashley leading the way, and rang the doorbell. A short time later, a fat wigglytuff opened the door. 

	"Yes?" He said in an incredibly foppish and exaggeratedly fancy way. 

	"We have your gems." 

	"Oh my! Is it true!?" He exclaimed. They took them out and handed them to him. "Amazing, come in, come in." He urged, nearly dragging them inside. He showed them into a sitting room and went to the fireplace, where sixteen other gems were mounted on the wall. "My collection is now complete!" He exclaimed, excitement overwhelming him. "Before I give you your well earned reward, please tell me, what are you going to spend it on?" 

	"Well, we are planning on buying our own base." Mystic said.

	"And would that involve purchasing land? Because I am quite well versed when it comes to property."

	"Yes, actually. We were looking at a small plot of land, near the beach."

	"Well, it just so happens that I own that land. I could cut you a deal. Say, ten percent off, deducted straight from your payment in exchange?" He said, talking incredibly fast all of a sudden. 

	"Um, alright I guess." Mystic said, not really understanding exactly what he said. 

	"So, 500,000 poke, minus 90,000 poke comes to 410,000 poke. I will have that transferred to your bank, and let me go get the deed to the land." He dashed out, and returned a minute later holding a wrapped up scroll of paper. "Here you are. Might I suggest Conk Movers, if you're planning construction."

	"Okay then. Thanks." Mystic said, taking the deed and putting it in her box. The wigglytuff quickly got them to their feet and escorted them out. "Well then." Mystic said once the door was slammed behind them. "I guess we got what we wanted after all. How about you two go check out the place, and Phantom and I will go see about getting a place built for us. That little shack there now isn't going to cut it." They all nodded and split up. 

+++

	"So, where's the building place?" Mystic asked.

	"Probably in the business district. Let's head that way." Phantom said. They went off, leaving the residential area, passing through the market, and into the business district. They spent a while walking around looking at signs, until they saw one in particular. "Conk Movers" "Looks like the place." Phantom said.

	They went in, finding a very muscular conkeldurr sitting on a rock just inside. He let out a grunt upon seeing them.

	"Hi," Mystic said. "We need someone to build something for us."

	"Like what?" He asked, his voice slow and grating.

	"A house. We just bought a small plot of land and we need to build our own rescue team base there." 

	"Can do. We look tomorrow." 

	"Alright then. It's out by the beach, to the east of town." 

	"Know spot. Tomorrow morning." He said, still not having moved an inch since they came in. 

	They turned and left. "So that's that, I guess we should head out there." Mystic suggested. Phantom nodded in agreement. 

+++

	"This place sucks!" Ashley groaned loudly. She swung her paw at one of the rotting boards of the shack, causing it to wobble. "Shit, we really do need something built. Hope it won't cost too much. We worked our asses off to get that money." She looked over at Zys, who was merely standing there. "You know, ever since I saw you, I've been wondering something. Are you a boy or a girl?" She asked.

	"%%%%." Zys buzzed.

	"That doesn't really..." She walked over to him and reached up, patting his smooth crotch with a paw. "Uhh, are you genderless?" She asked. "That's always freaked me out. How do pokemon like you even breed?" 

	"%%%." 

	"Yea." She turned away from him and walked around the shack, looking at the deed and comparing it to what she saw to get a sense of what they actually owned. They had plenty of room, but most of it was covered in trees. The only part that was really clear was the space the shack took up. She went back around and poked her head inside the shack. It was mostly rotted and had several holes in the roof. They were not spending the night here. A gust of wind blew through, creating a draft and causing some boards to rattle. "How is this thing still standing?!" 

	"Well, how's it look?" Mystic asked from outside. 

	"Like shit." Ashley told her once she left the building. "No wonder that guy wanted to dump it on us." 

	"Well, we talked to the building company, and they said they'd look at it tomorrow. They'll probably give us a price then. That means somebody needs to get up early and meet with them." 

	"Not it!" Ashley yelled quickly. 

	"I guess I can do it..." Phantom offered. 

	"We can work that out later. Let's go get dinner first."