Chp 4

	Mystic was the first to awake that next morning. Her grumbling stomach was the first thing she felt. She looked around a bit, trying to spot something but it was nowhere to be seen. She got up, a little sore and stiff, but not in pain. With a few nudges, she woke up Phantom. 

	"Hey, where is that food?" she asked.

	"Huh? What food? There's berries over there." 

	"No, remember lunch yesterday? What did you do with your leftovers?" 

	He lifted a paw to his face, rubbing at his eyes. "I didn't bring it back. Things were kinda hectic."

	"Ughh, I wanted that." She whined. 

	"It probably would have gone bad..." He muttered while getting up. He arched his back in a long stretch. "Let's get ready, we've got work to do today." 

	"Like what?" She asked while nosing through the food barrel.
	
	"Jobs. We need to make some money first of all, then we'll get some practice in doing it." He turned on the water for a moment, got his paws wet and washed his face. He turned to her and had to hold in his laughter. 

	"What?" She asked, tilting her head. Her mouth was covered in blue juice from the berries. 

	"You made quite a mess." He said, pointing at his mouth. 

	She rubbed a paw over her maw, wiping off some of the juice. "You wanna lick it off~?" She teased. 

	"N-no!" He stuttered a bit. 

	She started to giggle. "I'm gonna have so much fun with that. You say you're a perv, but you're so shy." 

	"Whatever, let's head out." 

	They went out of the building, into the main hall, and into the left wing. 

	"You." Someone said right as they entered. They looked over to find Hunter, holding a box shaped bag in his claws. "In that mess yesterday, we forgot to give you your own supply box." He handed it to them, allowing Phantom to put the strap around his body. "Have a good day." He said, leaving them. 

	The pair went up to the job board and looked around. The jobs were printed on paper, with further instructions in an envelope attached to it. The instructions said they were ranked by difficulty, and they took the job off, and then once completed they turned it in to the desk on the other side of the room. Looking over the jobs, Phantom took one from the one star jobs. "Find an item in Ripe Woods" It read. 

	Phantom tore the envelope with his teeth and read the letter inside. "I lost my precious golden ribbon in Ripe Woods when I went to pick some apples. My mother gave it to me, please go find it! Signed, Butterfree." 

	"Sound good?" He asked Mystic. 

	"Yep, let's do it." 

+++

	"So what do you know about this Ripe Woods place?" Mystic asked after they left town. 

	"It's not too far from here, probably about an hour long walk."

	"An hour?! That's forever! Why can't we just warp there with our badges?" She said, stopping movement. 

	He turned back to face her. "Well, we can later. Higher ranked teams can warp straight to dungeons. It depends on our rank which ones."

	"Sounds like this rank really matters." She began to walk again, with him taking his place beside her. 

	"Yeah, it does. Pretty much everything comes down to rank. We rank up by doing jobs, so if we do our best we can get all the cool stuff. Anyways, the forest is home to tons of grass and bug types, so your fire attacks will be strong."

	"Sweet!" She said, baring her fangs in a wicked grin. "So I was wondering something, why does everyone call these places mystery dungeons? They don't seem all that mysterious." 

	"They change every day. The layout and everything is different every single time we go exploring."

	"How the hell does that work? The ground can't just move around!" 

	"I actually don't know. But it is true. The rumor is that some mysterious power causes it." 

	"Okay then... We got a long walk ahead of us, so why don't you tell me more about yourself. I hardly know anything about you after all." 

	"Alright. I was born in a town pretty far away from here. My mother was a luxray and my father was an arcanine. I had two younger brothers and an older sister."

	"I want more details than that. We have plenty of time. I'll even promise to tell you my story when I get my memory back."

	"Uh, my mom was really nice. She always found time to play with my siblings and I. I miss her. My father on the other hand, he was almost never there. I only remember seeing him once before he left my mom."

	"What a scumbag!" 

	"My mom didn't seem to think so. Even after he abandoned us, she still talked praise about him. My brothers were twins. As you would assume, they were really similar, both hyperactive and annoying. My sister was just as bad in a different way. She liked to torture me to no end. Despite all that, I miss them too."

	"So why leave?"

	"That's... harder to explain. Wanderlust I guess. I always loved the idea of rescue teams, they seemed so cool. But once I got to Journey Town, I just kinda gave up on that. I was too ashamed to go back home like that, so I moved into that cave. Back to my family, I don't look like them. My brothers and I were both pretty special. Most pokemon aren't born as twins. Eggs always contain one pokemon and normally there's only one egg per pregnancy. I was special because of my fur. Most shinx are light blue."

	"Why are you colored different?" 

	"I don't know. I'm the only shinx I've ever seen like this. Pokemon used to be shamed for being different, but not anymore. What abou-... sorry. I forgot for a second." 

	"Yeah..."

	"It's weird. You act like any other pokemon."

	"I've been thinking about it. What if when I get my memory back, I forget everything that happened since? What if I just completely forget about you? And what if I'm a completely different person?" 

	"I don't know... But I don't think you forgot everything."

	"But I don't remember anything..."

	"You do though. You can speak, for one. Pokemon don't just hatch talking, they have to learn."

	"I never thought about that. Maybe what I have is more like amnesia. But if I have something wrong, like I can't form any memories, why can I remember the last few days and nothing else." Her tails flicked in frustration. 

	"I find it best not to think about stuff like that. It only complicates things. I just try to live one day at a time." 

	"Good advice, but I can't help but worry. What if we can't get my memory back?"

	"Stop. We can do it. The legendary pokemon have to be able to help. They are more powerful than we can imagine." 
	
	She looked away and did not respond. They spent the rest of the walk in silence. A while later, they came upon a large forest. The foliage was so thick, that it essentially created a wall around it. The only entrance in sight was on the path they had been walking. 

	"Okay, here we are. Ready?"

	"Uh-huh, let's do this. What about that box we got?"

	"Oh yeah..." He said, setting it down and popping it open. Both pokemon let out a disappointed noise. The inside was empty.

	"Aww, I was hoping for some food." 

	"Don't worry about that. Food is usually found in dungeons." He closed the box, strapped it back on, gave her a nod, and they headed forward. 

	RIPE WOODS F1

	They found themselves in a large room right from the start. There were a few wild pokemon, small bug types, that fled the moment they were spotted. Phantom led them, walking over to one of the halls. Along the way, he almost tripped. 

	"You okay?" She asked with a snicker. 

	"I'm fine. It's a stick, could be useful." He said, putting it into the box. 

	"A stick? You really just put a stick into our important items box?" 

	"You'll see."

	They continued on, going down a hallway. Phantom stopped short along the way. "See that?" He said, pointing to the metapod lying in the middle of the path. 

	"It doesn't look too threatening..."

	"It's not, but they can be annoying. They harden and become really hard to kill and he's sitting in the way so we need to get him quick. So here's the plan, I'll lead, and when we get close, you use ember. When you do, call it out so I can step aside." 

	She nodded and they began to close in. Phantom stepped forward carefully and quietly. The metapod eventually rolled over and looked right at them. It's eyes immediately squinted and a shine ran over its body. 

	"Ember!" Mystic shouted from behind him. He moved to the side, fur hitting the wall of foliage, and a ball of fire shot past him and hit the metapod. It rolled around in a panic, then rolled off into the woods. 

	"Nice." He commented. 

	Proceeding on, they passed through another room and a hall, until they came into a small room. In the center of the clearing was an apple tree. There were some fallen apples around, but most were rotten or smashed.

	"Yea, food!" Mystic shouted, dashing past him to pick through the apples on the ground. 

	"Don't bother with those. I got this." He said, reeling back and charging forward to smash his body into the tree. 

	She winced at the sight. "Doesn't that hurt?"

	"Not if it's a move. My spark attack is perfect for this, because it doesn't hit hard enough for recoil. And the wood doesn't get damaged by the electricity." He repeated the attack, making the tree shake, until three fresh apples fell to the ground. 

	"Snack break time." She sat next to one apple and began to munch on it. Phantom grabbed one of the apples, put it in the box, and began to eat the remaining one. She was fully relaxed, but he remained alert in case anyone tried to sneak up on them. Every once in a while, a noise, a stick snapping, leaves shaking, caught his attention but nothing tried to come too close. She finished first and began to happily lick her lips. "That was good." She murred. "Ready to head out?"

	He took a final bite, leaving only the core behind, and hopped up with a nod. "Let's go." She took her place behind him and they ventured on. "Ah, we got lucky. Here's the stairs."

	"Wait, how are there stairs in a forest?" 

	"They aren't really stairs, more like a tunnel to the next section." 

	RIPE WOODS F2

	Phantom poked his head out of the hole in the ground and scanned the room. Once he saw that it was clear, he stepped out, followed by Mystic. He led the way over to a bush that he spotted. "Look here, it's a berry tree." He got closer to the small tree and nudged through the leaves. "Some oran berries. If you eat it, you'll heal some wounds."

	"Oran? Those blue ones we eat all the time?" 

	"Yep, berries have all sorts of effects." He stuck his head into the bush-like tree and bit down on the stem to break it. The few berries he found fell to the ground. He then scooped them up with a cupped paw and stowed them away for later. Inside the box, he noticed something. There were several compartments, but only three were marked. They had numbers on the bottom, 1, 2, and 3. He had to think for a moment, before he realized. "So that's how it works... You can set items in these boxes and they will be used automatically when needed. I'll put these oran berries in there." 

	With a safety net in place, they continued on feeling safer. They had still not encountered any real threats, but both believed that was a lucky coincidence. They made it to the next room and found the stairs.

	RIPE WOODS F3

	As they walked through the dark dirt tunnel, Phantom's ears perked up.

	"Did you hear that?!" He shouted and started to dash forward. 

	"What!?" Mystic shouted after and hurried to catch up. 

	"I heard a yell, someone's hurt!" He dove out of the hole and out of her sight. 

	She popped her head out after him, stopping to catch her breath. "How do you know it isn't a trap?" 

	He stopped at the edge of the room to wait for her. "I don't but we can't risk ignoring them!" 

	They sprinted down the hall and into a large room. In the middle of the floor were two things: a caterpie and a shiny gold ribbon. Around those were four angry beedrill. The moment the pair entered the room, all the bugs turned to face them, their stinger's raised in rage. 

	Before either could react, all the beedrill charged, using their wings to speed toward them. They made it halfway across the room before a beam of electricity hit one. A fireball hit another, causing it to crash to the ground, embers smoldering around it. 

	"Mystic, use that one move!" Phantom shouted, taking a step forward. "I'll give you time!"

	She nodded, though he couldn't see it, as he was glaring down the beedrill. All six tails rose and pointed towards the swarm of bees while tiny specks of flame began to form on them. With the beedrill so close, he jumped and tackled one with a spark attack. All three remaining beedrill began to furiously attack him, stabbing with their stinger like hands. He was able to dodge one, but the other two pairs dug into him, causing spurts of blood to shoot from his body. Just as quickly, the oran berry vanished from inside the box and appeared in his mouth, allowing him to quickly chew and swallow. Once the berry juice hit his mouth, his wounds began to close. It didn't dry the blood though. 

	"Flash Burn!" Mystic shouted. He took the cue and darted forward, his small size allowing him to avoid some of the strikes but two more twineedles hit him, one stabbing at each side of his body. He tackled one in the face, and used it as leverage to leap over and past the beedrill. A moment later, a large ball of fire hit where he just was, scattering embers over the three bug types. They all writhed as their bodies were engulfed in flames, as they collapsed one by one. 

	He took a step towards them, ready to finish any survivors off, but none stayed up. He winced as his right leg gave out and he fell into the dirt. 

	"Phantom!" She shouted, hurrying past the burning beedrill and to his side. "Are you okay?!" She asked in a panic, staring at his bloodied fur. 

	"Yeah," He said through clenched teeth. "The poison, I can't feel my legs. Just go rescue the caterpie, I'll be fine, the beedrill are all dead." 

	She bit her lip, not sure if she could trust him on this. She decided to take a chance, and hurried over, the lone dead bee, to the caterpie and the ribbon. "What about you? Are you gonna make it?"

	It looked up with wet eyes. Mystic wasn't that big, but compared to her, the bug type was tiny. "Are you here to save me?" It cried out. "My mommy told me not to go! I should have listened!" Tears began to stream down its face and it curled around itself. 

	"Shh, shh, we're gonna get you home. Is that your mom's ribbon?"

	"y-y-yes, yes." 

	Mystic nodded, knelt down, and tapped the badge on her ear to him. Both the caterpie and the ribbon vanished in a pillar of light. She then turned and hurried back to Phantom. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. She spared one more glimpse to the charred corpses of the beedrill, before she tapped him and they both returned home. 

	JOURNEY TOWN

	They both appeared in front of the federation headquarters, with caterpie right next to them. He was still curled around the golden ribbon. 

	Mystic started forward, but stopped. "Little guy, could you please watch me friend here, I need to go get some help." 

	He gave her a shaky nod. With that, she rushed off, down the left wing, and into the nurse's room. She was met with a large blissey. 

	"Hello there, what seems to be the problem?" 

	"My friend is poisoned, he needs help!" She said urgently. 

	"Take me to him. Puffles is on the case!" She said, her wings flapping. The rotund pokemon followed the fox back outside and to the shinx's side. Puffles picked him up and carried him off quickly, leaving Mystic with the caterpie. 

	"How about you come with me? We can get you back home." 

	He sniffled a bit, before getting up and following her inside. They went to the main office. 	

	"Ms Marie? I have a job to turn in. How do I do that?" 

	"You just give me the contract and the requested subject."

	"I'll have to go get the letter. Can you look after him?" She said, tilting her head to the caterpie. 

	"Sure." The mienshao said with a patient smile. 

	Mystic hurried out, walking at a greatly increased pace back to the nurse. 

	"Ahh," Nurse Puffles said upon seeing her, "Your friend is going to be just fine. Just a minor case of poisoning and a few wounds. He should be good to go in a few minutes." 

	Mystic went over to the bed where he was laid. 

	"Told you I'd be fine." He said with a smirk. 

	She bopped him on the nose. "You worried me sick!" 

	He rubbed a paw over his face. "So did you turn in the job?" 

	"No, we need the letter." 

	He stretched out and stiffly got to his feet. "Let's go then." 

	They had to go slow, as his body was still sore, but it wasn't very far. Once there, they gave the letter to Marie. 

	"Hmm, it doesn't say anything about a caterpie, so who is this?" She asked, lightly patting his head. 

	"We found him with the ribbon. He was surrounded by beedrill..."

	The caterpie spoke up now. "My mommy lost her ribbon and I went to go get it back, but..." 

	"It's okay, young one." Marie said, rubbing his head gently. "You're safe, that's all that matters. We'll get your mom here and I'm sure she'll be happy to see her ribbon." The caterpie's eyes lit up at this. "As for you two, your job is done. And you did excellently. In light of your success in such a situation, you are now ranked Bronze, up from Rookie." 

	"Do we get any more badge features yet?" Phantom asked.

	"Not until gold rank. Keep performing well and you'll get there in no time." 

	They both said their thank you's, and received one from the caterpie, before heading back to their room. The sun was already setting and they were both exhausted, too tired to even go to the cafeteria. They decided to settle for apples in bed. 

	A short time later, they were back home and were munching on apples. 

	"So... did I really kill those beedrill?" Mystic asked quietly.

	"Yes, but it was them or us. Don't feel too bad."

	"I don't feel bad exactly, it's just... weird, you know?"

	"Yeah... I need a bath." He said, rubbing his paws over his blood crusted fur. He climbed up and hopped into the tub. He shied away from the filling water until it warmed enough to be comfortable. He was so busy testing the temperature that he did not notice Mystic sneaking up behind him. He didn't freak out as much as before when she put her paws on his back. 

	"What?" He asked. 

	"Lay down, I'll clean your fur." 

	A blush crept over his face, but he did so. She leaned on him, forcing him belly down into the shallow water. She nearly straddled him while rubbing her paws roughly over his back. She worked out the stains and made sure he was not hurt. It was surprising to her that there were no wounds or scars at all. 

	"You got really... how do you not have any wounds after... that?"

	"Berries and moves. If they get treated fast enough, most pokemon never have lasting scars." He began to relax at the gentle massage. She gave his fur a few gentle licks to straighten it out before she stepped away. 

	Phantom stayed there for a moment, his eyes closed while he soaked in the warm water. When he opened his eyes, he was face to face with Mystic, her nose only inches from his. 

	"You were really brave..." She said quietly, before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "Thanks for that." She drew back to see him with a bright blush.

	"Do... um... uh..." 

	She smiled at his nervous stutter. Climbing out of the tub and shaking off her fur, she trotted over to her bed and laid down with her tails spread out over the floor in a large fan shape. 

	"Do you," his voice become quiet, nearly inaudible over the sound of the buildings machines, "love me?" He winced as soon as the words left his mouth, afraid of what she might say. 

	"I wouldn't say love. It's more complicated than that. I certainly care for you..." 

	He opened his eyes again. He got out the bath and sat down on his side of the room. 

	"If you wanted to take it farther, I wouldn't be against the idea."

	He yelped and covered his head with his paws. "No, no... I didn't mean that. The way your acting... it just seemed like you wanted..." 

	"I told you, my body is nothing to be ashamed off. A kiss is a sign of great care, so I gave you one." 

	"That makes sense... but it doesn't make it any less embarrassing..." He got up and pressed the light button then laid back down by moonlight.