[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

He was pacing on the sand, wondering where his companion was—and very nearly had a panic attack when he heard a distinctly feminine voice squeal out the ‘P’ word his way.

“Whoa, whoa, wait—I’m not the pirate! Are you—are you Miss Huckabee?” he exclaimed as he held out his hands and frantically gestured her way to keep it down otherwise they would be swarmed upon by pirates. “The League sent me,” and with that he fished out his wallet hurriedly before producing his identification card.

If her eyes were fast enough she would see the words ‘Fortree Gym Leader’ somewhere on it, before he folded his wallet up once more and kept it back in his pocket. A few moments later he realized that she had a Cutiefly—buzzing rather… angrily… his way.

“Whoa, okay, tell your Cutiefly to calm down,” he said as he fished around his pocket again and dug out a pink Love Ball, popping it to full size and sending out his own Ribombee, Carina. Catching sight of the young woman, she quickly flittered over before spinning something in her hands—a yellow Pollen Puff.

“Carina, uh—“ he continued before the Ribombee buzzed her way, gesturing to the sticky, sweet treat in her hands.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

“I was about to tell you to calm down but your—Cutiefly decided to charge me,” he replied with an equally embarrassed tone. “Thankfully she seems to like sweet treats.”

Carina, on the other hand, was astounded to see that the little Cutiefly had practically devoured the Pollen Puff that she was intending to give to the female. Whoops. Buzzing in his direction, she pointed at the Cutiefly before letting out a sigh.

“Carina, nothing we can do now—you can give her one later,” he chuckled her way, before said Cutiefly huffed his way and let out another sigh. Either way…

Now that he noticed her embarrassed expression, he then scratched the back of his own head. “Oh, rank’s nothing to me—please, call me Alexei,” he corrected her. “Besides… we’re here to get some stolen goods back.”

With that he turned to face the entrance of the cove.

“Are you scared?” he asked a few moments later.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

“They go bonkers all the time when they’re young. When your Cutiefly evolves, I can tell she would probably gain some sense of taste, or something to that effect. Kind of like how Carina doesn’t like plucking flowers just to get at the nectar,” he remarked, gesturing to the Ribombee that had since returned to one of her favorite perches—his shoulder.

At the mention of a strategy, he chuckled.

“See, this is where our little companions come in handy. Knowing how small they are, they may be easily overlooked, but—well, they can slip by inside without being easily seen,” he added a few moments later as the Ribombee hoisted herself off his shoulder and began flitting around them.

“Carina, you be the lead—tell us if you see anything inside,” he gestured towards the cave entrance. Turning back to Savannah, he crinkled his eyebrows her way.

“She may be small, but she’s really good at scouting,” he went on as the little Ribombee flew ahead into the cave mouth. At the mention of ‘code names’, he chuckled once more.

“Well, if you have some Pokémon that can do some heavy lifting when we go in there once Carina returns… we could work with it.”

He was game for the idea, no matter how silly it sounded. Anything to help her relax and calm down, right?

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

“I mean, you can let your Marigold hang around my Carina… is your Cutiefly being a handful?” he inquired quietly as the two buzzed away, out of sight. Here’s to hoping they don’t get spotted or anything, because it would be awkward if he had to send out the other five companions he had.

Four avians and one Lucario against an unknown number of enemies… he was thinking of how to divide his attention between them if ever they got jumped on.

“Alright, that’s great to hear. Hopefully what they find isn’t too heavy for us to get out of here, considering we would have to haul it back to the nearest League outpost,” he said as he waited for the two to return.

Meanwhile…

Inside the cave, the Ribombee was flitting round, looking and watching if there were any decidedly-human-shaped shadows buzzing around the area. Not until she heard an angry little noise did she look around before seeing that she was being followed by the Cutiefly from earlier.

Holding up one of her tiny arms, she then gestured for the Cutiefly to stay quiet as they flew in deeper into the depths of the cave. Thankfully, there were some places where the sun shone in, offering them some light to see through the area.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

So there he was, waiting for the Ribombee and the Cutiefly to return—but then he felt his center of gravity shift to the side before hearing her voice shout out a warning—one that came in the nick of time!

It wasn’t until he felt the heat overhead did he realize that they were set upon… mercifully, by only one individual. But what if there were more? Rummaging in his pockets, he rolled a containment unit forward, knowing there was a one in five chance he was going to summon his—

A loud roar shook the area as his Salamence erupted from the flash of red light.

“Thunder Fang!” was all he had time to shout and the Salamence screeched again, before heading towards the Sharpedo and attempting to bite down on the Water-type… how the hell was it out of the water and not dying? He didn’t know!

Once the Salamence had gone off to defend them from the Pokémon, he stood up and pulled her up as well.

“So—I know better than to underestimate you. Where’re your companions?” he said, keeping his head cool as he held out a hand to the side, in case Savannah thought of rushing forward.

Back inside the cave…

The Ribombee’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the Houndoom. Anything that was a Fire-type was bad news, especially for their kind. Turning to face the angry little Cutiefly, she shook her head. Even if they were small and had the element of surprise, all it would take was one Flamethrower attack and they would be roasted.

Instead, the Ribombee made sure to remember as much details as she could cram in her tiny little head before plucking at the Cutiefly and going back to where their human companions were.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

“I don’t want to send out my other—“ he began, before the first pirate began to cackle and talk over his shoulder. It was at this point he turned around and saw that—oh, shit, really?

“Well shit,” he grumbled as his eyebrows met in the middle of his forehead. “Let her go. You—you do not want to see him get angry,” he gestured over to the Salamence who was holding the Sharpedo up by the fin, electrified Thunder Fang keeping it away from the ground.

“Seriously, you do not want me to get angry…”

Back inside the cave—

Carina the Ribombee was flitting out and away to tell Alexei what they’d found—only, where was the Cutiefly?! Ah, shit! She then turned around before going back inside to search for the Cutiefly, wondering what kind of insanity it had gotten itself into.

Coming upon the Cutiefly that was dropping some kind of yellow powder on the sleeping Houndoom, she shook her head before spinning a purple Pollen Puff and chucking it at the Cutiefly. Hopefully she would get the hunt and get moving so they could return back to their human companions!

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz