THE ADVENTURES OF TEAM ORACLE
ISSUE #1
WHERE DID YOU COME FROM, WHERE DID YOU GO- WHERE DID YOU COME FROM, FOUR-EYED LOWE?
—————
When Charmander and I finally arrived in Capim Town, I shot my new acquaintance a look.
Her eyes were filled with wonder. Some kind of sparkle lingered around her tail’s fire, as if emitting the very essence of her happiness. I didn’t even need to read her thoughts to know she had never seen something like this before.
“Whoa, it really is a treehouse town!!” She looked to me, her grin gripping me. “Just like Fortree in the games, just like-“
She paused, her claw came to her chin. Regardless, the Charmander’s tail made sure to keep her movement unyielding. “It’s… like that one town, from Super!”
That comment just confused me. “Super? Super what?”
Suddenly, one of her thoughts jumped out at me. I hastened myself, placing a quill on her snout. “No, really. Something other than nuts.”
A swish of her tail and the crossing of her arms followed- Charmander was not pleased. “Okay, fine. This one game, Super Mystery Dungeon.”
That sounded like some kind of simulator..? Gazing into her thoughts, however, I was able to make out muddled thoughts of Pokémon wearing green scarves and jumping onto floating trees. My feathers couldn’t help but rustle from the thought. If she was a human, but she had games of some sort that depicted pokemon, what in the world did that mean for us?
No matter. I could pay that some mind later. I cleared my throat and started forward, leading Charmander towards the Capim town square. She didn’t hesitate to follow. “That sounds interesting, you’ll have to tell me about it later. Right now, though, I’ve got something even more interesting to show you.”
A hop, skip, and a jump later- voila, we were at the mission board. I made sure to wiggle my wings around its perimeter and smirk to show it off. Testing how minor a thing Charmander would react to seemed only apt, after all.
And, as expected, her tail flared up again. “Ooh! A real, genuine, bona-fide request board!!”
She quickly got to skimming over the requests, sometimes tracing a claw over them for what seemed like no reason. I could hear her mumbling under her breath. “200 poke, Red Gummi, three question marks…”
Within the minute her eyes returned to mine. “Yeah, it’s real!!”
I just grinned back. This was probably a lot for her to take in. “It’s real!”
She plucked a random request off and danced around a little, staring at the thing like it was some kind of weird doll. She even hugged it at one point! Granted, if what I could gather was right, this was probably the most interaction she’d had with the outside world in… most of her lifetime…
“Look, look at this! There’s a reward and everything!”
I leaned in to peer a bit closer at the document.
—XXX——
WANTED
—XXX——
FOUR-EYED LOWE
Requester: Crabrawler
Location: Mystifying Forest
“That bloody Venipede keeps stealin’ me stock!! At this point, I’ll hardly have any ingredients left ta cook with! Track him down an’ get everythin’ he’s got back t’ me!”
Reward: 100 poke each + a free dinner at the Blue Claw Inn
A free dinner at the inn didn’t sound the most enticing. Neither did the pitiful poke each-
“We’ve got to take it!! It’s an outlaw, man! Think about it!”
Charmander rushed closer to the square and spread herself out, panning her arm above her chest and across the sky. “We could have cool bounty-hunter names, make ourselves feared by lawbreakers across the continent! I’d be Gunsmoke the Charmander, and you’d be… you’d have some cool Indian name, or something!”
Her claw settled on pointing in my direction, and she gave me a wide grin.
It was at that point when I felt it pertinent to ask.
“…what’s a gun?”
Charmander’s position slumped. “It’s a… well… it’s… y’know! Okay- think of it like this.” Her posture straightened and she began to pace. “You know how Clawitzer shoot pressurized water out of their cannons, right?”
Wow, impressive. She knew species I hadn’t an inkling about. I nodded along. “Yeah- think of that, but steel-type. Like, pressurized steel in a little packet of metal that gets launched out of more metal.”
She’d completely lost me by now, but I nodded along anyways. “Ohhh… okay.”
…
…..
“I reserve the right to call you Smokey instead.”
Outsmarted!
Charmander huffed. “Wh- no, no, you do not get to call me that. I mean- no, just don’t.”
It was my turn to give her a wide grin. “Alright, Smokey.”
Her arms went cross, as did her expression. “Come on, man! That’s- no..!” As her cheeks puffed, I swore I could see a bit of pink splash across them. “That wouldn’t make sense.”
I cocked my head to the side, lifting a talon just to be dramatic. “And ‘Gunsmoke’ would?”
Pause.
“…i-it’d sound cooler! Shut up!”
I couldn’t help but snort. She wasn’t wrong, even if that name was total nonsense.
With that over with, I decided to rest upon her head- a surprisingly comfy nest given our sizes- and got us back on topic. “Well, if you so insist on us taking this mission specifically, I guess I wouldn’t argue against it…”
Even though she couldn’t see it, my eyes rolled. It was fun, overacting like this! There wasn’t much use for theatrics back home, where everyone already knew exactly how and why you were going to be facetious. That’s why Capim Town was always more fun to loiter around.
My comfortable rest was soon disrupted as Charmander jumped in the air- excited, from what I could gather- and shot a fist up near me. I took to the skies just in time not to get punched in the wing, but it was close. “Yippee! Alright, alright- we should go, now.”
“Wait, what?”
Charmander repeated. “Now! We can tour the town later. I’ve got to get out there, get some energy out- some real life experience! A-and, I don’t even know how to use moves! I’ve got to learn!”
I backed up a bit. “Maybe you’re jumping ahead of things a little bit.”
Charmander returned the gesture with fire in her eyes. Wow, this form suited her. “No, you’re not getting out of this. That’s exactly what I’d want to do back home, and- you’re just like me, right? So this’ll be good for both of us!”
Before I knew it, Charmander had gripped me by the feathers and run me out of town. Where we were headed… I had no idea.
-
Eventually, we stopped by some forest. Charmander was already on her knees and panting. I was just baffled.
“How, in all of Giratina’s many realms, did you manage to find the right dungeon??”
There was no mistaking it. Tendrils of mist and fog enveloped the outer reaches of this place, while dark-blue ivy crept up every tree’s branch. You could practically smell the poisonous spores of the native Bulbasaurs, and every other bout of silence was interrupted by some echoed bird’s call.
Charmander turned to me and grinned. “Mystifying Forest? Misty Forest? It’s not rocket science, this’s got to be it!”
I heard her thoughts echo in my head. How did he know this was the right dungeon?
A pang of guilt struck me, but I shoved it away. Not a problem for the now.
Besides, I was already being hauled into the first floor. It wasn’t like I had a choice to sit there and think about what I’d done.
-
Floor 1.
A relatively uneventful trek. Charmander seemed eager to point out every species of Pokemon we saw to me, as if I didn’t already know. It was absolutely endearing, and hearing her talk about this dark and creepy forest as if it was the best place in the world lifted my spirits somewhat.
Most enemies were no match for us. Charmander would typically attack by simply swinging her tail in a grass type’s face- if they didn’t run away before she burnt them, into the fire they went. I hardly even needed to raise a feather. I could see her beginning to experiment with flame size by the time we reached the stairs- testing whether swinging fast or slow would embiggen it, at what speed it would get smaller, things like that. My conscience remained clear and happy.
-
Floor 2.
This one was a little harder. We began seeing Stunky, which Charmander couldn’t just take care of by wiggling her tail within their vicinity. In the end, I had to step in and Peck one to death after it poisoned her. Thankfully, there were plenty of Pecha growing in a bush nearby.
It was at this point that I directed her to look at the floor for treasure, and she’s been scouring for loot ever since.
-
Floor 3.
Smokey- as I’ve begun to call her- pulled off an Ember! Some part of her was spooked just enough to burp out a flame when she was ambushed by a Turtwig!
Needless to say, the Turtwig didn’t last long. I’ve been enjoying watching her fumble her way around a dungeon with almost no materials. The most we’ve managed to scrounge up, save for the berries, has been a Blast seed and, for some reason, a plain seed. Her ability to discern the difference between each one without ever having seen one before in-person is impressive. Her thoughts tell me that she read it in some kind of infinite book, where she gathered knowledge from ‘sites’ instead of chapters. I might ask her about that later, though thinking about it further is prompting some guilt.
-
Floor 4.
I found out what a gun is, but I’m not telling Smokey that. She doesn’t need to know I’ve been reading her thoughts in here.
Nevertheless, her enthusiasm has depleted somewhat. I think she’s realized that going into dungeons without the tiniest bit of storage is a bad idea. I’ve been cupping these berries in my wings for two floors now, and they’re beginning to ache a bit.
We’re going to stop to snack on them soon.
-
Floor 5.
We only have one Pecha and the seeds, now. Smokey said something like seed under her breath and giggled at it. I think I heard a ‘feed’ after that too. Is she hungry?
…maybe not. She told me that it’d be funny if I chucked one of the seeds at a Gulpin. I didn’t disagree, so we tossed the plain seed at one of the sleeping ones.
It turns out Gulpin don’t like being disturbed while they sleep. A little Confusion put it right back to rest, though.
-
Floor 6…
Smokey and I were immediately hit with a whiff of alcohol upon descending the steps. Lucky for us, Four-Eyed Lowe seemed to be right in front of the stairs, oversized glasses and all…
…gorging himself on apples and gummi shakes.
“Where’s the alcohol smell coming from?”
My partner was as astute an observer as always. I just turned to her and shrugged. “We’re in a forest filled with strange-smelling flowers, don’t question it.”
The Venipede we were supposed to be taking down lay on his side, surrounded by half-eaten apple cores on one and empty glasses on the other. This looked more like the culprit had broken into the inn and stolen every customer’s order.
Aside from the apples, nothing was consistent. Almost every Gummi shake had a different flavor to it- those which weren’t often had different seasonings. One had a leaf on the top (now bottom) of the glass for decoration, another was sprinkled with sugar. And those that looked identical were often purple or light green… it checked out.
I opened my beak, but Smokey caught me first. “Hands up! Gunsmoke and Eagle-eye are here to arrest you, thief!”
My feathers rustled once more. I’d asked her not to use that name. The one I came up with afterwards was so much cooler. Deathbringer was so to-the-point…
Lowe soon rolled over, his speech somewhat slurred. Immediately, he inquired- “what ‘n the world’s a gun?”
I barely held back my laughter. Smokey groaned. “It’s… just go with it, okay?”
Lowe flailed around for a moment before readjusting to his many legs. “A’right, a’right. But what’re you doin’ here? This is my place, this is where I’m gonna drink! You can’t just come in here and say I can’t do that, this is a free country!”
Smokey huffed once more, puffs of smoke leaving her nostrils. Wasn’t that supposed to be a Tepig thing? “Well, I can! And I am!”
She was just as confused as I was about him mentioning a ‘country’. Unlike me, however, Smokey seemed to know what in the world that meant.
I soon realized I’d been leaving Smokey out to dry a bit. I cleared my throat and stepped forward. “Right- we have orders to arrest you, Lowe. You’ve stolen all these apples and drinks, they’re not yours. And now you’ve made the inn owner mad.”
Lowe growled back. “Well, you’re makin’ me mad! These are my drinks, and you’re sayin’ they’re not! That’s rude! Isn’ that right, sweetheart?”
The Venipede fawned over one of the only glasses with any juice left in it.
The glass did not respond to his advances.
“See? She agrees! If you’re not gunna leave… I’m gonna fight you!”
And so, the battle begun!
I quickly realized that Lowe was charging a Rollout, judging from his general preparation, so I shouted as much to my partner-
-who didn’t understand. Before she could finish saying ‘what’, she was smacked in the face with a face full of rock-hard chitin.
This wouldn’t do. So I made sure to grab her next and teleport away. It gave us sufficient time to speak, and confused the heck out of Lowe while we strategized.
I took her aside to a corner. “That was Rollout, a-“ -she already knew this move- “-aaand we need to avoid that. I have a plan. I’ll try and talk to Lowe, and when he attacks me I’ll teleport away. You make sure you’re on the side, throwing Embers wherever I was so that Lowe rolls right into them. Got it?”
Smokey seemed baffled, and yet… she nodded.
“Got it.”
With that, I nodded back and headed back over to where we were. I cupped my wings around my beak and yelled. “HEY, LOWE!! YOU DROPPED YOUR GLASSES!”
Which he had, for the record. Especially demonstrated by me holding up the pair and waving it above my head.
That seemed to enrage him. “Why, you-!”
Lowe balled up once more, hopping for a time before speeding off in my direction once again. Just before I teleported away, I shot a glance to my right to check for Smokey-
-only to see her on the other side of the arena, looking like she’d just seen someone die.
It was a good thing I teleported next to her, then. “What was that? Come on- you can do it this time. Just watch.”
I walked forward once more, waggling the glasses at Lowe like a teacher telling off a bad student. “It should be so easy to get these glasses , shouldn’t it? Just come over and hand over everything you stole!”
More rage from the bugged bug. Two hops, and then another angry charge in my direction- this one faster than the last.
I repeated my gesture from before, only this time with Smokey in my sights. This time, she managed to-
-nearly get hit by the rollout, before shooting an Ember at Lowe from his left. Good enough.
Or, it would be, if the Venipede didn’t immediately start screeching afterwards. “I’M ON FIRE! I’M ON FIRE!”
This was ostensibly not true after only a few seconds. However, Lowe seemed to believe otherwise.
It only infuriated him further, and he instantly jabbed Charmander with a poisonous horn. “YOU!”
…or, at least, he tried to! Thankfully, Smokey had started catching on! Just as Lowe jabbed in her general direction, the Charmander spat an Ember onto the floor and dodged to the side. “Me?”
Oh-ho, there was smugness in that tone. I grinned.
Lowe coughed up some smoke as he was fully burnt by the fire. “Y-you!”
He was glaring at her like she’d seen death itself, and he seemed to unnerve her enough not to do something…
…for about a minute or two. “Me! I’ve done something! What have I done that you haven’t brought upon yourself?”
Another angry growl! The Venipede lunged forward, only to dig his horns into nothingness! Smokey got closer to his hoard, which I’d already been approaching…
“You’ve ruined it! You’ve ruined this whole getaway! I was supposed to avoid consequence, I was supposed to have all this food to myself! With no stupid inn owner to bother me and tell me I can’t have any more!” Lowe growled once more, before charging into another Rollout, right towards Smokey and the hoard!
Smokey spat an Ember and gave an elegant sidestep to the first, prompting Lowe to run over almost all of his stolen goods. “And yet-“
Lowe turned around on the spot and headed right back at her. Repeat process. “-you seem to be-“
Lowe turned too quickly for her to escape. I ended up swooping in and saving her just as she spat her Ember, and the pair of us were now flying overhead. “-ruining it yourself!”
Smokey grinned and crossed her arms, looking down at the culprit. Who was now furious and hopping up and down on the pile of refuse he’d made himself! “Grrr! No, no, no, no, no!! It wasn’t supposed to end this way!!”
Seemingly just for fun, Smokey finished the whole show off by eatin a Blast seed and aiming it at Lowe from above. A big BOOM resulted from it, and watching Lowe run around trying to put the tiny fires it started out was fun!
-
After it all, I had sought out some loose ivy to tie Four-Eyed Lowe up with. We gave him back his glasses, but only after we were sure all his legs were tied up. Smokey even tied a little knot at the top of it all so that I could fly him back to Capim town…
And that’s just what we did, once we found the stairs! Despite the fight, we were both too busy celebrating to be tired enough to do something else. I had enough energy to fly, she had enough energy to talk. We chatted up a storm on the way back to Capim.
But once our rewards had been doled out, and Lowe turned in, she and I returned to the edge of the town to talk a bit.
Smokey went first, leaning back on her arms as she did so. “Man… that sure was something! My first outlaw fight, ever!”
I nodded along. “Oh, definitely. You were right- it was rather fun. I wouldn’t mind doing more of that, even in lieu of dungeon exploring.”
That prompted my friend to gawk a little. “Even instead of dungeons? No no no, that’s going too far. We’ve gotta do both.”
I sniggered. “Sure, sure. Nobody’s stopping us!”
The Charmander grinned once more. “Yeah, yeah! Nobody’s stopping us!”
Her smile spread so wide it became hard to see her pupils. “And it feels so great, doesn’t it? Not even my own brain is telling me this is all a bad idea! That this is scary, and new, and evil. So I should just stay at home.” She chuckled a little- though it didn’t seem as happy as much as it did apprehensive. However, the happiness made a swift return soon after. “Here, I’ve got none of that! It’s just new opportunities galore, and I’ve got the courage to tackle all of them.”
She shuffled in place and turned to face me. “We just had a really stupid idea, acted on it, and came out okay! Better than okay, even!”
Smokey pulled out the last remaining Pecha.
“We got a neat berry out of it!”
She smiled, before popping it in her mouth and beginning to talk as she chewed. “No’ anymow, though!”
A giggle and a gulp later, it was gone. “Hey, I earned that just as much as you did!”
I wasn’t too torn up over the thing, especially since I had plenty of berries at home. Nevertheless, I feigned offense to great effect. “Oh, shush! We’ll be able to eat all the berries we want at that free dinner tomorrow!”
Actually… she had a point. “…you’re not wrong.”
Smokey smiled. She mellowed out somewhat as she went on. “What a way to meet the townsfolk, too. Just a pair of humans, walking into the bar and greeting the town as if they’re no different to anybody else.”
Her eyes had drifted away from me by now. A good thing, too, as another pang of guilt struck me. I couldn’t keep this going for any longer; I wanted to tell her the truth.
“…a human and her partner.”
Smokey stopped. She looked back over to me, her expression unreadable. “A human and her..?”
A moment passed before she realized. “Wait, you’re not-?”
“No, I’m not. I’m sorry.”
My heart sank a little. I stretched out my talons and on my feet to elaborate. “I lied to you. When I found you by the lake in front of my house, your thoughts were blurry. You were messed up, and I could feel it. Alone, hurt, and in a completely new body.”
I continued, my eyes averting the gaze of her own. “It felt wrong. Cruel, almost. And as I took care of you in the days that followed, I only felt that more and more. So I lied to you today, to try and make you feel more comfortable. More at home. Like you weren’t alone.”
I dipped my head in shame. There went all my goodwill, didn’t it?
And yet, the very next thing I felt was a claw on my shoulder and a warm presence in front of me.
“…listen. I don’t like that you lied. I don’t like that you can… sense me, or whatever. I don’t know what that means, and I’m not sure I want to know.” A nervous laugh. Then a smile. “But we just took down an outlaw together. You were nice enough to keep me company for seven whole days, while I had a tail that could burn down your entire house with one wrong move, and even take care of me throughout all that. Whatever food you gave me healed me so quick that I can breathe fire a week after setting foot here.”
I shot Smokey a skeptic look.
She rubbed the back of her head in response, her tooth smile growing nervous. “…well, okay, I can basically just spit up firey hairballs. But I’m getting there! I can lob some kind of flame!”
I returned to smiling at her, as she had at me. “That’s right, you can. It’s impressive.”
My next move was to push her away slightly. I hopped atop the log we’d both been leaning on and grinned. “…I’m flattered that you haven’t immediately deemed me not worth talking to. I don’t advise practicing that kind of trusting nature with anyone else… but I’ll try not to let you down again. Deal?”
I held out a wing…
…and she shook it with her claw. “Deal!”
We both shot each other smiles for miles.
Then a thought struck me.
“Oh! We never checked more about that free dinner. I wonder if there are any clauses attached…”
I whipped out our coupons. Some kind of singing Pokémon was illustrated on the front. “‘The ever-moving Meloetta’, huh…”
I leaned over to Smokey and showed her. “Look, there’s some kind of guest performing tonight. I guess we got lucky.”
Lucky wouldn’t even begin to describe what happened next… but that’s a story for another time.