Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Poofy Rescue Team

The Fall

"This is your last chance; hand over the Evasion Orb you stole!"

Any 'mon strolling through the forest, if unfamiliar with the Charmander's antics, would have been confused over the little Fire-type confronting a nonexistent foe; however, this would not be the first time he had passed time this way.

Charmander has had a dream of starting a rescue team since the first time he had heard about one in action. This dream wasn't shared by too many other Pokémon his age, however, and his parents weren't very keen on letting him wander the unpredictable mystery dungeons, even if it wasn't truly possible to get lost and stuck in one.

"Not surrendering? Then take THIS," he cried as he Scratched the stubborn imaginary thief (he used to use Fire-type attacks in his play, until that one incident that would have ended badly if it wasn't for an observant Golduck not too far away).

It had become a favorite pastime of his to wander ordinary forests and meadows near his house, imagining the landscapes as treacherous mystery dungeons he would enter to retrieve lost items or Pokémon.

Charmander dramatically fell backwards as if he had taken a retaliatory Tackle, and was about to get up and assert his determination before he saw something through a gap in the foliage, piquing his attention... There was a very unnatural-looking cloud; would-be crook forgotten, the Fire-type focused on the mass above. It looked like a miniature hurricane, downsized to about twice the diameter of Pokémon Square, and with a calm area in the center.

As he watched, it swirled faster, the eye of the storm glowed... and then it dissipated, but not before something fell right out of the center. "...what is that?" he asked no one in particular, as his eyes strained to discern the figure, from his position an ambiguous... blue? and orange? dot in the sky. Naturally curious, he got up and moved towards it, and with the distance decreasing from the pull of gravity and from his own efforts, he recognized the shape of a likely unconscious Mudkip.

Now panicked, Charmander broke into a run as he moved up a hill, any apprehension from approaching someone who had appeared in such strange circumstances overridden by worry for the 'mon and perhaps a little excitement over what could be a real rescue. "I'm not going to get there in time," he thought, as he realized the falling Water-type would impact far before he got to it; what he would do if he had more time, though, he had no idea, as becoming halfway to turning into an orange pancake was not very appealing regardless of the situation.

He crested the hill right as it seemed the Mudkip would hit the ground... no, water, as there was a pond below and in front of where the Fire-type stood.

"Will it break its fall? Is it too shallow? Will it work better because it's a Water type?" were a few of the frenzied questions flying through his mind...

After the huge splash subsided, Charmander briefly hesitated before holding his tail up and wading, then swimming into the water, towards the still-unconscious Mudkip.

Once he had dragged the other Pokemon partially onto the shore - he didn't know if touching water would help them - and checking that it was still breathing, he began trying to shake the 'mon awake...

"Are you okay? Please open your eyes..."

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...how did I do?

next chapter might come out in a few hours, or maybe tomorrow