Explorers of Origin: A Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Fanfiction, Volume 1

Chapter 23: Finishing the Job

'See you again' is continuous; 'good-bye' is final.

"Yo! There's gonna be more enemies on the way!"

"Ngh... is that... a Talonflame...? There's three riders on top of it... who do they support...?"

Trying to focus her sights on the circling wings in the sky, Mawile pieces together the image of a Talonflame with three small-sized riders on its back. It spirals downward towards their side of the field, pridefully spreading its blaze-like wings wide like a horizontal Renntartsche. The scarlet bird turns towards the combatants behind it, confirming Chesnaught's presence among them.

"Sorry for the wait, Ches. It got rough up there in the clouds; some winged Amartoloí tried to cut us off from our way here."

"Better late than never, Talon! You brought in the cadets, too, so that's good."

"She ought to present herself to all of us!"

"Yeah. I'll do my intro to your friends later. Right now, we outta kick some Yungoos ass! Cadets, you know what to do."

"On it, Commander!"

"Affirmative!"

"Roger!"

Grookey, Sobble, and Scorbunny jump off Talonflame and proceed into formation, ready to fend off the incoming waves of Yungoos. Pikachu observes their preparations with a mixture of confusion and irritation, letting out a deep growl that resonates within their section of the battlefield.

"What took them so damn long..."

"Don't worry about it now... At least be glad they're here at all. Now we can go all out on that Gumshoos."

"Ugh... about time we can actually concentrate..."

"So. You got back-up. Like that will ever change anything!"

Confident in his strength, Gumshoos targets Pikachu using Hyper Fang, only to be met with a well-timed Iron Tail counter. To the mouse's disappointment, it did not deal a great amount of damage even though it sent his target back through respectable knockback.

"Why can't you idiots just DIE already!?"

"You should be the one fulfilling that question!"

"Oh, don't give me that shit! You're only doing it for your own dumbass ideas!"

"Cocky and angry, I see! Two more reasons why you're little trip ends here!"

Positioning himself like a sprinter, Gumshoos surges towards Pikachu through a fast-paced Take Down attempt. The mouse quickly jumps above his taller adversary, triggering his Extreme Speed mid-air to assault him at blinding pace. Mawile sees an opening through the resolution of her partner's aggression, charging up her Ice Beam to shoot at the ground behind Gumshoos, forcing an awkward backwards fall as he attempted to jolt back into combat. Lying down on his back, the frustrated enemy rants at Mawile, angered by her alliance towards Pikachu.

"I can't believe you're that stupid to side with humans! That means you want to die, too, huh!?"

"Judging by all the blood you and your buddies spilled, you're the one who's so scared of anything that you had to tear apart precious lives. That's a sorry excuse."