Rescuers Side Mission: Evacuate Tao Ranch and Tao Village!

PMD-Explorers Mission 5 Part 2

Evacuation!

Marston scuttled through the snow. Each step he took was sending cold waves through the thin skin of his paws. "Brrr... I hope the others will be okay with that cold... I'm pretty sure I'm already frozen... ugh!"

"Marston! Marston! Wait for me!"

The Mudkip stopped abruptly and looked back, crooking an eyebrow. Through the blizzard, he had to squint to see who that was, and the familiar figure of a Pikachu appeared to him. He initially thought about Peter, but the voice was not matching. As the Pikachu came closer, he recognised Kiefer from Team Thunderhead.

"Mars! There you are! Tanith told me to come with you because, apparently, I would be hindering them with Sorbet instead of actually giving a hand, hmpf!"

"Ah, don't dwell too much on it. I know she cares about you a lot and she means good by doing what she did," Marston replied, trying to reassure Kiefer.

Seeing that the Pikachu didn't have any answer to that, Marston nudged Kiefer and turned towards the path where a faint light was moving up and down further ahead. The nod of Kiefer told him the Pikachu consented.

Together, they made their way through the blizzard towards the light source. The two inferred that it was their guild leader and the rather sombre figure besides him must be Sandy, the Deino. After a few moments of scurrying through the snow, their presumptions were confirmed.

"Mike! We've come to help you! Anything we can do?" Marston yelled as soon as he thought Mike would hear him.

The Charmander and the Deino stopped and turned round to see the two Pokémon following them. Mike was pressing his left claw on his fedora, whilst the other one was tightly holding on his green scarf. Sandy, however, didn't seem too happy to see them. Her gold rings had taken a rather dim glow in the darkness of the night and her fangs were slightly exposed. The Deino let out a low suspicious growl.

"Kheh! What are you guys doing here?" Mike shouted, his voice taking a small questioning tone. It was obvious that he wasn't expecting anyone to follow him in such a blizzard.

"We're here to help you bring the Ranchers to safety! We heard that you were heading there... so..." Kiefer explained.

Mike was silent for a few seconds, examining the two Pokémon from head to tail. "As much as I would want some helping hand, I don't think that you two would fit the task."

"What? But what if something happened to—" Marston began, before being interrupted by Sandy's louder growl.

Mike glared at him and replied sternly. "Exactly kheh! I was impressed by your previous missions, but I'd prefer having more experienced teams in case things go bad. I don't want to have to look after other Pokémon in that weather. Go back to the village and get to safety. It's what you should do. It's not a game anymore."

Marston and Kiefer stood there without any response. There in the snow, they watched Mike and Sandy turn their backs to them and make their way towards the Ranch. The latter was a mere shadow among the whipping snowflakes from where they were. It all went so quickly that Marston didn't even get the opportunity of asking Mike about the binder. Something suddenly cut his trail of thought; it was Kiefer. Even with the cold, his face was becoming redder by the second and Marston believed that he could explode anytime.

"Come Kiefer, let's see if the village would make better use of our help," Marston quickly surmised. To his surprise, it came out more like an order. He put a paw on Kiefer's fist seeing no change in his friend's expression and started pulling the Pikachu towards the village.

"First Tanith, now Mike! What's gotten with everyone today!?" Kiefer snarled, stomping on the snow covered ground.

But Marston didn't respond. It was perhaps better not to say anything else, knowing how Kiefer could be during such tense moods. The two just advanced through the blizzard, back to the village. The roars of Sorbet could now be heard in the distance. The mission of Peter and Tanith were most probably working out well, unlike their own...

***

"Be careful! The café might completely collapse anytime!"

The village was a couple of metres away at that point and Shroomsworth was standing by a pile of planks and splinters along with a few more Pokémon. "Good, that's it. Now, who knows how to dig?"

The café? Cave in? Marston's heart started pumping faster as the feeling of worry crept into his mind. His friends and other innocent Pokémon were probably in danger!

The gathered Pokémon were putting away the debris from the site and a Larvitar was flailing through the icy ground in a really odd manner. Dirt was being thrown everywhere onto the other Pokémon behind him.

Marston approached the Breloom and tried to learn more about the current situation.

"The café caved in during Sorbet's rampage and worse, the Rescuer's Club fell right on it, making it even more tedious to make a passageway down there." Shroomsworth paused to wipe off the frost that formed on his monocle before continuing. "If any of you can help clearing the rubble or dig a way down, there's no time to lose!"

Marston and Kiefer nodded in unison; they had finally found Pokémon who would need their help. They immediately set to work clearing the way so that digging would be easier. Marston would have helped with the digging, but the Larvitar was already at that task. It was a little strange of a technique for digging, Marston admitted, but the Larvitar probably knew what he was doing and he trusted him.

Upon lifting a plank from the ground, Marston flinched. Underneath were pages on which were what seemed to be notes. But what really stunned him was that it was the handwriting of Peter.

Kiefer, noticing the Mudkip's sudden halt, moved in closer to see what the finding was and recognised the binder he and Peter helped bring to Mike on the previous mission. Most of it was frozen wet, or simply torn apart.

"I-I guess there's no way Mike can come back to read it now, if he hasn't already..." Marston mumbled, horrified at the thought that their leader possibly didn't go through the binder they worked so hard to get.

Everyone around them stopped clearing, or digging in the case of the Larvitar. The latter had dug a tunnel towards the underground café and the shouts for help could be heard from there.

"I told you I didn't need to know Dig to know how to dig!" the Larvitar declared proudly over his work.

The other Pokémon around didn't share his opinion, despite being grateful all the same that the tunnel was complete. The evacuation could finally start.

The first one to get out was a Burmy. He was small enough to go through the tunnel. That tunnel however didn't appear to be reliable; dust was already falling now and again from its roof.

"Huey, have you got out safely?" a voice resounded from down under.

Just then, the tunnel gave in and crumbled completely, lifting a thick cloud of dust.

"Rose!" Huey, the Burmy screamed in despair, using his stubby arms to scratch the soil to make another tunnel.

Everyone around shot an angry glare at the Larvitar. It was obvious that the Larvitar didn't do so much of a good job with the tunnel. The Larvitar gulped and suggested with a weak smile that he would be trying to help somewhere else in the meantime. Soon after, he scurried away.

Shroomsworth shook his head in disappointment and quickly regained his gentlemanly posture. "Does anyone actually know the move Dig here?"

"I-I do," replied Marston stepping forward.

Every other Pokémon turned round to look at the Mudkip. It wasn't every day that Marston was at the centre of attention and his cheeks turned a bright red because of this.

"Good! If you do, please dig us another tunnel, and a strong one should I add. Everyone else, let him work," Shroomsworth commanded, with authority in his voice.

Huey approached Marston and looked at him with tears forming in his eyes. "Please, save Rose!"

"I promise you I'll save her," the Mudkip replied, a little more confident now. He was almost leading a rescue mission like in his childhood and everybody around counted on him.

Marston raised his right paw high and stuck it with all his might into the ground. Strike after strike, he dug up the soil. Time after time, he patched the walls of the new tunnel with his Mud-Slap attack and fixing the mud carefully with his paws. The tunnel he was digging was larger than the previous one so that other Pokémon could go in and help strengthening its walls, and more importantly, so that bigger Pokémon could go through it.

Not long after, he managed to reach the caved in café and see the Pokémon inside. To his surprise, there was only one Pokémon: Rose. The Beautifly curtly thanked Marston for the tunnel and the two got outside.

"Rose!" perked Huey as soon as he saw Rose. He ran towards the Beautifly and hugged her tightly.

"Huey!" called the Beautifly in reply, hugging her partner back.

Shroomsworth cleared his throat to get some attention. "Excuse me... This is all touching, but ... were you the only one down there?" Shroomsworth queried, with a tone of disbelief.

Rose let go Huey and turned to the Breloom. Her cheery smile turned to a sad frown as her gaze fell over the tunnel entrance. "Oh, no, I wasn't. Several wooden supports gave in but others still held on separating Huey and me from the others. You'll need to dig further in to access the larger part of the café."

Shroomsworth's fears were confirmed. That meant that the rescue mission was not over yet. There were still Pokémon trapped under the ground hoping to be saved. With that, Marston, Kiefer and a couple other Pokémon rushed inside to dig and clear the way.

"I want to help with the rescue, I'm sure that they'll need our help!" Huey declared with spunk in his voice.

Rose knew that it was pointless to argue with her partner and consented. She followed Huey and the others back underground.

The second part of the digging was more difficult than the previous one. Indeed, the soil had fallen for quite a while now and had started to freeze.

Behind the wall, Marston heard a faint voice calling for help. He gave notice to the other Pokémon to concentrate on the particular side of the room and quickened his pace, his spirit rekindled to find alive Pokémon. In a matter of minutes, Marston and the others entered the larger part of the café.

"Yoon?" one of the Pokémon following them shouted through the darkness. It was a Xatu, quite large in size, but desperate by the looks of it.

"Over here! Help me!" a voice echoed in the darkness.

That didn't appear to be the reply that the Xatu was expecting, but he replied nonetheless. "Where?"

A faint bluish glow enveloped the café, or what remained of it. It was the mane of a young Blitzle which glowed, and beside her were a Scyther and an unconscious Hoothoot.

"Yoon!" the Xatu bustled to the Hoothoot.

Spotting a match at his foot, Kiefer picked it up and scratched it on a wooden support, which was still standing. The flame immediately casted a warm light across the room.

Marston took a fallen candle from a table that was used during the party earlier and lit it up with Kiefer's match.

Almost immediately, every Pokémon behind them rushed to help other injured Pokémon in the room.

"M-Marston? Is-is that you?" the Blitzle stuttered. She was chilled to the bone and could hardly talk. It was a surprise really that she managed to light up the room earlier.

Marston's mouth fell wide open; he couldn't believe his senses. "Kena?"

He gingerly put the candle on the floor and approached the shaking Blitzle. It was indeed Kena from Team HeatLightning. She was lying beside Yoon who was half buried from the cave in and the Scyther, trying to get some warmth.

In the meantime, the Xatu cleared the way so that the unconscious Hoothoot was free.

Kiefer looked around trying to find anybody else in need of help and his eyes fell onto a pile of soil slightly moving. "Hey, there's someone under this pile of soil! Help me get him out!"

The Larvitar from before appeared from nowhere and rushed inside without warning. "I'm here!" In his hurry, he stumbled over the candle taking out the flame, and fell flat on the face.

Just then, the room began shaking and the pile of dirt crumbled. Everyone ran outside for fear of being buried alive.

"We have to get outside fast!" the Xatu shouted. He took Yoon in his wings, while the Scyther, Peter and Kiefer helped Kena up and out.

"Quick! This way!" Rose urged them, pointing towards the tunnel.

Despite all their effort, they didn't make it in time: the way leading to the first room gave in and they went crashing into each other. Luckily for them, the larger room didn't cave in completely, but the wooden supports that still stood threatened to collapse anytime. They were in complete darkness again. The tremor gradually stopped and silence settled once more.

"Is everyone all right?" Rose stammered in the dark.

The Pokémon grunted in reply and tried to get up, running their hands over their body to see if anything was broken.

"I'm-I'm going to use Flash. Be prepared," warned Rose, her internal energy starting to glow through her body.

As expected, her light illuminated the whole room for a short lapse of time allowing them to get a glance of their surroundings.

It was then that they spotted something ahead of them. Its body was almost transparent, slightly bigger than all of them combined together and his glittering eyes were staring at them. The ice statue of Sorbet bellowed as the light faded.