Event 6: Temporal Terraforming!

PMD-Explorers Event 6 Part 1

At the rescue of the forest

When the two rescuers reached the fountain, PK was the one talking. Fresnel stood by her left side with a limb on the chin, and the green Pokémon Peter saw earlier was on her other side, hovering and looking at the Pokémon assembled before her with a content smile. A familiar Charmander, Mike, was at Fresnel's side. The Rescuer's Guild Leader was back!

"Got it, everyone?" PK confirmed. "You will have to plant as many trees, bushes, flowers and anything you can think of to restore the vegetation around Tao Village and the nearby forests, especially Creeping Forest. Once complete, Jasmine here will make sure that those plants will grow. But remember! You have only three days as from tomorrow to make sure everything is complete. Jasmine won't be able to do anything beyond that timeframe, so I strongly suggest you do your best."

A buzz of chatter quickly filled the atmosphere. The present crowd didn't appear too confident with the deadline. After all, the affected areas were vast and it surely would take some time to complete everything.

"Don't worry, guys!" Fresnel quickly interjected. "If everyone puts in his little part of effort, we can do it!"

"Yeah! We've faced things much more difficult than situations like this one before," Mike continued. "I know we can overcome this!"

Peter felt something different in Mike. It was, after all, the first time that he could feel so much confidence in the Charmander. Did something happen when the fire type Pokémon was gone?

"That's all nice talk," PK said, crossing her arms, "but do try to pick pretty things. I wouldn't like to see cacti or flytraps among flowers. Anyway..." PK began dividing the crowd into small groups and assigned each to a different plot of land to work on.

"Do we have those around here, flytraps?" Marston whispered quizzically to his partner.

Peter simply shrugged. "I haven't seen any around, except maybe those rare Carnivines around."

"... and you two," PK suddenly said, raising her voice, "who seem to have more important things to say than me, will take care of the area around Cobalt Lake."

Peter straightened at once. "Y-Yes M-Madam!" Beside him, from the corner of his eyes, he could see Marston just as stiff!

"Oh and if you need any tool, you can get them at the Ranch," Fresnel told them. "But make sure you don't leave them unattended on the field; we wouldn't want to lose them... And to get the different things to plant, you can get seeds from the Rescuers' Club, saplings and other seeds from the Ranch and more saplings and seeds from Devonshire's stocks."

"Okay," PK concluded. "I think we've said everything that needed to be said. You can start tomorrow, but nobody's preventing you from starting now. Just make sure you have a good rest tonight for the upcoming days."

As the crowd of Pokémon dispersed, Peter watched the guild leaders go back into their respective quarters.

"Hi! M-Marston was it?"

The Mudkip turned around to see a little Burmy, accompanied by a Beautifly and a Heracross. He smiled when he recognised the familiar faces. "Wait! Your name's Huey I think, and yours is Rose, right! You both look good! But you..."

"Brock's the name, and I recently joined the team," the Heracross said. "Nice to meet you, Marston."

Peter stood back a little and watched. Marston apparently knew them and they did appear to be nice Pokémon. More Pokémon were around, stating that they were all assigned to the same area he and Marston were assigned to.

Where Marston could help, he introduced them to Peter. Among the teams the Mudkip knew were first Metamorphosis, Bae, Heal Bell, Second to None and Team Obelisk.

"Hello! Nice to meet you! I'm Peter," Peter would say now and again. The only Pokémon he recognised was the Chingling, and it was nice to see his complete team.

One particular Pokémon, however, caught his attention: a Plusle from Team Obelisk. The little electric type Pokémon intently stared at him. "Hey! You look almost like me!" She proceeded to lift a paw at Peter's left cheek.

At that moment, Peter felt a small burst of electricity between them and couldn't help but fall on his rear. His left paw reached for his electric pouch. All seemed to be okay, fortunately.

"Luminaire! He might not like that!" the Klang from the same team quickly scolded. He floated forward and between the two mouse Pokémon. "I-I'm sorry about that. I don't understand... Luminaire never did something like that before."

"Oh, uh... It-it's all good, really," Peter said with some hesitation in his voice. He was trying his best not to appear annoyed, since he was only really surprised by what happened. The Pikachu got back on his feet and rubbed the back of his head. "It's okay, nobody's hurt," he continued, his face turning ever so slightly red.

Marston appeared from behind. "Ah, this is Luminaire, Giweln and Yoon! You remember the Xatu and Hoothoot I told you about? But this Pokémon... I'm not sure—"

"Acuon! My name's Acuon and I'm Team Obelisk's leader. I'm glad to meet the one who helped Yoon during Sorbet's rampage and probably owe you a dinner someday, right Giweln?"

"Uh... sure!" the Xatu replied with a smile, his wing passing behind his head.

"Oh, that'd be cool! Just as cool as how you're floating! Maybe you could teach me?" Marston asked eagerly.

"It has something to do with using my energy to create a magnetic field," Acuon explained. "I don't know all the specifics. Luminaire can do something similar." Turning to the Plusle, Acuon went on, "Show them your magnet rise."

"Okay daddy!" Luminaire exclaimed.

Peter watched the Plusle crouch, before leaping upwards and floating just like Acuon. A quick look over to a dumbfounded Marston told him that his partner was having the wildest ideas about learning to do the same. "I doubt you can learn that Mars, I'll find a way someday though!" Peter said with a wink, before the latter could utter a word.

The introductions continued with the teams that Marston didn't recognise. They were Varekai, Suledin, Team Trample, Slumber, Team Rowanberry, Team Aurora and Rainbow Chasers.

"Woah, that's a bunch of names to remember!" Marston exclaimed when he and Peter got around everyone. "I apologise in advance if I forget any of your names."

"Don't worry," Yoon reassured Marston. "I think that everyone will have some difficulty in remembering each other's name at first."

"I guess so..." Marston replied. "Maybe we could try to get to know each other around dinner?"

"Great idea!" a Larvitar not higher than Peter shouted. "I feel like I can eat mountains tonight!"


The meal went on without much fuss. The newly renovated café appeared even larger than before. Jones filled the building with his magical music notes while Vertigo waltzed among the tables, taking orders and delivering the food. Hops as usual was behind the bar, cocktail shaker in hand (or tentacle) and serving his customers his delightful creations. The food was as good as it could be; the same mouth watering food they were getting back when Peter and Marston worked here. The Mudkip even got to visit the Pan brothers to say hi.

After the meal, the teams split up to sleep. Some went to their own houses, while others walked into the Merchants Hut where they met a familiar Miltank. They were taking a room in the recently built tenements, so Peter understood, and since neither he nor Marston had a place to stay, they took one room as well.

"Rent is payable every end of fortnight," Malt informed them, "and will be at the modest sum of one poke per night. I hope you enjoy your stay!"

"Modest sum he said... At the long run, we might no more be able to pay..." Marston complained.

"It's okay, we'll just have to make sure our own home is ready before long," Peter reassured him. Between unbroken footsteps, his ears twitched, hearing someone behind them. The electric type Pokémon revolved around to see two teams walking behind them. "Oh! You are... the newer teams around, right? Um... Rainbow Chasers and Team Aurora if my memory serves right?"

"Yeah, I'm Sienna." the Eevee replied, "And, uh..." he continued, pointing to the Oddish tagging along his side.

"I'm Worbel," he reminded them. "We're in room number 10."

"And I'm Takao," the Tropius said. "While this is Skári," he turned to the Ducklett on his back. "And it appears that we're neighbours; we got room number 11."

"Oh, that's nice," Marston exclaimed. "We'll get to see each other more! I just hope that none of you snores too loud," the Mudkip giggled.

The three teams wished each other goodnight, and got into their rooms. Marston jumped on his bed and pawed the hay. "It's not as good as Merlot's rooms, but it sure feels like home!"

"Sure is! Just don't stay up too late Mars," Peter warned. He put down his bag, unwrapped his blue scarf and stowed it near his bedside. "Goodnight Mars."

"G'night!"

***

The next morning at sunrise, the teams assembled yet again in the Spinda Café for breakfast. Vertigo served them fresh eggs and milk from the ranch —so Vertigo told them— along with a selection of berries. Those weren't too appealing to the eyes as most were wrinkled, undersized or not as colourful as they usually were. All the same, the teams swallowed them whole. The berries still carried good nutrients!

"Hey, I'm full," Treble announced after some time. "I'll get started with the task. See you on the field! You coming Elysia?" he asked, floating away, his chargestone swinging and glowing eerily in the process.

"Um, we're going as well," Jude told them. "I wouldn't want to lose any more time, so... if you excuse us."

"If everyone's going like that, we better get moving too! We don't have all the time in the world after all, and Cobalt Lake isn't nextdoor" Maxwell grumped. The Larvitar hopped off his seat and dragged his Flaaffy partner away.

The remaining teams stared at each other at first, before nodding in agreement and leaving the table as well. Team Trample, Varekai, Obelisk and Team Aurora headed to the ranch. Dil and Sinclair from Team Suledin took to the air in the direction of the Law Firm while Peter and Marston went to the Rescuer's Club, accompanied by the remaining rescuers. Each of them carried their own little bag of seeds, shoots and tools they would use to plant, and off they walked, through the ravaged fields towards Creeping Forest. Some sparse teams were already at work around the village and on the way towards the woods.

Once reaching Cobalt Lake, they found Bae and Heal Bell already at work. Jude and Ami were working near the edge of their assigned area while Treble, Elysia and Kipton worked near to the lake's shore. The newly arrived teams immediately spread across the field and began working on their own little area.

Peter and Marston chose an area not too far from the lake. With the nearby water, the land was a bit easier to work with and Marston could always keep himself hydrated. Peter was relieved that the land was workable; the construction workers hadn't left any slump or large stone behind. Some of the stronger trees still stood around, but it was apparent that if left as such, they wouldn't be around for long. Hopefully, this Jasmine would be able to fix them.

A little hole in the ground with their paw, a seed thrown inside and the hole was covered and gently tapped to make sure the future plant would grow well. And it was like that, for about 5 hours on all four and under the sun that Team Tankers slowly sowed the seeds and planted the shoots. Marston sprayed water upwards once a while, which fell back down like rain. Whenever they were out of things to plant, Peter went back to the village, while Marston dug trenches in the ground to prepare it for the next batch to plant.

By midday, Ovaltine came around pulling a small cart of wood and ringing a bell. "Hey everyone! Lunch is here!"

All the Pokémon around left their tools, bags of seeds and shoots to regroup around the food Ovaltine brought, all except Peter. The Pikachu looked back over the work they've collectively done. After a few moment of contemplation, he let out a sigh. Things didn't seem to be going like he had hoped for. He scurried over to the others and joined the meal.

When he arrived, they were already munching over the berries brought to them and chatting loudly. Peter didn't want to break the good mood, but he couldn't ignore his concerns either. "Um... Acuon, was it?" he asked to the Klang of the group.

"Yes? Is something the matter?"

"Well, I heard that you can be very precise with calculations, and I thought about asking you for advice, you see? Do you think that at this rate, we're in for the deadline?"

The Klang rotated faster, then slowed back down. "I will have to take a look around to give a better estimate. Should we go around now?"

Peter nodded and took a plate of berries. "Yes please. I'm worried about it and the sooner we do it, the better."

"Okay. Luminaire? Stay with Giweln while Peter, mommy and me go around, would you?" Acuon asked, turning to the Plusle.

"All right daddy!"

Peter and Acuon thus went around the area, inspecting the work performed. Peter's fears were confirmed after Acuon evaluated the progress of the task.

***

"We have a problem," Acuon announced when the two Pokémon were back from their inspection. "If we go on like this, we'll only reach 80% of our objective by the end of three days."