Chimera Chronicles: Taskforce
2C: No Vacancy

The cool evening air sent a chill up their spines, a nuisance that dampened what was a peaceful night outside the Thirsty Cacturne. Having finished a little dinner date of sorts, the trio consisting of a brown-eyed Charmander, an Absol, and a Sylveon stepped outside for some fresh air, prepping themselves for a little evening stroll before heading back to their tents to turn in for the night.

“Excuse me, are you three from the Hunters Guild?” asked a young voice from their left.

The trio turned their heads to find a Sandshrew with a pair of black gloves and a face shield visor on his forehead looking at the trio with a rather panicked look on his face.

“Yes, we’re Hunters,” the Charmander replied, “I’m Maverick, and these two are—“

“Never mind the introductions, Robin needs some help, and so do the Researchers! Follow me, we’ve gotta hurry!”

Without any hesitation, the trio began following the young Sandshrew around the exterior of the Thirsty Cacturne until they reached a small group of Pokémon gathered around a Banette with a hood that somewhat resembled a Dusknoir’s body. His name was Robin, and while none of the trio had ever encountered him in person beyond seeing him watch their soccer game against the Explorers, they knew he was a well-respected leader in the Hunters Guild.


“Ah, so glad you can join us Kite,” he said to the young Sandshrew, “I see you’ve managed to bring a few more Hunters to this little…meeting of ours. Maverick, Arbiter and Valerie I presume? I’ve heard much about you three from the other guild leaders, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

“It’s an honor sir,” the Charmander, Maverick, replied as he and his companions joined in the small circle of Hunters, “so, what’s this whole thing about the Researchers being in trouble?”

As the other Hunters huddled closer, Robin began explaining that the Sandshrew, Kite, had brought to his attention that Reuben Hetterich, a noble from Andalusst City who had traveled with the three guilds, had planned to usurp a luxury suite from Solstice and Flint of the Researchers Guild by any means necessary, and it was up to them to foil his plans and stop anyone that was convinced to join his cause from wreaking havoc.  They had to be careful, however, for they couldn’t risk exposing Rueben’s involvement in the scheme to the public and damage his credibility while in the middle of an expedition, and so the Banette asked to make sure to keep this matter a secret.

Maverick placed a hand under his chin, remembering his rather hectic trip through the Basalt Halls that involved escorting the noble Mienshao through. Given his haughty attitude and all the verbal insults he had thrown at the Charmander, the revelation that Reuben was planning something so underhanded as kick a couple of guild leaders out of a suite came as little surprise, and a small thought crossed into his mind about perhaps giving some payback for the way he had been treated.

His vengeful thoughts were soon interrupted, however, when he and Kite were suddenly grabbed by Valerie’s ribbon-like feelers, and in matter of seconds she had managed to snatch Kite’s clothing and put it on Maverick for all the Hunters to see.

“KYAAA! Maverick, I knew you’d look cool in that outfit,” the Sylveon squealed in delight, “You’d make a good model for those books in Iapon!”

“Valerie, this is no time to be joking around,” Maverick shouted with a barely visible red tint on his face as the other Hunters save for Robin and the Absol, Arbiter, struggled to contain their laughter, “This is a serious matter we’re dealing with!”

“He’s right I’m afraid,” Robin sighed, “We can’t draw attention to ourselves if this it to succeed. Valerie, I must ask that you do not participate in these tasks.”

Maverick and Valerie’s jaws dropped in response to Robin’s request, both unable to believe what they had heard. While Valerie was heartbroken that she couldn’t go on another assignment with her favorite Charmander, Maverick was jubilant now that he didn’t have to deal with that dragon-obsessed Sylveon and her constant fawning over him while he dealt with Reuben.

With the matter agreed upon for the most part and Maverick handing back Kite’s cloths, Robin designated two groups for the Hunters to take part in, with Arbiter volunteering to protect the suite alongside a young Pikachu named Alonzo and the two members of Team Medi Lunaris, Oratorio and Sonata. Maverick on the other hand was joined by Orenjii and Kiiro of Team Electruth to help watch over Reuben to make sure he stayed out of trouble and to make him pay if necessary…



It had only been a few minutes since Robin had dismissed the Hunters to their tasks, but she still stood in place like a statue, shocked that she was told by the Banette guild leader that she couldn’t participate in dealing with Reuben’s schemes, all because she thought it would be a cute idea to dress Maverick in Kite’s clothing. Was it really fair to call what she had done as “immature”? She couldn’t bare the idea of Maverick going without her without good reason, and this was certainly not one of them.

“Um, hello? Are you awake Valerie?” asked a voice as an orange paw waved in her face, “What are you doing?”

Valerie shook her head upon realizing someone was calling out to her, drawing her attention towards a female Growlithe with a tiger-patterned vest standing before her with a wide grin and tail wagging with excitement. Upon taking a moment to get a good look at the Growlithe, Valerie quickly identified her as Alexis of Team Inferno, whom she had last encountered at the soccer match between the Hunters and Explorers guilds.

“I remember you now, you’re the one that bonked me in the head with that soccer ball,” Valerie said in a non-confrontational manner, “It’s nice to see you again Alexis!”

“I really wish you didn’t remind me of what I did in that game,” the Growlithe sighed and put her right paw on her forehead, “I’m sorry about that mess I made in that game, and I swear to you that I’m a better ‘mon now when it comes to competitive stuff”

“It’s okay Alexis, I just reacted too slowly,” Valerie chuckled, “You really caught me off guard with that Flame Wheel…”

“Alexis, what are you doing standing around there,” said a gruff voice, “We need to get going on our part of the patrol!”

The two turned their heads to find a Poochyena with black bands on his legs and a scar over his left eye walking towards them, making Alexis smile as she rushed over to his side. Valerie was quick to follow the young Growlithe’s example and offered one of her feelers to shake one of his paws as she introduced herself. The Poochyena turned down her offer, but still introduced himself as Kuro, the “newest’ member of Team Inferno before turning around.

“If you want, you can come with us,” Alexis said, “We’re going to do a special patrol outside the Cactus Field with---“

“That’s supposed to be a secret!” Kuro scolded as he placed a paw over Alexis’ mouth.

“Well, if you’re going out to do something secret, I might as well come along,” Valerie sighed, her left feeler rubbing the back of her head, “I mean, it’s not like I have anything else to do here…”

“Great, that means you’ll help us!” Alexis smiled, grabbing hold of the Sylveon’s free feeler with her mouth, “What are we waiting for, let’s go!”

Though the Sylveon was a little hesitant letting the Growlithe drag her around, the prospect of potentially helping in a preemptive strike against the local bandits proved to have enough incentive to join the two canines on their mission. At the very least, it was better than sulking all night…



“So what’s the deal with you and that Sylveon chick?” asked Kiiro, “Is she your girlfriend by any chance?”

“More like the stalker who gave me and Arbiter a place to stay,” Maverick answered with eyes rolling, “Long story short, she has an obsession with small, dragon-like Pokémon like me and she allowed us to stay at her place as a result…”

The walk to Reuben’s tent had been rather uneventful for Maverick, having spent much of the time conversing with Orenjii the Plusle and Kiiro the Pikachu of Team Electruth about their trip through the Basalt Halls and reminiscing about the trouble all three of them had with a spoon-wielding Barboach, even if it was at the expense of their pride. Still, it was a good way to build up trust in each other as members of the Hunters guild, and they were in need of such if they were to come up with a plan to humiliate Reuben.

Before long, Maverick and the two electric rodents arrived at a lavish, violet colored tent with a group of wagons next to it that made it rather easy to distinguish from the others. This was where Reuben Hetterich had made his place, and even though it was well protected against the elements, it was not hard for Maverick to understand why he so desperately wanted a suite for himself.

As the trio gazed at the extravagant tent, a certain, regal-looking Mienshao with a cravat on his neck and sleeves rolled around his wrists stepped out the entrance for a breath of fresh air, only to quickly spot Maverick and give out a loud huff as he glared at the Charmander and his electric rodent allies.

“Well, if it isn’t Maverick Mandercloud,” he said, “What on earth are you doing here wandering around near my tent at this time of night?”

“We’re here to watch over you for the night,” Maverick replied, leading the trio in standing in attention, “Now you can rest easy and let us worry about the bandits!”

“Very well, I suppose you three can handle it,” the Mienshao scoffed, “but let’s make a few things clear: I am not to be disturbed without good reason, try to keep your chatter to a low volume and do not even think about taking anything from my wagons without permission! I trust this won’t be difficult for any of you, correct?”

As the trio acknowledged their orders, Reuben turned himself in the opposite direction to walk back towards the tent, muttering to himself about how the trio “could’ve been put to better use” in his plans the moment he felt he was out of earshot.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Orenjii said with enthusiasm, “Let’s get started on---“

Maverick and Kiiro each placed a hand over the Shiny Plusle’s mouth, hushing her to remind her to keep a low volume on the matter at hand. Together, the trio brainstormed a plan to literally bring the tent down upon the Mienshao’s head by messing with the ropes holding it up and gathering some of the smaller cacti to lay a small field of spines in the ground in front of the entrance.

Satisfied in their plan, the trio gazed upon Reuben’s tent with sinister grins on their faces, knowing the fun that would soon come in making a fool out of a snobby noble…



“I’m sorry, I must’ve made a wrong turn back there,” said a female Chikorita standing on two legs as she stared down at Arbiter’s scowl, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just head to my room and go to bed for the night…”

It was the first and hopefully last encounter with a Hunter working for Reuben’s nefarious scheme that Arbiter and his quartet had to contend with, one that even he was rather surprised went without incident. Still, it was tough for Arbiter to break free of the idea that there would be more serious individuals ahead.

“That was sweet Arbiter,” Sonata said as he placed a hand on the Absol’s back, “You’re really good at this intimidating looks business.”

“Yeah, too good at it,” Oratorio said, pointing out to the frightened Alonzo standing by the corner to the left of the entrance to Sol and Flint’s room, “Maybe you should tone it down a little so we don’t draw too much attention to ourselves.”

“My concern is making sure that we settle this matter swiftly and without incident,” the male Absol replied, “If it means I must resort to intimidation towards misguided guild members, then so be it.”

A short cackle from the far end of a corridor around the corner interrupted their argument, alerting the quartet into a defensive stance, but the only thing that accompanied the laugh was a crazed exclamation of “everything is all set!”, along with another voce that called for the speaker to be quiet.

The quartet carefully approached the corner and peered around the corner to find another quartet consisting of a Venipede, a Sableye, an Aron, and a Quilava gathered around a field of purple- tinted spikes scattered across the floor nearby as if someone had spilled nails all over. In truth, it was the work of the Venipede named Hemlock, who wanted to make it difficult for anyone to get through without getting sick from stepping on his Toxic Spikes, a fact that he took much pride in as a demonstration of the potency of his “superior venom” to any unlucky soul who passed through there.

Rather than listen to the Venipede brag about his work or his allies’ attempts to keep him quiet, Arbiter lead his group to confront the Hunters, their arrival announced by the Aron as they emerged from behind the corner as Arbiter began to glare at the quartet.

“So, you’re the ones who dare challenge our attempts to tarnish Sol and Flint’s reputation,” Hemlock snickered, “Not that it matters, for you are up against the ‘mon with the most lethal venom in all the word!”

The Venipede unleashed a Twineedle barrage towards Arbiter, but all it took for Arbiter to avoid injury was to simply step to his right without taking his eyes off his opponents, allowing Sonata the chance to use his Psychic powers on the Venipede and lift him into the air.

“You know, you shouldn’t be messing around with all that poison,” he quipped, “I think it’s time you clean up this mess before someone steps on those spikes.”

“…Leave him alone” the Quilava muttered, stepping up towards the Kirlia before suddenly disappearing and reappearing in a flash, a small burst of rolling fire surrounding her being the only telltale sign she had performed an attack in the split second between, and soon the Kirlia was engulfed in an explosion of flames, causing him to release his telekinetic grip on Hemlock and allowing him to join the Sableye and Aron in prepping for an attack…



A soft wind blew through the desert night, the sky above filled with bright stars that shimmered as brightly as the moon. Such conditions set the perfect mood for their mission, and together with Cassidy of the Explorers Guild, Valerie, Alexis, and Kuro found themselves outside a small cave hidden out in a butte to the southeast of the Thirsty Cacturne, peering over a rock placed outside of the cave to spy on an encampment of bandits consisting of a Krokorok and several Sandshrew, Trapinch, and Darumaka.

Knowing that Cassidy had their backs from high atop one of the large cacti in the area, it fell upon the trio to come up with a plan to lure them away from their encampment and into the crosshairs of Cassidy and his fishy firearms.

As the girls watched what seemed to be a meeting on how their next raid on the Thirsty Cacturne, Valerie signaled to Kuro with her ribbon feelers to flank to the right side, leaving the girls to turn their heads towards each other and nod, ready to execute their ambush.

“Hold it bandits!” the girls shouted, startling the outlaws as they leapt on to the rock overlooking their camp.

“Who the heck’re you?” the Krokorok leader shouted, “This ain’t no place fer a bunch’a gals to be wanderin’ ‘round! That’s just askin’ fer trouble!”

“So say a bunch of bandits,” Valerie said.

“We don’t tolerate those who steal from others,” Alexis continued, “You’ve all gone off the hook for too long and now it’s time to face justice!”

“Hear us, for I am Valerie Vespra of the Eon Doragonhantā Clan, champion of justice and destroyer of the wicked!” Valerie shouted as she posed.

“And I am Alexis, leader of Team Inferno, Explorers Extraordinaire, champion of all things awesome and righteous!” the Growlithe mimicked her Sylveon ally, “In the name of the crimson flame that burns within me…”

“… and the light of the silver moon above!” Valerie finished.

“We shall punish you!”

The bandits stared dumbstruck at the girls and their performance, unable to comprehend with what they had seen before their eyes, and before long one of the Darumaka began to chuckle to himself, soon joined by his compatriots as they came to the conclusion that these two were nuts. Those feelings quickly disappeared, however, when one of the Sandshrew yelled in pain as Kuro clamped down on his tail with his Fire Fang.

“Really now, is that all you’re going to do against those girls,” the Poochyena taunted, shaking his tail at the bandits, “Then that means none of ya are ‘mon enough to defeat me!”

The bandits roared loudly in response to Kuro’s display of Swagger, charging towards the Poochyena in an effort to tear the mutt limb from limb. This was nothing more than a distraction, however, as it bought time for Valerie to spread her ribbons wide and form an orb of pink, lunar energy in front of her neck, shouting at the bandits for their attention before unleashing a beam of light that combined with Cassidy’s watery barrage to blast the minions serving under the Krokorok.

Bitter that his fellow robbers had been so easily defeated, the Desert Croc Pokémon charged towards the girls at a breakneck pace, bulldozing through a rock in his path without flinching as steam blew out his nostrils.

Rather than stand around and letting the Krokorok come any closer, Alexis leapt into the air and began rolling down towards the Desert Croc Pokémon in a ball of fire, swerving at the last possible second to avoid getting hit and distracting the Desert Croc Pokémon enough to leave its tail in range of Valerie’s feelers. As the Krokorok turned his head in surprise, Valerie gave the bandit leader one last time before flinging him high into the air just in time to catch a bullet of water square in between his eyes.

As the Krokorok fell in defeat, the girls high-fived each other with their paws, successful in completing their mission with such efficiency, and it wasn’t long before Kuro and Cassidy joined in on congratulating their efforts.

“That was a mighty fine takedown ya’ll,” Cassidy said, “I couldn’t’ve asked for a better trio to carry out this task!”

“It was all in a night’s work sir,” Valerie replied, “anything to help keep our travels safe for all of us, especially for all those cute little dragons!”

The others stared at the Sylveon with confused looks on their faces, but they quickly regained their composure and smiled as Valerie did a victory pose, knowing that her heart was in on this mission, and it was all she truly needed to be happy with what she had accomplished…



“Red 5-4-3! Andalusst! Andalusst! Hut, hut!”

The Aron named Clanker leapt off of Hemlock’s back and into the arms of her Sableye teammate, who back up a couple of yards before tossing the Aron in the direction of the two Absol guarding the way to Solstice and Flint’s room. The duo of Arbiter and Oratorio were quick to react to the attack, however, and together they used their horns to block the Aron’s flightpath and push her slightly back towards the ground.

As the Aron and her Sableye teammate prepared for their next plan of attack, Alonzo began to produce several copies of himself behind Arbiter and Oratorio’s backs, charging past the two to scare the duo and their Venipede ally into fleeing the scene and using the Double Team clones to take the brunt of the Toxic Spike minefield.

The female Quilava that remained was not intimidated by the young Pikachu’s tricks, however, and with a wave of her arm she summoned a triangular beam of energy that plowed through Alonzo’s remaining Double Team clones and struck the young Pikachu.

“Oratorio, I need you to keep her busy,” Arbiter said to his Absol accomplice, “I’m going to finish this issue before it drags out any longer!”

Arbiter firmly planted his feet on the ground, drawing wind energy around his horn to slowly form a whirlwind of razor sharp blades of air as he watched Oratorio clash with the Quilava, countering the latter’s Nature Power version of Tri Attack with her Ice Beam attacks.

Frustrated, the Quilava charged at Oratorio with her fist raised high, but the moment she was about to make contact with the female Absol’s face, she was suddenly stopped in midair by an invisible force, struggling to break free as a loud grunt to the left of Arbiter signified that Sonata had come to and had now held her in place with his Psychic abilities.

“I may be down, but I’m not out,” he groaned, “Now Arbiter, finish her off!”

Arbiter’s horn glowed white the moment Sonata finished his sentence, and with a swing of his head he unleashed several white crescent blades at the captive Quilava, sending her flying backwards before slamming into the ground several times before skidding to a halt. Despite the beating, the Quilava was able to stand back up and clutch her right shoulder, turning her back on the defenders and muttering “We’ll meet again…” as she limped away.

“Sonata, are you okay?” Oratorio asked the moment the Quilava disappeared from sight.

“He should be fine,” Arbiter noted, “at the very least, we did manage to prevent them from getting to Solstice and Flint’s room…”

The creaking of a nearby door turned the trio’s attention as an Oshawott with a light blue vest with a sapphire stone sewn on the left side stepped outside, heedless of the other ‘mons before her as she walked past in an odd manner and ignoring Alonzo’s calls towards her.

As Arbiter caught a glimpse, he remembered that he has seen this Oshawott back in Andalusst when he and his teammate Maverick played soccer with the Explorers Guild, a game which ended in defeat thanks to her late game heroics for her guild. He noticed there was something wrong, however, for the cheerful demeanor she had displayed then was largely subdued, to the point it appeared she was being controlled like a puppet.

“Arbiter, you think I should see what’s going on?” Oratorio asked, earning a simple nod in response from her Absol accomplice, “Very well, take care of Sonata for me, okay?”

As Oratorio pursued the oddly behaving Oshawott, Arbiter lowered himself so that Sonata could be carried over by the door to Solstice and Flint’s room, carefully moving to avoid injuring his ally as he transported him until they reached their destination.

“You know, for a stoic guy like yourself, you’re pretty cool,” Sonata quipped as he leaned against the wall, “I bet the Hunters Guild is in good hands with us around, right?

Arbiter didn’t respond to the injured Kirlia’s question, instead choosing to stare down the hall once more to do his duty as an observer and as a guardian…



Everything was going to plan. With the ropes holding Rueben’s tent barely tethered to the posts thanks to their efforts, Maverick and Kiiro had made significant progress in their efforts to humiliate Reuben. All that was left now was for Orenji to return with some cacti to litter the field around the Mienshao noble’s tent, and the anticipation of being so close to accomplishing their goal made the both of them grin in a sneaky manner.

Before long, the Shiny Plusle had returned to their area carrying several small, spherical cacti in her paws, happily humming a tune as she skipped towards her comrades. What she didn’t realize, however, were that the cacti were oddly attached to some wires and that she was dragging several more than she held on hand.

“Hey guys, you won’t believe all these cacti I found all over the place,” she said with a smile, “I didn’t even have to pull them out of the ground!”

“Um, Orenjii, did you happen to notice the wires on those things?” Maverick nervously said.

“I thought they were probably just a way for the locals to keep them all together,” Orenjii tilted her head in confusion, “if anything it makes it easier to carry these things.”

Several loud booms suddenly filled the air as a cloud of red dust emerged from the far left side of the Thirsty Cacturne, growing bigger by the second in an explosive manner as it circled around the saloon until it rounded the corner to reveal several explosions created from the cacti tethered together, leading them towards the group of cacti held in Orenji’s paws.

The trio panicked upon realizing that the cacti Orenjii found were rigged to become explosives, scrambling to get rid of the cacti bombs and head for cover before they detonated in their faces, unwittingly dislodging one of the bombs free from the line and causing it to bounce towards the chain of explosions, which launched the wayward explosive high into the air towards Rueben’s tent.

“What on earth is with all this racket?” shouted Reuben as he stepped outside, unaware of the danger he had put himself in, “How can I possibly concentrate on my studies with all this noise!”

Maverick quickly abandoned his protective position from behind a nearby rock, running after the bomb in hopes of catching it and preventing it from sending the Mienshao noble to kingdom come. As the explosive began its decent, Maverick positioned himself in front of Rueben, arriving just in time to catch the bomb in his hands and prevent disaster.

Maverick breathed a sigh of relief as Orenjii and Kiiro cheered for his heroic actions, but before the Charmander could even take a step away from the tent to safely detonate it, the Mienshao noble standing behind him grabbed hold of the explosive and began inspecting it, much to the horror of the trio that was supposed to protect him.

“You three picked a lousy time to play games using the local flora as a ball,” Rueben huffed, “If this how you spend time when all that racket is made, I’d hate to see what happens when bandits show to my tent!”

As the Mienshao inspected the cactus in his hands, he found what he quickly came to realize was the bomb’s detonator, turning his head back towards the tent to smile deviously for a moment before tossing the bomb over his shoulder, watching in the corner of his eye as Maverick and the two members of Team Electruth tried in vain to catch the explosive.

The bomb detonated the instant it made hard contact with the ground, covering the area in a cloud of red dust that released the powerfully spicy scent of Spelon Berries through the air, causing the Hunter trio to flee the area in order to escape the overwhelming smell.

“That ought to teach those fools,” Rueben snickered to himself as he walked inside his tent, “Maybe now I can get some peace and qui—“

Before the Mienshao noble could finish his aside, the tent began to crumple as a light wind blew through, collapsing on top of him before he could react. It didn’t take long for him to escape from the collapsed tent, however, and after dusting himself off he began searching for any sign of the trio that was supposed to be guarding him, which lead to the discovery of several ropes having been either loosened or outright untied from their posts, leaving him to realize that perhaps this was all one big stunt that, while extremely unlikely to have been pulled off successfully, somehow still managed to get him in the end.

“Clever Charmander….”