PMD-U - Geoda Mission - Traps and Sigyls

“Why can’t we all go together, ty?” asked Tyler to his older brother, as Blaze looked down at him, and petted his head “Look, I’ll be out all night helping them set the traps to make sure these trouble makers don’t come, okay?”

“But we could help, ty!” said Tyler, and Blaze looked up at Jin and Gon, the shiny Doduo who now were a member… or… members… of their team. They understood the situation. Tyler was not exactly very brave, nor very coordinate. They knew that if he tried to set a trap he could very well get tangled in it and end up hurting himself and others. This was a risk that Blaze was not willing to take.

And sure, he could not let Tyler alone for he knew that, if he did, the Tyrunt was most likely going to follow him again, or get himself in another kind of trouble. So, he asked to Jin and Gon to watch over the young dinosaur pokemon as he would be gone, which both of them agreed.

“Look, Tyler, I’ll be out and I want you to stay here with Jin and Gon, okay?” he asked the young Tyrunt, and the smaller pokemon looked up at him, and let his head down, as he knew that there was no arguing. “Okay, ty.”

Blaze looked at him, and gave him a smile “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you how it all went when I come back, okay?”

“Okay.” Said Tyler, and Jin and Gon stepped forward, as Gon said, “There will be other missions soon.” He said as he looked down at the young Tyrunt, who looked up at the bird. “I’m sure that next time we all will be able to do it together.” He said as he offered a smile. He seemed to be confident, though Blaze could notice that he was not so keen on the idea of getting directly involved in a mission that was with getting in trouble with other pokemon. After all, it was to understand, since they only joined their team in the previous day. It was to expect that they would still getting used to the thing of going on missions and fights, since it seemed not to be their strong spot.

Tyler looked at him, and at Jin, who nodded at his brother’s words, and he said “’Kay, ty.”

Blaze smiled, and he petted Tyler’s head “Alright, I’ll be back later. Don’t wait me awake.” And he got up, and looked at Jin and Gon “And take good care of him, okay? I trust you two to this.”

The two heads blushed, and Jin spoke “Y-yes, sure, you can count on us.”, while Gon looked at the ground, but he was nodding his head at his brother’s words, and at Blaze at the same time. That was more than enough for the Blaziken, who waved a last good-night to them and then he took his own way.

The patrols would probably be going on for days, and Blaze doubted that he would be going for this only one time. Still, he was going for it. He had assigned to the job of setting traps around the place. Blaze didn’t understood much about traps, but he knew enough to make sure that he could follow the instructions that Flint, the Sandshrew from the Researchers, was going to give.

Indeed, it didn’t seemed much of a hard job, and Blaze hoped that he could get it done before midnight. He sighed as he looked at the setting sun and remembered the words that he was told more than once: never wander too far from the Cactus Fields at night, or else you might never come back.

That was the main reason why he kept Tyler under his watchful eye every night like that. The idea of getting lost into that desert and never being able to find the way back… It made Blaze shiver in a way that cold was never going to be able to. He was worried that something like that could happen to Tyler, but he was also worried about what could happen to Tyler if that happened to him and so he would end up leaving Tyler all alone, and the Tyrunt was still too young to take care of himself.

Blaze groaned as he shook his head, trying to shake these thoughts off his head, and trying to think clearly. Now it was not a time to worry about it, he had to focus on the mission he had now. Jin and Gon were going to watch over Tyler, and he knew that the Doduo were reliable. He was sure that they could watch over Tyler…
He… hoped…

His thought were interrupted when a voice called, “Hey, you.” It was barely even a whisper, but Blaze was sure that he had heard it. The Blaziken immediately stopped, and he looked around, searching for the owner of that mysterious voice.

“In here!” It said, a little louder, and Blaze son could pinpoint it as coming from a nearby cactus. At first glance, Blaze saw only a cactus with a few branches and with flowers in some of them.

“Will you come here? Please?” the voice asked again, and coming from the cactus, but Blaze was not seeing the pokemon to who the voice belonged. Blaze looked curious at the Cactus, as he thought that someone could be hiding behind it to. He approached as if to take a better look, as if to see if there was someone really hiding behind it.

However, as he got closer, he could take a better look on the cactus, and he noticed some curious things. First of all, some part of the cactus seemed to be moving, and second, it seemed to have eyes and mouth. That was when he notice that only part of what he was seeing was a cactus, and the rest, was a Maractus, who looked at him as he came closer.

Blaze looked at her, as she seemed to be looking all around herself, as if she was seeing if it was safe.

“May I help you?” Blaze asked to the smaller plant-type, who he soon noticed to be a girl.

“Are you Blaze, the Blaziken?” she asked him “From Team Ancient Flame?”

“Yeah, that is me, why?”

She looked to the sides one more time, and she said “My name is Aisha. Look, can we talk somewhere private?” she said, looking somewhat worried or maybe nervous. Of course, Blaze was thinking it a little suspect she wanting to go with him to somewhere private. However, Blaze didn’t noticed nothing too strange about her. So, he accepted, soon they both were in a more secluded part of the cactus, where no one would hear them.

The Maractus, however, still looked over her shoulder, as if she was worried that someone could be following them. Blaze looked at her as she seemed to made question of them being alone, as if she wanted to make sure that no one was going to hear their conversation… or that no one was going to hear him calling out for help.

However, she didn’t looked like the dangerous kind, so Blaze looked at her as he asked, “So, what you wanted to talk with me about?”

The Maractus looked at him, and she said, “I have been asking around the place, and I had heard your leader, the Swampert, saying that you and your team are very reliable.”

Blaze looked at her, and he shrugged “Yeah, I guess so.” He was quite unsure of what else to say, and the Maractus continued “I have a thing to ask you, since you will be in the night shift of today’s patrols.”

Blaze looked at her, wondering just what she was going to ask him. She then said, “Do you know the pokemon called Sigilyth?”

Blaze looked at her, and he thought for a moment, and he remembered about it “Yeah, heard about, flying/psych, right? Some say they are weird looking, and some said they are as old as time itself.”

Aisha nodded at him, as she continued “Look, sometimes they appear in here at night and… Well, if you see one of them around tonight… Yah know… just hoovering around, without answering when you call for them… Would you please… chase them off?”

That was a somewhat strange request. Blaze looked at her for a moment. He wondered if it was some kind of prank, or maybe some kind of trick. Chasing someone off just because they were acting strange? What was the point? And also, what would a Sigilyth be doing around just flying?

“Why you want me to do that?” Blaze asked, and she just look back at him, and she said, “I just need you to do it.” She didn’t sounded angry or demanding, it was more like a pleading. “Please… you don’t need to fight them or hurt them, you just need to make sure that they are going to be away… Please… just trust me.”

Blaze looked at her pleading eyes for a few moments, and he sighed, “Okay, I’ll do it.” He said, still quite unsure, but he was willing to help her. She seemed to be happy to hear it, and she said, “Thank you. Look, just chase them off to the outskirts, and don’t try to chase them out of the fields!” she said the last part with some urgency, and she said, “I’ll find a way to pay you back for this, I promise.” And so, she turned around and left, leaving Blaze behind, wondering just what had exactly happened now.

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Later on, with the moon already moving across the sky, Blaze found himself digging into the ground to place the last trap in place, which consisted into a mechanism with a trigger activated by a plate once someone stepped in it. According to Flint, it was designed with some special powder that would knock anyone out, as if some kind of “sleep dust” or something, Blaze did not understood completely, only enough.

Blaze finished putting some earth over the traps, being careful enough not to switch it, and soon, he jumped high to away from there, going high in the air. As he reached the height, he could see around himself.

He could see some other pokemon in the area that he was in, and they were all setting up traps. He could see a Snivy and Aron along with a Krokorok and a shiny Eevee. The Krokorok was wearing a lab coat, the Eevee was dressing a dress-hat and the Snivy had a broad brim hat. They seemed to be making something with their traps, and Blaze could swear that he was seeing some short of purple smoke coming from the things they were setting, as if the trap they were setting was somewhat toxic.

Looking over, he could also see a Zoroark with a cloak over his body, and an Absol by his side with armbands into his forelimbs. They both also seemed to be reading traps, but these ones seemed more like wires and ropes than bombs. Blaze could not help but wonder what kind of traps they were readying, and just what they expected to happen with the poor unfortunate pokemon who fell into that trap.

However, he didn’t had time to think of it, as he soon was back on the ground. He had landed near another pokemon, it was a Pikachu with a cloak that had the design of electricity in it. Not very much to be subtle at night, however, Blaze noticed that he also was dealing with strings. He seemed to be readying them for when someone would trip, and he was looking that he seemed to be getting it ready near a big cactus.

Looking over, Blaze was almost sure that he had seem some kind of legs into a nearby point of it. It looked like some spider-like pokemon, maybe Spinarak… Devious, Blaze felt sorry for the poor unfortunate soul that would trips into that, especially if the poor thing had fear of spiders or insects.

Anyone would get goosebumps by that. You are walking in the night and suddenly you felt something like a swarm of spiders falling over you all at the same time. Anyone would jump maybe higher than him only by the scare. Blaze looked at the devious Pikachu, and he realized that he probably was very young. Maybe even younger than Tyler!

Man, they let the boy out there alone at night? And he was setting traps like that? It was hard to believe.

Blaze looked at him for a few moments, before walking away, and he started to set his traps somewhere else, and he sighed as he finished the last one. He looked at the place he had put them, and he needed to be sure that he would remember where they were, as not to trip in them by accident.

He was about to turn to leave, when he heard someone saying “Now! For the last one!” and he heard a sound like something being shoot. Blaze looked over his shoulder, and he found himself driven by curiosity.

“That was really cool!” said an other voice, a younger one. And now, Blaze really wanted to see who was it. He walked over, and he saw the ones who were in there. He saw a female zigzagon with a scar in her eye and a Wurple in her arm, like an weapon or something similar. And looking over, Blaze saw that they had readied a lot of traps with some combination of strings and what seemed to be Sludge Bombs, and also there were some webs which crackeld with electricity.

“That is soooo, coooool!” said a small voice, and Blaze saw a small Jolteon jumping near them, and the Zigzagon looked at him, and she said “See, that is how you prepare some real trap-field.” She said, sounding somehow arrogant, and the small Jolteon said “You are the best, miss!”

“I know I am.” She said, and she turned around “Now we better get going.”

“But, what about that pokemon we saw earlier?” said the Jolteon, and the Zigzagon girl looked at him “Sigilyth? Why bother about it? That thin barely even answered when we called! It just stood there, as if it was looking at something, and hoovering in there. It was a kind of creepy.”

Blaze could not help but remember the talk he had with that young Maractus earlier in that same day. He looked over, and he said, “Hey, you!”

They turned to look at him, and the Zigzagon said, “What do you want?” and she was somewhat blunt and rude when she asked, what made Blaze flinch slightly. He soon recovered, and asked “I…I could not help but hear what you said about the Sigilyth, and I’d like to ask where did you saw it.”

“Where you spying on us?” She asked accusingly, and she seemed to be getting ready to attack “What are you, a stalker?”

“No!” Blaze said quickly “I was just passing and I heard you talking about it.”

She looked at him, seeming not to be ready to drop her guard “Why are you interested in it?”

“It is personal.” Blaze said, and it was not a lie. He had told no one else about what the young Aisha had asked him to, for it seemed that it was a personal request of her. Blaze decided to respect it by not telling anyone. Also, he had passed a while in this now, and he had not saw a single Sigilyth, so he thought that maybe he didn’t needed to do anything about it. However, now it seemed that there was one of them around.

The Zigzagon looked at him, and she snorted “So, what do I gain by telling you where it is?” however, as soon as she said it, the small Jolteon said “Around that area!” pointing with his paw. The Zigzagon looked at the younger thing, and Blaze said “Thank you. Well, have a good night.” And he left, for he felt like things were going to get difficult or maybe awkward soon.

Blaze walked across the night for a few moments, and he soon was walking to an area that was somewhat far from the rest of the pokemon who were setting traps. He was also far from the points in which occurred the current patrols, and as he felt the lonely desert around him, he could not help but feel chills up his spine. He looked around to the deformed cactus that grew around him and at the sandy terrains all around him, and he felt the loneliness crushing him. He now wished he had told someone about the mission, for that feeling of loneliness was taking its toll on him.

He reached out and he made sure that the Needle Duster was with him. He had been gave it in the start of the mission, and was told to hold it and use if he crossed the way with any of these goons in the mission. He knew that it could not be very useful with a flying/psych type like a Sigilyth, but holding it into his hand made him feel safer, as if to make sure that he could hold himself in a fight.

Blaze wore it in his hand, ready to use it things would get ugly. And as he did, he kept walking, and soon, he sighted something against the night.

Looking over, Blaze walked closer, until he could make up the figure that was in there. It was indeed a Sigilyth, once their shape was totally unmistakable. Their strange shape was a thing that you could not simply confound with other pokemon, unless you were at a very good distance and with reduced visibility, like in the night. Still, you just needed to get close enough to recognize it.

Blaze approached it as he looked at it intently, and the thing seemed not to have noticed his presence, for it only kept floating in there. Sure, it was hard to read the expressions of a creature like that, however, Blaze could tell that the thing seemed not to know that he was in there.

Yet, the fire-type approached him cautiously, and he looked at him as he cleared his throat. The floating pokemon, however, seemed not to have heard him, as it only kept floating in there.

Blaze looked at it, and he cleared his throat a little louder, but the psych-type seemed not to be able to notice his presence. Blaze approached a little more, and he said “Hmmm, hello?”

No answer, the Sigilyth only kept in there, floating in place almost as if it was unable to perceive anything. Blaze kept looking at it as he made one more try “Hello there?” There was no answer “If you perceive I’m here move one of your wings.”

But the strange pokemon did not moved, it only kept in there floating, Blaze wondered if that kind of pokemon could even move its wings or if it only kept floating in there, stiff as an ancient statue.

Blaze looked at him, and he said, “Look, I know it might sound strange, but someone asked me to chase any Sigilyths I found around here to out of this area. I’m not sure why, but who asked this told me it was important. So, I don’t like to be rude with people, but I kind of feel like I need to do it. So, if you could fly… or, float away, I would be thankful.”

Once again, the creature seemed not to notice that he was in there. It only kept there, floating, and the face that was on its body seemed to be focused on something else that was not Blaze, and it didn’t seemed to realize that the fire-type was talking o to it, or even to notice his presence. It was like the creature was inside its own world, and was totally off the reality that Blaze currently resided.

Blaze looked at him, and he sighed. It seemed that it was maybe going to be the hard way. Blaze wished he didn’t had to use violence, and also, he didn’t felt like he should be doing this to a poor pokemon only because someone had told him too. However, when he remembered the seriousness with the Maractus talked to him when she made this request, he thought that she didn’t looked like someone that would make something like that out of nothing. Also, the way that the Sigilyth was acting was also suspect, and it seemed that there was something about it that made Blaze feel uneasy, and maybe chasing it away would be a good idea.

And also, maybe Blaze had no need for hurting it. Looking over as he stepped closer, Blaze took a deep breath, as he breathed a flame over the creature, but not into it. The flames just swirled in front of the pokemon.

For the first time, it reacted, and it did so by moving its body and inclining itself backwards, and retreating to away from the flames that threatened to hurt it. Blaze was somewhat relieved to see that it was not totally into apathy, as it first seemed. Yet, Blaze had difficulty to detect any kind of emotion into the creature other than the clear act of retreating into what seemed to be fear.

Blaze wanted to apologize, but he had the feeling that the creature in questioning probably was not going to answer again. Instead, he only sighed, and he breathed more flames in front of the creature, and it answered by moving away from the flames, being move more by its instincts than for an actual rational thought, for what it seemed in Blaze’s eyes.

The Blaziken continued with this for the next few minutes breathing flames over the  pokemon and making it retreat to way form what seemed to be an immediate danger, and soon, he was making slow progress into making the creature move away from the area. Soon, Blaze was following it as the creature was moving away from his flames and he was making a significant progress as he made the thing move, and than, before Blaze could notice, they were both at the edge of the area that was the Cactus Fields.

Blaze looked at the creature, which was just at the edge of the area, and he sighed as he knew that he just needed one last incentive to make it get out and go away, take care of its own business. Looking up at it, Blaze decided to use a closer incentive, so , his leg suddenly went aflame, and he jumped high and near the flying pokemon, and moved his leg in a circle, making an arch of flames that nearly touched the Siglyth.

Naturally it retreated, and Blaze kept doing it, chasing it away as it was giving the first sighs that it was going to turn around to leave, and Blaze was making a good work into chasing it away.

Finally, Blaze gave one final jump, aiming to make one final jump and swing his leg, making a big arc of flames with his Blaze Kick. The Sigilyth retreated, as he expected, however, as it did, Blaze’s flames touched its body.

As they did, the Sigilyth glowed blue, and he let out what seemed to be a wave of psy energy, which somehow hit Blaze.

He was not hit physically, but the feeling he had was of being stuck by a huge landslide. And it was all directed to his mind. As he gasped and twisted his body, suddenly he felt images flash right inside his mind.

Regigigas

He stood in there, and the seven points of his body emitted a white glow. However, as the ambient darkened, the big automat pokemon seemed himself to vanish, and soon, only the glowing points were left behind.

As the points were left, the suddenly started to move, as if they were fireflies. They changed color, and assumed a yellow color as they moved. They soon had another shape, this one with five points aligned horizontally, with the two last being above and under the central point. This image was enveloped by what seemed to be the shape of an icicle.

Soon it vanished too, and the points started moving again, acquiring a new organization and color. Now they were crimson red, and they were aligned in a way that one dot was in the center, and the other six formed a circle around it, and they were enveloped by a greyish circle.

Right after this, the dots finally started moving, and they formed a new shape, with two lines of dots and one single dot connecting them, as if forming an H, all of them with an orange glow. This one had an outline behind that could be identified as a boulder.

As this last image appeared, there was a group of voices, all of them as mechanical as Regigigas was, and they all said “Regis”

Blaze gasped as he came back form that vision, and he landed flat on his back in the ground, gasping and getting up to look to all sides, and he could only see the Sigilyth flying away from him.

The Blaziken stood there, sitting in the ground for a long time, as he tried to regain his breath, and to make sense of what had happened.

“What was that?” was all Blaze was able to mutter to himself. He had already heard of these strange attacks that the psych-type could make against their enemies, giving them these visions in order o confuse them and gain an upper hand in battle. However, he never imagined that they could give such a vision. It was nothing like Blaze had ever felt before.

He wondered just what was it he saw? Was it the psych powers messing with nhis mind, and using his memories of Regigigas to give him that strange vision? Blaze didn’t knew if it was true or not, he just knew that he had seem something strange in there. He knew that it was probably a trick of the Sigilyth, however, he had a very strange sensation when he saw it, and he could not shake the feeling that there was something more about what he saw.

The feeling he had was that…

It sounded very strange. Even crazy, maybe. But, he had the feeling that what he saw were not his own thoughts. He felt like… like he had been inside the Sigilyth’s mind. Like he had seem its own thoughts and its own feelings. It was like what he saw was much more than a vision determined only to mess with his mind and confuse him to allow the creature to run away. It was almost like the Sigilyth was trying to pass him a massage.

It was strange, and it was even strangest to think that the thing would want to talk to him after he had almost burned it. Yet, that was the feeling that Blaze had in his guts and in the back of his mind, and he felt like nothing nor no one was going to convince him of the opposite. And this thought kept echoing in the back of his mind as he finally was able to gather himself and go back up to start walking back.

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“You did a very good job today.” Said Flint to Blaze as the bigger pokemon looked at him “With these traps anyone that try to sneak in the place well have a big surprise.”

“I’m glad I helped.” Blaze said, and soon, Flint bit him farewell and went to check on the other volunteers. Blaze sighed, and he started walking back. He looked at the Needle Duster that they have gave him. This was yet another thing that he was allowed to keep as a reward for his work.

On his was, he met with Robin, the hooded Bannete that was member of the Hunters. He looked at Blaze, as he asked “You are from the Team Ancient Flame. From the Explorers?”

Blaze looked at him, and he answered “Yeah, its me, why?”

“I met a Maractus earlier.” He said, and for a moment, Blaze wondered if he was in trouble, but Robin seemed to be very calm when he said it, and he offered him a wrapped thing. “She asked me to give it to you.”

Blaze looked a bit surprised, but he took the wrapped thing, and he unwrapped it, to reveal a small piece of rock that had some short of Glyph in it. It seemed to be some short of shard, or a piece of a bigger stone that was broken. Blaze looked at it for a few moments, and he then looked at the paper that was wrapping it, and he realized that it was some kind of letter, and he read what was in there.

Thanks for hearing me and fordoing this favor. I know you may have a lot of questions, and I wish I could explain it all to you, but I can’t, not now, at least. Anyway, I want to thank you for this, and so, I’ll give you this. Sorry if it is not much, but is all I can give in the moment. I hope it is enough.

-Aisha

Blaze finished the letter, and he looked at the stone that was on his hand, and indeed, he had many questions that he wanted to ask the Maractus if he found her. But he was brought back to reality as Robin’s voice said “She seemed to be quite worried about you, do you know her?”

Blaze looked at him, and he said “Kind of. Do you know what this is?” he asked as he showed the stone.

“This? It is called a Petroglyph shard, or that was what I heard. It seems that the caravans have a lot of these with them.”

Blaze looked at the object. Maybe Aisha had not really a way of paying him for what he had done, and so, she decided to give him a small gift out of these. Maybe she was too poor. Well, anyway, Blaze was only happy that he had helped somehow, even if he was not sure how exactly he had helped.

Turning back to Robin he said, “So, I heard you were also giving a little money to whoever helped into the fields.” Well, you couldn’t blame Blaze for thinking about it. Robin looked at him, and he said, “Yeah, but we only pay it once to each team. Your team members already received.”

“They did?”

“Yeah, and they deserved, they did a really good job tonight. And they were in a great risk by doing so.”

“Risk?” Blaze asked, and Robin smiled as he said “I never imagined that a kid and a skinny bird would be able to hold their ground against such a big pokemon like that Galvantula. I mean, the guy is BIG! And also, he was one of the leaders of the goons that were attacking. They totally deserved their reward.”

As he said it, Robin walked away, not noticing or not caring at Blaze’s dumb folded expression.

“What…”