The next morning, they prepared to go to Rivercross Acres. They helped Marth and Robin to move them to the wagons, Peach was also coming with them; Alex was still tired, but with enough energy to at least a quick fight; and Zack told Jack to scout ahead the zone and tell them about the bandit activity. When they were ready, they departed. The ride took a little longer than the one from Tabira to Mooswood. When they reached their destination, they went to meet Cornelius and Sinclair.
“Hello, I’m Cornelius, the overseer of Rivercross Acres” The Unfezant presented.
“And I’m Sinclair, keeper’s gardener. I´m pleased to meet you” The Aggron added.
“The pleasure is ours” Zack replied.
“So what we have to do?” Stella asked.
“We have a problem with the bandits. They set up a camp near here. We need help to protect both the people and the plantations” Sinclair explained. ”Some of the attacks happened during the night, so a part of your group will have to do night guard. Since the bandits don’t have any kind of backup, try to drive them out. If they surrender or only need a small amount of food, you can accept that”
“And if you can, I need you to help me with the plantations. I can explain that later” Cornelius added.
“Can you give us a moment to organize ourselves?” Alex asked.
“Sure” Sinclair answered.
The entire group made a circle and discussed how they going to proceed.
“So how are going to do it?” Horace asked.
“The most logical thing to do is to distribute according of what we can do” Stephan answered.
“That’s an option, but the ones on guard can also work in the plantations too, passing the resources to others, but more relaxed to respond quickly in case of an ambush” Zack suggested.
“Well, the Pokémon who don’t want to fight can do the work” Diego commented.
“Okay then, who’s going to help with the plantations?” Alex asked.
“M-Me” Peach offered.
“Me t-too” Yang offered too.
“I guess I can do that” Stephan said.
“Alright, Sonya, you’ll stay with Yang?” Zack asked.
“You don’t even have to ask me that” Sonya answered.
“I wanted to be sure, that’s all. Marth and Robin, in your condition, you’ll have to do the guard duty near one of the others or stay here protecting the farms” He explained.
“We’ll stay near the farms, just in case someone tries to sneak in” Marth decided.
“That leaves the rest of us distributed in the plantations helping and waiting for the bandits”
“I don’t think we’ll have many problems” Robin assured.
“Let’s hope that” Gary said.
When they were organized, Zack went to Cornelius and Sinclair and explained the plan. They accepted immediately and started to go to their respective places. There was another team helping. It was team Guang. While Alex was moving in the periphery of the plantations, he saw a big flame inside them and someone was moving in his direction. He waited, preparing himself to catch the bandit. The pokémon who exited the plantations was nothing more than Xavier, crawling with his body completely roasted. Alex laughed out load of that and approached to him.
“So, you demonstrated that you’re not fireproof?” He asked.
Xavier looked at him. “Oh. Hi Alex”
“We warned you about Penelope, but you went up and ignited the hell itself”
“It was worth it” He said with a face of accomplishment, even with the pain.
“Aha. You want some help?”
“Please”
Alex grabbed him and took him to the nearest tree and made him sit. Then, he gave him an oran berry to recover and brought some water for cleansing.
“So, you evolved?” Xavier asked.
“Yeah, after sending Morgan flying to her house with an Aura Sphere” Alex answered.
“Heh, but you did the other missions?”
“All of them, we have the last one here”
“Ah”
“You know something about the bandits?”
“Some of them are only trying to get some food, but there’s a pair of them that could cause more trouble than the others”
“Can you bring the group that needs it?”
“I think I can do that. Just so you know, they’re just people who had a bad time and they don’t fight the way the other bandits do, but the others would try anything to steal it”
“Leave that to us, you need something else?”
“Not really, I’m just heading back, but I think I’ll be back for a last fight”
“I think a team would really like a rematch with you”
“That will be interesting” Xavier started to move, but he turned around, waved his right paw and said: “I’ll see you guys later”
Alex returned to his work, knowing that he’ll need a plan for that people. ‘If I remember correctly, the plantations works with a certain amount of feed they need to accomplish. When they reach it, the surplus will be stored. We can use some of that’ He analyzed. But the problem is convincing them to stop. He went to Zack and explained what Xavier told to him.
“Jack confirmed when he explored the bandit camp” Zack said. “We need a way to show them that they can plant and harvest their own food, without having to steal it”
“But how? I guess that’s the only way they know”
“Mmm, perhaps there is a way, but we need to talk to Cornelius to be sure if he agrees to do it”
They went to Cornelius and explained the entire situation. At first it was reluctant, but when they showed him a way to get them to their side, he accepted. Then Zack, Alex and Cornelius gathered the extras of the production near an empty farm and waited. After twenty minutes, the group showed up. It consisted of a Vigoroth, a Furfrou, a Totodile and a Sentret. All of them looked like they didn’t eat anything for some time. None of them attempted to attack, since they were too weak to do that.
Then Alex spoke: “Alright, as far as I know, you’re here because of the food, is that correct?
They all nodded.
“But you know you cannot buy it, so you have to steal it, am I right?” Zack asked.
They nodded again.
“Do you think is the only thing you can do?” Alex continued.
They took a moment, and then the Vigoroth answered. “No, but what else can we do? No one gave us a job or an opportunity to help in anything that pays us money”
“Why?”
“Because they said our ideas our way to do those works don’t fit with their standards” He answered.
“And if they give you one, would you stop stealing?” Zack asked again.
Then the Sentret answered. “Yeah, we can do that. We didn’t want to steal in the first place, but our circumstances made us take the choice”
Then Alex looked to Cornelius and asked: “Do you think you can employ them?”
“If they don’t give any trouble and those ways they spoke make them do the work faster, I’ll let them stay” He answered.
Then Alex looked back to the group and said: “Now you have a chance. Rivercross Acres need a lot of workers right now, since the increasing of the demand in their products. As you can see behind me, there’s some food you can have, but if you want more, you’ll need to work for it. Would you take the opportunity or let it pass away?”
The answer came faster than an Extreme Speed.
“If you do that for us, we’ll not steal for the rest of our lives” Tha Totodile said.
“I guess that’s a deal” Zack commented.
“I’ll give you a place to live, since some of the farmers are gone, but starting tomorrow I want every one of you at the first hour of the morning, because we have a lot to do” Cornelius explained.
“We promise we’ll do our best” The Vigoroth assured.
“There’s one more thing I’ll ask of you. We need to know about the other bandits” Alex said.
The Furfrou told them that they’re five more, they’re going to attack at different times and they even told them where they going to do them. With that new information, Zack and Alex thanked them and headed right back to the others to alert them. While they do that, Alex told to the tam Harvester that Xavier will come to fight, if they wanted a rematch. Horace, with a grin on his face, said that they would be glad to kick his ass one more time. When they were prepared, they moved as they know nothing.
The first attack was in the position where Diego and Hybris were, at one of the outer plantations. The bandit was a Glameow with nothing more than a bag. The fight didn’t take long and the bandit surrendered. The second, occurred near where Peach was, at the plantations of the middle. It was a Sandshrew with a small knife and a scarf. She was petrified with fear and the Sadshrew took advantage of that by threating her. At the same moment, Zack was patrolling from the air and when he saw that she was in danger, he plunged toward them and launched a Dark Pulse. The Sandshrew evaded the attack, but before he could counterattack, Zack used Psychic to restrain him.
“Are you okay Peach?” He asked, moving beside her.
“Y-Y-Yeah” She said, still shaking.
“Okay, stand behind me”
She did what she was told and Zack faced the Sandshrew who was trying to escape from his grip.
“You have two options, you can surrender and retreat, or we’ll see if a Sandshrew can fly without wings” He declared.
“I surrender, I surrender!” The Sandshrew pleaded.
He released him and the Sandshrew run as far away as possible. When Peach recovered from the fright, she asked:
“Y-you were really g-going to do t-that?”
“I’m hold loyal to my word” He answered “You want to get back to the farm?”
“P-please”
“Okay, the plantations are getting more dangerous anyway” And both of them headed back.
The third attack happened a few minutes later in the inner plantations. It was Xavier against the team Harvester.
“The last time we saw you, we kicked your sorry ass. I’m intended to do that again” Horace said decided.
“Oh, I want to see you try. Let this duel commence” He said with a smirk on his face.
Xavier, instead of using Magic Room as usual, attacked straight up, using flame charge. Harold and Gary evaded and started the counterattack. Harold used Acrobatics to confuse him and Gary used Thunderbolt to paralyze him. Xavier dodged Harold, but Gary was able to hit him. They fought for some time, but at the end, Xavier was beaten once again.
“Well, I guess we did it” Horace said.
“Yeah, I overestimated my possibilities again. Whatever, I’ll go now”
“Wait, you didn’t come to steal anything?” Gary asked.
“Not really, I just came to piss off some people. Well, see ya” And Xavier went off.
There were not more attacks until the evening, in another place of the inner plantations, where teams Pathfinders and Electrophilic were carrying some of the crops. It was a Nuzleaf with a vest and two daggers. She was more aggressive and with the protection she was wearing, it required more firepower to drive her out. Both teams got tired from the fight and went directly to the farms to take a rest. At that moment, teams Emblem’s flame and Shadow foxes discussed their situation.
“Two more bandits are still out there” Marth mentioned.
“They’re going to attack in the night and if Xavier was right, it’s going to be a hard fight” Zack said.
“The others are too tired to do the night guard. I think it falls to us to protect them and the farms” Robin declared.
“True, but instead to all of us watch the place, one will do it and let them come to us” Alex recommended.
“And when they’re in range, we attack them” Marth finished the idea.
“In that case, I can do that; it’s really difficult to find a Murkrow in the middle of the night, more if it’s in the sky” Zack offerd.
“Okay, let’s hope we can finish this soon so we can have some hours of sleep” Alex said.
The plan consisted of hiding below some of the wagons left to load the crops and wait while Zack patrols from the sky at some height, so he would not be detected. They waited for at least two hours, but every sound in the plantations was getting the trio more alert. Then Zack landed in front of them.
“They’re coming from different directions” He said. “A Nidorina and a Primeape”
“Are you sure?” Robin asked.
“Completely, I saw their illustrations, its Nadine and Sloan”
“I remember that Nadine is known to be a strategist and Sloan, a brute” Alex said.
“Yeah, but from what I saw, they attacking independently; that means we have to divide ourselves to take them out” Zack explained.
“And how we can do that?” Robin asked.
Zack thought for a moment. “Leave the Nadine to me”
“Can you beat her?” Alex asked.
“It’s possible; just make sure that Sloan fall back” And Zack went to wait for Nadine.
“You have an idea of how we’re going to beat him?” Marth asked to Alex.
“We have to launch ranged attacks to weaken him enough, stay out of his reach and finish him with fast and powerful close attacks; other than that, I don’t have more ideas”
“We’ll manage somehow” Robin assured.
They waited a few more minutes and they saw the silhouette of Sloan. He stopped and glanced to the farm, some meters ahead. Then, he charged towards it. ‘Alright, remember what Zack taught you about the basis of the Psychic move’ Alex remembered. He extended his paw and concentrated only on grabbing Sloan with his mind. Then his eyes started to glow and without even realizing, the bandit stopped. Then, Alex threw him far away from the farm, making him slamming to the ground. The effort was great, because it was the first time he moved a big object with just his mind and Alex weakened a little.
Taking advantage of the opportunity; Marth, Alex and Robin went out from their hiding and surrounded Sloan. When he recovered, he saw the three of them, ready to fight. Without saying any word, he threw himself at Robin and used Close Combat to finish her off. At the same moment, she was saying a spell with her book opened. With some difficulty, she evaded the attack and launched a lightning against the bandit. Not wasting any time, Alex charged an Aura Sphere and launched at the same time. Both attack found their target, but Sloan wasn’t finished yet. Since Marth was still weak and didn’t have any ranged attack he passed between Alex and Robin to cover them.
They kept fighting and keeping their distance from the bandit who was using all of his moves. After some minutes, Sloan was weakened enough. In that time, Marth lost his balance and fell to the ground. Sloan almost hit him with a Night Slash, but Robin got him out. Not wanting him to do anything else, the three of them attacked at the same time; using Thunder punch, Iron tail and the Sol combo move. ‘Well, I’m still keeping the Thunder punch’ Alex thought. With that, Sloan finally fainted. The trio got tired.
“*Pant*I think we defeated him*Pant*” Robing said.
“I thought he was still keeping going” Alex commented.
They took a minute to catch their breath. When they recovered, they saw Sloan, still unconscious.
“We have to do something with him, we cannot let him here” Marth said.
“I’ll go to Sinclar and bring her here; we’re going to need help” Alex decided and went off.
Marth and Robin sat down waited.
“Robin, thanks for the help” Marth said.
“You’re welcome, but please, don’t rush like that again. You almost got smashed from that bandit” She suggested.
“I was covering both of you”
“I know, but you could stay with Alex. I wasn’t in imminent danger at that moment”
“We were together in this; and the only thing I could do was protect you”
“We’ll just leave it at that; none of us will change the other’s mind”
“Alright”
Alex brought Sinclair to where Sloan was. She told them to help her in taking the bandit out of Rivercross Acres and leave him in a place where he’ll not disturb. They took quite some time in doing that, but they left him near some rocks far from the road.
While Alex and the others were dealing with Sloan, Zack followed Nadina. Her target was a warehouse where they keeping some value items. When she was trying to open the door, Zack used Psychic and threw her next to him.
“Something you’ll need to steal?” He asked.
She stood up and faced Zack. “I was hoping to pass unnoticed”
“You’ll have to do better than that, darling” Zack said with a soft smile.
She launched Toxic spikes at him, but he flew to avoid them and landed at the opposite side.
He continued. “You’re smart, but not enough to consider all the factors; I’m disappointed of you” And he used Psychic again and pushed her back.
She used water pulse to make him flinch, hitting the target and after, used mimic and used Psychic against Zack.
“One of the good things of the Dark types is that they don’t have to worry of their own psychic moves if they’re mimicked” He explained and used Psychic to restrain her.
Like anybody else who was trapped by Zack, Nadina struggled to free herself, but it was in vain. Zack approached to her and talked with authority.
“In my perspective, you’re a decent bandit, but you still lack in experience; I’ll let you go if you promise to never come back to this place, because if you do, I’ll make sure you never steal again in your life”
Nadina gulped as the last sentence. Looking to his eyes, she knew that he’ll do that if she crossed with him, so she promised to leave. Then Zack released her, and she run back to the bandit camp. He went back to the others and told them that Nadina was retreating. Since there were no more bandit attacks, they went to the farm and got to sleep.
The next day they presented again to Cornelius and Sinclair to tell them that they’re going back to Tabira.
“I really appreciated all of your efforts; the quantity of crops you harvested should be enough and the Pokémon you two brought in are working in the plantations right know; they still get accustomed to the labor and how thy doing is strange, but I think they will be a good aid” Cornelius explained.
“Glad to hear it” Alex said.
“And with the bandit problem took care off for a while, more farmers will come back and increase the production rate” Sinclair added.
“Well that’s a relief, we’ll definitely need it” Stephan commented.
“That’s right, I thank all of you for the help; have a safe trip back to Tabira” Cornelius said.
“I’ll hope I see you around” Sinclair said.
With all the missions accomplished, the group headed back to Tabira to recover and have a well and deserved rest.
