Blueberry Chili (Intermission 1)

"Madeline?"

A commotion arose from outside the shallow cave, hanging vegetation covering the entrance partially doing nothing to block the noise, however it blocked others from spotting the two Pokémon inside.

"Yeah, she was the Scholar's former leader who seemed to have gone rogue. The totems have been stolen by her and it's our job to get them back." Akino spoke to Acacia, rustling through his bag in search for an item of sorts. "Why would she do something like that?" The altaria's voice seemed betrayed as if Madeline had inflicted harm on him personally, his head cocking to the side to watch Akino continue searching through the contents of his bag. "I don't know, nor do I care. Just as long as we get them back, others won't have to suffer from her being reckless." He snorted, fishing out from his bag what he had been searching for.

"A necklace?"

"A charm actually." Akino corrected, coaxing Acacia to get right in front of him. "The totems serve the purpose of keeping poisonous gas at bay so we will no doubt encounter it. This charm will keep you safe." As he spoke he began to tie the warding charm around the altaria's throat like a choker. The altaria at first was smiling, yet his beak soon turned into a frown. "What about you? Won't you be vulnerable to the poison gas?" The electrike only turned to put the contents previously pulled out of his bag back in, silent at first before he eventually murmured to the altaria.

"Your wellbeing is much more important than my own."

Just by his expression, Acacia was obviously about to open his beak to protest, yet sighed and closed it, knowing no matter what he had to say, the electrike's mind would not change. Instead, he pipped up a new question: "Where did you get this anyway? I want to buy one myself when this is all over!" He gushed over the design as he ran the tips of his wing over the stone center charm in admiration. "I didn't buy it, I earned it. I'm not sure where they would have sold them if there was a shop for it." Akino closed his bag's flap and fastened it shut as he finished speaking, readjusting it around his waist.

"Well, what did you do to earn it?"

There was a very noticeable grimace on the electrike's expression as Acacia asked, the altaria not expecting that type of reaction in the slightest. "I had to babysit a kid." Acacia blinked rapidly and practically sputtered "A kid?? Oh gosh, the poor thing is still alive isn't it??" Akino puffed his cheeks slightly his hackles raising ever so lightly. "Of course she is!" He immediately calmed down though, a short smile creasing his maw and a chuckle escaped his lips at his friend's comment.

"Well don't leave me hanging! Tell me this tale!"

Akino worked his jaw and glanced out to where everyone else was, then to the altaria eagerly awaiting a story. "I suppose I can if I make it quick..."

-------------------

"Chili, stop straying off," Akino growled, his eyes following the feisty buneary who was hopping around and punching the air, often exceeding the boundary he had set for her. "This is lame! Are we really going to be hanging around here the entire day?" She groaned, her ears dropping in annoyance. "Yes, we are. The only reason why I'm putting up with a brat like you is because the reward would come in handy." His tone was no less than biting, yet the kid did not flinch like most would at his words. "Come on! My mom told me you have done work for the Trackers, so you got to be fun in some way!" The delinquent rapidly pat her foot on the ground in a form of showing her displeasure. She then hopped forward and narrowed her gaze in an attempt to intimidate him, yet their size difference was not in her favor.

Akino lifted his front paw and placed it lightly at first on her forehead before roughly shoving her back without any warning. The buneary staggered back before landing on her rump after she had been unable to keep herself steady. "Being fun was not in the job description." He spoke in a deadpan tone and lifted the book he had been previously been reading back over his face. It was quite a riveting tale as far as books go... Before he could finish even a single sentence in the text, Chili's grating voice (to him anyway) met his ears again. "Oh, your gonna get it you overgrown blueberry!"

Now there's a nickname he hasn't been given before.

Before he could even lower the book from his face, it rammed into his snout, the buneary punching the book's spine. The pages crinkled against his face, but besides the book, he suffered no damage except his nose being a bit sore. The book fell from his paws and onto the ground, the electrike snarling the moment he saw Chili right in front of him, fist still raised.

This kid was dead.

His eyes flashed pink momentarily before he forced his paw forward right into the kid's chest, having had mimicked her previous attack. She skid quite a ways back yet did not tumble, having had endured the hit in its entirety. However, that didn't mean she wasn't hurting. "Ha! See that was fun! Now, let's continue this elsewhere!" With a sudden spring, she was back at full height and now racing away from the shiny electrike's boundary.

This kid was mega dead.

"Chili get back here!" He snapped, yet the order was in vain as the kid was nearly out of sight already. He bared his teeth and thundered after the kid, having to pinpoint her fast before she was gone altogether. Luckily that wouldn't be too hard. She had seemed to leave a path of destruction in her wake. Pokemon lifting themselves back up after being tripped, a few carts being tipped, and other 'casualties' from the buneary's rambunctious behavior were easily noted, aiding him in finding out where she went.

He turned the corner and found himself at a dead end...or so he thought. He squinted his eyes and noticed a section that dipped into the earth and he stepped toward it peering inside. "Oh, Hey." The stranger's voice caught him off guard and his paw quickly lifted and smacked down on whatever made that noise. He blinked and lifted his paw only to find some loose dirt.

What on earth?

"Careful bud, you almost crushed me." The voice said again yet on the opposite side of him. He turned to see a small diglett looking up at him, blinking. "Wha- nevermind. Did you see a buneary run in here?" He asked, glancing between the opening and the diglett. "Yeah, she was hollering and whatnot, I doubt she was gonna get some dirt for the tunnels. Speaking of which could you bring some back from in there? I'll give you a reward." Akino was more focused on Chili to listen but he made out the basics of Getting dirt and getting a reward. "Mhm yeah, thanks." He spoke offhandedly before running into the tunnel after Chili.

Zeb watched his decent, blinking "Huh, maybe I should have told him about the ghosts...Oh well."

----------

Where the hell was that damn rabbit?

Akino's nose was flooded too much with the loam of the dirt around him to be able to pinpoint the kid's scent exactly. Either that or she had already been through the entire place. He could hear her yet her voice bounced around the cave system, having a hard time pinpointing her.

This was becoming a bigger headache than he had anticipated.

It had to have been at least a half hour of walking around those caves to the point where he began to think Chili gave him the slip back out onto the surface. He was tired of walking in circles and felt as if he was being watched, however, he had no idea what. It was unsettling, to say the least, to not know. He paused where he was and glanced around, lifting his ears slightly to try to pinpoint any noise that could have belonged to Chili.

There was a slight shifting sound and he looked up and all around him yet saw nothing. His eyes squinted before it got louder and he turned around just to see a large portrait of the dirt wall began to descend on top of him. He shot back to avoid the brunt of it, yet small portions rained down on his head. He looked up with a growl, two shuppet floating out of the wall, giggling before floating down the cave system.

The nerve of them.

"Hey!" He called, trotting after them, the two not going fast enough to need to chase after. They looked down to Akino with a grin before back at each other. "Come with! Come with!" That was when they began to fly forward much more quickly. He trotted after them still a bit annoyed, but his curiosity had been peaked.

After a few winding turns, he began to hear a familiar buneary.

"I'm not afraid of no ghost! Come down here so I can give you a good walloping!"

As Akino turned the corner, he began to witness Chili try and leap up and take a swing at a trio of duskull just out of her reach. Akino blinked and watched the shuppet shift into the wall directly behind her, beginning to loosen it like they had done to him previously. He merely sat and watched, curious to see how it would play out.

As she was far too busy with the duskull, she had been completely oblivious to the shuppet behind her. " Now you three better get ready cause I'm about to rock you! You won't even see what's coming cause I'm so fast and strong, you messed with the wrong-!" With an audible crunch, the wall shifted and completely buried the buneary in a good couple feet of dirt. The ghosts erupted in laughter and escaped into the walls to avoid the rabbit's wrath when she resurfaced.

He had to admit he had to stifle his own laugh.

Akino stepped forward and made sure he was there before it happened. He sniffed where she was buried, already noticing the dirt begin to shift. This dirt smelled a bit different...was this the dirt the diglett mentioned? He glanced around and noticed large mounds practically littering the area and assumed so. He scooped a large amount into his bag and the moment Chili's head popped out from her dirt tomb, he grabbed her scruff and began to search for the exit despite her protests.

This is why he was never having kids.

------------

"Okay, you did hit her, but I'm glad to hear you didn't inflict any life changing wounds." Acacia exhaled in relief and stood up tall. Akino merely grunted, seeming to still relive that day with that delinquent. "Come on Akino, we got Madeline to catch!" The altaria cheered, snapping him out of his trance. He merely nodded and followed after him and out where the others had gathered.