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Dragonqueen101 — ATBU: Mission 1 Part 1/2
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Published: 2021-08-13 01:22:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 12486; Favourites: 41; Downloads: 2
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Next: ATBU: Mission 1 Part 2/2
Crucible stood tall in her mountain arena. Opponent after opponent fell before her, she was the supreme champion. With her strength, she managed to claim the hot springs from the Frost family in the name of hers. She received praise from her mother, respect from her father, and adoration from her siblings and relatives for her unchallenged might. Everything was perfect. It was time for her next opponent. She turned into an empty arena covered in fog. She looked around, not a soul was in sight. She tried to seek answers from her family, but she was the only one. She walked through the dense fog trying to find any signs of life, the flame on her tail her only company. She cried out into the void only to be met with silence. She shook her head trying to shake the sudden dizziness away. She looked down at her claws. They were smoking, the vapor mixing with the surrounding fog. She panicked, her body was fading away, blending into her misty background. She screamed, but even her voice was stolen away. Her body was gone, all that remained was her head, silently screaming into a void filled mist.
BONG
The noise was loud and abrupt. Crucible’s eyes shot open. Her claws were clutched aggressively on the soft bedding below her, teeth clenched shut.
BONG
The noise sounded again. A bell? A gong? Crucible was too groggy to tell. She shook herself, trying to wake up. She let go of the bedding, stood up, and tried to smooth out the mess she made. She looked at her shakey claws as she shifted the blanket about. Solid. A noise to her side took her by surprise. She looked to see an ice-blue body skewen about the place. She glared. Avin. Her memories of the past several weeks wandered back into her mind. Traveling with Avin, him whining for weeks, Castanet, the Guilds, and...her family. She closed her eyes and dismissed the thought.
BONG
Crucible huffed irritably, walked slightly past Avin, and used her back claws to kick him in the side, rolling him over in blankets. He gave a high-pitched shriek of alarm.
“Up.”
Crucible gave a side-eye to the Vuplix, his eyes striking daggers at her as he wrestled out of his blanket prison. Crucible walked outside, taking in the fresh ocean air. It was heavy with the briny water of the sea, much heavier than the air in her mountain home. She sneezed. Crucible hated the ocean. The bumbling noise behind her informed her Avin was up. She heard the Vulpix emerge from behind her.
“Do you have to be so aggressive?” The Vulpix complained.
Crucible sighed, “Perhaps if you didn’t sleep like the dead, I wouldn’t need to use force.”
“A gentle shake would have sufficed.” Avin grumbled.
Crucible wasn’t paying attention, she was watching several pokemon move along the walkways to the Guilds. She decided to follow the lead of others and make her way towards the Explorer’s guild.
“So what exactly is going on?” Avin yawned, “Anything important? Missions?”
Crucible didn’t respond to him. She honestly didn’t know and didn’t have anything to tell him. So she left his question to drift on the wind.
“You’re an incredible conversationalist, you know. SO personable and informative.” Avin sarcastically put.
Crucible huffed again, not wanting to deal with the Vuplix’s sarcasm and cranky attitude. It was bad enough they didn’t know where they were, but after being told that going back into the fog was a death sentence she realized they were stuck, which made things worse. She missed her mountain home so much.
“Are you even listening?”
Avin’s voice barged into her thoughts, “No.” Crucible spat.
In the short time Crucible had been with Avin, she learned one thing: Avin likes to talk. It’s not even anything useful or productive, it’s just noise. She hates it. Vapid words that amount to nothing. The past few weeks she has learned the incredible skill of tuning him out completely. Instead, she focused on everything around her. The wind blew assertively against their bodies, while the sun crept through the sky and illuminated the world below. Pokemon of all walks of light hurried through the streets, as if late for some important appointment. It was easy to pick out the Guild Pokemon, they were a bit blissful. A small Skitty skipped past, their little bow yielding to their speed, with a big grin smeared across their face. She sneered. She didn’t like being around so many Pokemon she didn’t know.
The Explorer’s Guild was a large and imposing building. Crucible wondered what a large building could hold inside. She looked up at the sign, taking in the colorful letters on the dangling, wooden sign. She knew there was going to be a lot of new Pokemon had been popping out from the fog randomly for the last several weeks. Pokemon for far off places, unknown to her and unknown about her. Her claws felt cemented in place.
“What’s wrong with you?” Avin said moving towards the doorway of the Guild, “Is the ‘powerful Crucible' afraid of buildings?” He smirked at Crucible and walked through the doors that shut behind him.
Crucible sighed and pressed through the heavy wooden doors. Inside she was greeted with a clamor of voices that pierced her ears. She flinched at the harassment of noise. She thought Avin was bad, this cacophony of shouting, screaming, hooting, and hollering was overwhelming. She slammed her eyes shut trying to block out the noise. Words buzzed in her head of all the conversations going on. She couldn’t tune it out. Pokemon talking about fur color, where they came from, useless information rattled in her brain.
“Something wrong, Smoke Skull?”
Crucible opened her eyes to see Avin smirking slyly at her. She took a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of dark smoke into his face. Avin began coughing heavily. Seems Avin’s annoying voice was good for something: bringing her back to reality. She assumed that it was because she was so accustomed to hearing his voice, it was easy to pick out of the crowd. Crucible collected herself, as Avin tried to recover, looking around to see most of the Explorer’s members heading through another pair of doors in the back. Pushing past the crowd and through the door, the building opened into an open area filled with tires, wooden beams, metal pipes, and more. Seems this is why the building is so big. Standing in the front of a large crowd was Madeline and Briar. Madeline stood tall as she addressed the mass of Guild Members,
“Alright Explorers! You’re all standing here in front of me, with dreams of great adventures, epic battles, and going down in history as one of the greatest heroes ever to grace the world! ...But unfortunately, none of you would last a day, to put it bluntly. You have no idea what you're doing. Why, sending you all out there now would be like sending you to your graves!”
Crucible scoffed. She knew very well she could hold her own better than anyone here, but it was true she didn’t know what she was doing. She listened to Madeline explain how the Explorer’s will be partaking in an obstacle course and competing with one another. Everyone will be reviewed at the end based on their performance. Suddenly, a loud bang was heard behind everyone. Crucible turned to see a Roserade push through, Crucible moved to the side to let the small grass-type through.
“Briar! Briar! You have to help me! T..t..the park! It was it.. It was completely torn to pieces..”
The Roserade’s voice was shrill and distressed. He went on about how the square was destroyed by teenagers and needed help to fix the place up so they don’t lose funding. Briar’s reaction was shock,
“Okay greenhorns change of plans. Some of you are going to help the mayor today with cleaning the park.”
Briar rushed off, turning back to address the Member’s again, “I know this isn't what you were expecting, but the Explorers’ sole reason for existing is to help those in need. I don’t want any whining and groaning from the lot of you. Now, let’s get to work!” He rushed through the doors, followed by several enthusiastic groups of Pokemon.
“How about it, Smoke Skull? Care to be useful and help clean?” Avin looked at her cheekily.
“No. I’m fighting.” Crucible flicked her tail, sending up sparks.
“Oh, who could have predicted that!” Avin placed his paws on his mouth to act surprised, “Well I’m going.”
Crucible stepped in front of him, “You’re staying. You only want to clean because it’s easy, but you need to stop being dead weight .”
“Listen here, I have finally gotten free of having to fight for a living. I’m not starting this new life with. Fighting. For. A. Living.” Avin tried to shove past Crucible, but she shoved back, throwing him to the ground.
“You can’t even push past me, how do you expect to hold your own? Running? Whining? You won’t survive a minute out there. I should know, I was the one protecting us for weeks.” Crucible growled.
Avin picked himself up, “You keep holding that above my head, yet I’m the one that got us out of that cave and even talked our way into the Guild.” Avin began smoothing out his ruffled fur, “You think you’re better than you actually are.”
Crucible watched Avin walk around her and out the doors leading into the main guild hall. She stared at the door for a minute or two after Avin disappeared. She hated him, she was good, she was the best, even. She’ll prove just how good she is during the course. Crucible felt a little tap on her shoulder,
“You ok? I saw what happened.”
Crucible looked over to see a Jangmo-o, soft-faced with a blue scarf along his neck that held a decent sized guitar, and a Timburr, timid by nature with large pigtails bobbing to the side and a tool belt wrapped around her midriff. Crucible didn’t know why these two Pokemon approached her,
“Uh, something wrong?”
The Jangmo-o’s face turned from concern to confusion as Crucible stared at the two. She shook her head,
“Fine.” she snapped and quickly shuffled away towards Madeline .
She noticed several Pokemon already attempting the obstacle course, jumping, running, and climbing. She noticed that there was a large skill rift with the Members, making it easy to pick out each Member’s level. The beginners or young ones that were fumbling around and tripping were easily passed by the more agile and experienced fighters. She could see what Madeline meant.
“So you want to do the course? That’s great!” Madeline was enthusiastic as ever when she spoke, “You’ll be running the course and at the end you can jump into sparring matches with the other Members. Of course you can either take a break or pass on it all together, don’t want you over-doing yourself after all!” She laughed and directed Crucible to the beginning of the course.
This was Crucible’s moment to show what she was capable of, all her time being forced to travel on the unstable rock faces of their home, traversing through the torrential hail storms on winding paths, and combat training in the pelting rain of thunderstorms, this course was nothing. She was bred for this. Several other Pokemon lined up to the sides of her. Madeline gave the order and everyone rushed to the first obstacle. There were wooden beams ranging in sizes for Pokemon to hull themselves over based on size and height. Crucible jumped for the first one, dug her claws in, hoisting herself over effortlessly . A handful of Guild mates struggled to get over the first bar but there were more than expected that got over. One in particular caught her eye, a Zeraora with a blue scarf around her neck and a large scar across her nose. Definitely one that has seen battle. The Zeraora dashed forward past Crucible as the two hoisted themselves past others, their speed was impressive. Crucible launched herself forward, clearing the first test. The next was an assortment, parallel bars that others had to bounce between to move forward. Crucible dashed past the slower Pokemon already tired for the first challenge. When her claws touched the metal, the cold seeped into her palm but she kicked off, not letting it get to her. The force of her push caused the bars to rattle, throwing off the balance of those in front of her. Many fell, allowing Crucible to pass.
Second obstacle passed and the next were similar. There was a long balance beam, rope wall, uneven platforms, and a few more hurdles. She treated them before, blowing past them with ease and staggering and the weaker Pokemon out of the way. Then came one of her favorites, the wall. A long horizontal wall that stretched up high. She smiled and leaped onto it, digging her claws in. She used her strength to throw herself upwards past several struggling ‘mon. She startled one or two and caused one to plummet back down to the bottom. She got to the top and looked back to see if the one that fell was injured. Crucible saw several pokemon helping up the shaken Pokemon, but they looked unharmed so she pressed on. She climbed halfway down the wall and dropped down to the next obstacle. There was only one more left, the tires. She didn’t understand why this one was difficult for most, it was simply placing one foot in front of the other. However, many missed their step and toppled, often taking the tire with them. For this, she’d have to be on two legs to be able to get past the others. She propped herself to her full height, tucked her arms in, and stretched her tail out for balance. Hopping through the rubber tires was easy, but a Pokemon managed to push her and caused her to stumble. She managed to stop herself from falling, but felt a force at the back of her head. A small, snide little Zorua with long fur gave her a wicked smile while using her head as a platform to push forward. Crucible’s heat rose as her temper boiled. Shooting past the other Pokemon with little regard for their wellbeing, she tried to get at the Zorua to give them a taste of her fury. At the end of the course was a crowd of Pokemon catching their breath. She saw the Zorua dive said crowd and disappeared. She reached the end of the course and began scouring the palace looking for the Zorua, but it’s as if they completely vanished.
She flicked her tail in frustration as black smoke leaked from her nostrils. She walked around, keeping eyes open for the annoying brat. She prowled around the groups of pokemon, examining each one carefully. A sharp, dull pain suddenly hit the back of her head. She turned, growling, and looked around to see several Pokemon staring at her. She looked down to see a small rock on the ground. She picked it up to look at it. From the corner of her eye, she caught another rock hurtling towards her. She moved her head to the side in time for it to fly behind her. She looked in the direction of the projectile to see an Eevee with a shocked expression and a rock in their paw. Crucible’s growl was accompanied with smoke plumes that poured from her nose like Torkoal. Putting on a burst of speed, she went after her assaulter, barreling through a group of Pokemon as the Eevee tried to use them to get away. She pounced on the Eevee, pinning them to the ground. Her smoke turned to fire as her teeth were wrapped in flame. The Eevee’s eyes began to water as tears streamed down their face and they began to wail. Crucible stopped mid-attack, the fire fizzling from her teeth, and she stared down confused. Why were they crying? They wanted a fight and they got it, so why are they sad? In a split second, their expression changed to a toothy grin as claws lashed out at Crucible’s face.
Crucible closed her eyes and clenched her teeth as the Eevee cuts stung. Her teeth gained a bright orange and yellow hue. When the claws slowed down, she yanked her head back to stagger the attacks. She opened her jaw and propelled her head down onto the Eevee, the sudden burst of air making flames lap at the edges of her mouth. She planted her scorching teeth into the Eevee’s pelt, dragged them out off the ground, and tossed them to the side. The cream colored hide of the Eevee was replaced with a dark grey with accents of red and black. That same Zorua kid. There was no running now. Crucible took a deep breath, a scorching ball of fire erupted from her mouth and hurtled towards the Zorua. Realizing the attack, the young Zorua zipped out of the way of the orb, causing it to impact the ground and burst into a flurry of flames. Crucible snarled. She spun around, summoning up bright maroon energy that tangled itself around her, infusing Crucible with power and speed. Zorua charged towards Crucible, wielding a gruesome face, causing Crucible to be hesitant with her next attack. Her fangs glowing, readying herself against the Zorua. They jumped, Crucible responded the same, and the two hurtled towards each other mid air. Crucible opened her mouth wide, ready to sink her teeth in, but the Zorua twisted themselves to dodge. They raked their claws along Crucible’s side. She winced in pain, but followed the flow of their movement and took aim. Her tail glowing a bright green, she twisted her body into the fall, catching the Zorua in the stomach, tossing them to the ground. Crucible landed in front of the Zorua. She turned to see them staggering to pull themselves off the ground. She smirked.
A sudden punch to the side of the jaw knocked her out of her prideful moment. Electricity danced in the air at the impact, leaving the lasting sensation of numbness. She rubs her cheek, trying to return the feeling, and turns to her assaulter. That same Zeraora from before was scowling at her. Crucible smirked, finally an actual challenge. Crucible performed her previous dance, infusing herself with the same maroon glow that energized her. Zeraora dashed forward, tail reflecting a metallic sheen. Crucible, with her additional speed, charged towards the Iron tail with her own glowing tail. When the two got close, Crucible jumped, trying to throw off the attack, but they quickly got on all fours and redirected their attack. Crucible twisted her body to have her tail smack against the iron. The sound of the impact reverberated in the air like a hammer smashing a metal anvil. The force of their collision pushed Crucible to the ground, while knocking over the Zerora.Crucible watched the Zerora pulling themselves up, so she decided to fire off a Flame Burst. She summoned up a ball of fire and hurtled it at the Zeraora. The impact caused the fire to erupt into a bloom of sparks. Crucible smiled. But when the flames yielded to the charging force of the Zerora, her smile vanished. With fists glowing a bright green, they hurtled towards Crucible with intense speed. She put her arms up to block the damage but her speed wasn’t enough and they landed a direct hit in Crucible's stomach, knocking her back. She gasped, anger rising, tail burning bright. She summoned up her scorching fangs. Zeraora’s eyes begin glowing red, as a veil of aura the same hue took over them. They both dashed forward. This would end it. A blur entered between them, but Crucible couldn’t catch it. Her vision was overtaken by a large, red, barrier. Her teeth impacted with a loud ‘ting’ and fire to spill out. She pulled away to see the barrier had been erected by Madeline.
“That’s enough!” Madeline shouted, “If you guys continue like that , you may actually hurt one another.” Madeline tried to laugh it off, “But you two should take a break, I think you’ve had enough fighting for one day.” She smiled sweetly and dropped the barrier.
“You can’t be serious...” The Zeraora’s voice had an edge of venom in it, “You’re going to let that bully get away with beating down on others?”
Crucible growled at the Zeraora’s words, she wasn’t beating down on anyone that didn’t pick a fight with her first.
Madeline put her hands up to block the two of them, “Alright, alright. You two are heated from your fight, but I’ve gotten enough information to address the two of you during your examination. So just relax, alright!” Madeline beamed her sickly sweet smile again.
Crucible huffed some smoke and stalked towards the resting area. She found a secluded area and plopped herself down. She noticed the Zorua glaring at her across the way sitting next to the Pokemon she knocked down on the rockwall. Several Pokemon were also moving away from her, but she didn’t mind. She wanted to be left alone right now. She wasn’t a bully, she was just doing what she always did. She laid her head on her front talons, watching others fight as she sulked. She saw the teams spar and it was...just odd. They didn’t give it their all, instead it seemed like they were holding back, even helping one another. That didn’t make sense. How are others supposed to improve if you coddle each other, covering up their errors? They should be reprimanded for their mistakes, encouraged to compensate, and collaborate on different techniques. This just seemed like play. Fighting for your life isn’t play.
“Hey! There you are!”
Madeline’s chipper voice burst into Crucible’s ears from the side. She dragged her head irritably towards Madeline.
“Well there’s no need for that sour face, come on! It’s time for your review!” Madeline beckoned Crucible into the Guild.
Following Madeline’s lead, the two weaved through the halls of the Guild to Madeline’s office. It was very...basic. Limited decoration, basic materials, sparse furniture, all except a lone plant in the corner that brought the place some life. There was a desk with papers skewen about the place haphazardly, with four chairs in front. Madeline took her place behind her desk and offered Crucible to sit. She walked to the front of the desk, but decided to stand on her hind legs and tucked her tail in. She didn’t like chairs and everything here seemed very... flammable.
“O-Ok!” Madeline seemed hesitant about Crucible’s refusal to sit, “Well, I wanted to give your review!” She clapped her hands together excitedly. She ruffled through the papers on the desk and picked out a loose one that was quite crumpled, “Alrighty. So your physical ability is amazing! Definitely can hold your own. How fast you cleared the course and your ability to handle multiple opponents, not to mention your method of dealing with the fight. You barely hesitate and have good reaction time.”
Crucible lifted her chin and puffed out proudly. Finally someone is giving her the credit she is due. Seems they chose the right Guild after all. She even judged Madeline incorrectly, much to her joyful surprise.
“But this is more than just a strength test.”
Crucible deflated, “Excuse me?”
“I guess I want to know: Why did you join the Explorer’s Guild?” Madeline looked at Crucible quizzically, as if genuinely puzzled.
Crucible steamed, “What do you mean? Same reason as everyone else.” She barked, “I want to get back what I lost. Have you not seen the random Pokemon showing up from the fog? What insane Pokemon would leave their homes willingly? Each one of those Pokemon lost something and they’re fighting to get it back?” She slammed her claws on the desk, smoke pouring from her nostrils, “But these sorry excuses for warriors are treating this as a game! Coddling the poor performers, acting like everything is right with the world. They’re either going to die or have their goal in grasp only to have it slip through their claws. Discipline needs to be taken, they need to be whipped in the right direction if any progress will be made! And what are you doing, huh? Nothing but these stupid ‘reviews’, asking nonesense questions!” Her roar turned to a guttural growl that hung on to the last syllable.
“I get it!” Madeline laughed.
Crucible was taken back by the reaction. Why was she laughing? Was death funny to her? Or was it failure? Madeline smiled the same big ol’ gin. Crucible scowled.
“So here’s the plan, I want you to try and make friends with some of the others around town! Try helping out a little, you know. From this point onwards, I want you to focus on helping others, rather than fighting!”
“You can’t be serious.” Crucible said flatly.
“Definitely! Maybe pal-around with someone that could teach you!” Madeline’s optimism was beginning to grate on Crucible's nerves.
“How is that at all productive?” Crucible hissed.
Madeline laughed again, “How about a deal then? You go around making friends, and I’ll spar with you personally, deal?”
Crucible huffed, “Fine.”
“Great! So head on home and prepare for our next mission! I’ll be expecting you to have at least one new friend!”
Crucible huffed and stormed out of the office to get out of this insane, backwards Guild. This was nonsense and made zero sense. What warrior cares about empathy above strength? She charged past several members and out the front doors. She staggered for a moment as bright yellow and orange light blinded her. She blinked quickly, trying to get her vision to adjust. The glare of the sun in her eyes faded, replaced with the brilliant view of the ocean in the distance. The orange light of sunset twinkled off the surface of the water, contrasting with the blue hue. Flying-types lazily drifted on the salty wind. She hates the ocean.
____________
Ho boy. This was a lot of work. Next will be Avin's story.
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