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Part 5
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First Part:[link]

Team Varekai:[link]
Team Slow Melody:[link]
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The illumise was holding on to the remains of the ladder that led up to the Rescuers Treehouse base. The bottom section of it had been ripped away, and even if any of the two merchant teams that had come running would have been able to climb a ladder easily under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for them now. All they could do was stand beneath Embory, and look up at her struggling against the fierce wind with their hearts in their throats.

It was Persia who saw him first, the lone figure making his way up the trunk of the tree.

“Look!” She said, and they did.

The glameow seemed to be struggling a little, but he kept on climbing, until he was at the same height as Embory. The wind grew stronger the higher he went, and it took all his strength to cling to the bark. Turning his head, he squinted one eye, and stretched out his tail. The curiously shaped tufted end of his tail kept being blown off-course by the wind, but eventually, in a brief moment of calm, he managed to wrap it around one of the rungs of the ladder.

Slowly, slowly he began to pull it in towards him.

Embory, having noticed his presence before the others, finally figured out what he was doing, and bit her lip and reached out a hand in his direction. Once she got lower, she’d manage alright, but if she stayed here, the wind would carry her far away, and she’d be lost and likely injured.

“I-I can’t! I can’t hold on...” The glameow’s face was filled with worry, and his purple body tensed. A sudden gust ripped the ladder from his tail, and pulled him away from the tree. As he fell, the ladder swung back. Just as he was twisting in mid-air, the ladder clipped him on the side of the head. The cat’s eyes closed and he plummeted into a pile of snow nearby.

Penumbra fluttered her wings in alarm, and hopped over to see if the glameow was okay.

Persia, Paulie and Meranda remained where they were, desperately trying to think of some way that they could reach the distressed illumise.

With a mask of determination, Paulie headed for the base of the tree, and reared up, attempting to put his hooves up against it. He slid, and fell, and got up and tried again. When he eventually managed to do this without falling, he was still just a little bit too short for Embory to reach him. He backed away, shaking his head and growling in frustration.

A shadow leaped over him, and raised himself up against the tree, much like he had earlier. Only, this stranger was taller than him, and more capable of balancing on his hind legs.

Paulie trembled.

This was no stranger.

“D-Dad?”

But the sawsbuck was silent, and he was concentrating on holding his head still, and not accidentally knocking the poor tired Embory with one of his horns. Once he was sure she had a firm grip, he brought her back down to earth.

“Are you alright?” The Sentinel asked, lowering his head so that Embory would be out of the worst of the wind.

“Yes, I am now, thanks to you, thanks to you all.” And she turned and gave Paulie a tired smile, before glancing over to where Penumbra was settled in the snow, beside the motionless figure of the Glameow. Embory headed over to see if he was okay, and if there was anything she could do to help.

Paulie surged forwards to touch his nose to the Sentinel’s shoulder, and a wide grin spread across his face. He turned to see Meranda heading after Embory, and Persia hanging back uncertainly.

“Hey, Meranda, Persia! I’d like you to meet my dad!”

And the shellos turned back, glancing over her shoulder, and then smiling and coming to greet the sawsbuck. Persia cheered up a little too, dipping her head and introducing herself.

Meanwhile, Embory and Penumbra where tending to the downed glameow, who seemed to be stirring.

“I’m Embory,” the illumise said, reaching out to touch one of the cat’s ears. They were curiously tufted on the tips, something she hadn’t seen in a glameow before.

“I’m Penumbra,” the pidove replied, smiling a little at Embory. “I’ve heard ab-” She was cut short by a strained male voice, and glanced down quickly at the cat.

“Seeing as we’re sharing names, you can call me Jasper, or Jazz for short. Whichever takes your fancy.” He winced and groaned, before getting to his feet and shaking his head. “That really hurt. Oh well, I’ll feel better soon enough, after I get out of this cold wind, and can curl up somewhere considerably less snowy.” He turned his eyes towards Embory. “Are you okay, Miss?”

“Yes I am, thank you darling,” she smiled. His eyes, just like his tail and his ears, intrigued her. While she had been expecting them both to be the same colour, they were not. His left eye was blue, and his right was red. On top of that, his coat was not blue, but a delicate, pretty shade of lavender. He was a very curious cat indeed.

“As much as I’d love to hang around and chat…” The glameow flicked his tail, brushing the tip of it (with its three distinct tufts of fur) against Penumbra’s nearest wing, and gestured with his nose in the direction of the others. “It seems there are still others that need rescuing.” With that, he got to his paws, and shook himself free of snow, before heading towards the others.

“I was just heading for the Café, when I realised that you required assistance here,” The Sentinel was saying, glancing up as Embory, Jazz and Penumbra joined them, nodding by way of greeting to each of them, before continuing. “It seems that the entrance to Spinda’s has caved in, and there are several pokemon trapped within. I’d appreciate your assistance, so that we can get them out as quickly as possible.” He glanced around at the group gathered around him, and was met with nods of agreement.

“Excuse me, good Sir,” Jazz spoke up, his bi-coloured eyes troubled. “If I may be excused, I’m very worried about my friend. She and I were separated on our journey to Tao, and I fear she has run into some sort of trouble. She’s blind, you see, and if she’s alone… I dread to imagine what may have happened to her. I would like to go looking for her, if I may.” He twitched an ear, and then turned to leave, knowing that the sawsbuck would want him to go and search for his friend.

“Do not waste a moment longer, here, friend. Go and seek her out, and I promise you that as soon as I am finished here, I shall help you.” The Sentinel bowed his great head, and then turned to lead the way to the Café. There were several pokemon lingering around the caved-in entrance. Indicating a pair of pokemon off to the side, a volbeat and a sentret, the Sentinel turned to Meranda and Persia, who were to his left. “See if you can get some of these pokemon to help. The more able-bodied pokemon we have working to free those trapped, the quicker we shall succeed, and then all together, you can go to safety.” He turned to Paulie and Pen. “The two of you, see if you can’t start getting this collapsed entrance cleared. If it proves too difficult, then mark out possible places where we can make new entrances, to reach those inside.” And with those words, he turned to leave.

“Dad, w-where are you going?” Paulie took a step towards his father, as though he planned to follow the sawsbuck.

The Sentinel turned to look at his son over his shoulder, his wise eyes soft and tender. “I am going to seek out some old friends.” And then he wandered away a little, walking slowly with his head close to the ground, stopping often to stand motionless for several moments.

After several moments, after convincing himself that his dad wasn’t going too far (though thoroughly confused by whatever it was he [i]was[/i] doing) Paulie did as his father told him to. He headed for the collapsed entrance and nosed around a little, before beginning to push as much snow as he could away from the immediate area.

Pen just watched Paulie from the sidelines, feeling very tired all of a sudden, and not able to do much by way of helping, anyway. She offered him words of encouragement every now and again, and then her gaze drifted over towards Persia and Meranda, who were conversing with the two pokemon who were lingering – the sentret and volbeat. And turning her head, she caught sight of Embory, wishing Jazz luck on his search as he turned to leave. Beyond the two of them, the Sentinel moved backwards and forwards, sometimes clearing a small area of snow, and appearing to be listening for something.

Eventually, the illumise, the sawsbuck, the shellos and the hippopotas (with their new acquaintances in tow) all seemed to converge into the same place, so that they gathered around the unmoving pidove, all of them, except Paulie.

“I’m Gandor,” the sentret introduced himself. “And this is my partner, Firo. Don’t mind him, he’s in a bit of a bad mood. He doesn’t like being outside much, you see…” Gandor shook his head. “Anyway, we’ll help you guys free those trapped in the Café, if it means we can all get evacuated sooner.”

Persia was about to speak up when there came a noise from behind them, near to where Paulie was.

All eyes focussed on a patch of earth under a light covering of snow that seemed to be moving, crumbling. A figure emerged, and crouched in the snow, and a second, blurred shot out of the tunnel after the first, scampering over the snow. The first turned and desperately called after his companion, and though she slowed, she did not halt.

Penumbra looked up as the Sentinel laughed, deep within his chest.

“It’s good to see you again, friends. The circumstances haven’t changed much, have they?” His voice, while not overly loud, reached the ears of Black Rose, who stopped in her tracks, turning with wide eyes.

“Lucian!” She cried out joyfully, rapidly closing the distance between them.

Kage, likewise, perked up, and he too moved towards the sawsbuck, though not with as much energy or vigour as Rose moved.

The Sentinel lowered his head to nuzzle both sandshrews affectionately. “It has been too long.”

“It has indeed,” Kage said quietly, his voice ever-so-slightly strained. “Lucian.” He spoke his friends name softly, almost as if he liked the taste of it on his tongue.

Rose just pressed herself into the sawsbuck’s neck, humming, happy. The sawsbuck spoke the truth. The situation was similar to the first time they had met – Rose climbing a tunnel and Kage coming ahead of her. Snow everywhere, and cold seeping into their bones. And Lucian, the Sentinel, appearing out of nowhere. However, this time, the circumstance was a much happier one, despite the fact that Kyurem seemed to have turned on Tao.

“You look weary, Kage. Rest awhile beside me, and Rose-” The sawsbuck’s words were cut short by the sound of crumbling ground, and the sharp cry of surprise from the stantler as the ground beneath him gave way.

Everyone rushed to see if Paulie was alright, and peered down to find him in a section of the Café tunnel. As he stood and moved clear of the rubble, he disappeared from view.

“Paulie?! Son, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Paulie said softly, reappearing, and looking up at the group with wide eyes, and a small smile. “And I think I know how we can get the trapped ones out.”

As it turned out, Paulie had fallen into a section of the tunnel, that was blocked just out of view of the ones up above. Gradually, they came down, in ones or twos, and began to help clearing the rubble and debris. Kage, getting his strength back (or perhaps using up the last of the energy he could muster in order to help), and Rose commenced with the digging. Persia dug alongside them, while Firo and Embory flitted back and forth, carrying small rocks and lumps of earth out of the way. The two of them also took turns lighting the tunnel, as visibility was poor. Gandor worked on the ground alongside Paulie and the Sentinel, shifting earth away from the three diggers. Meranda wandered around, humming and singing, keeping spirits up. Penumbra just tried to stay out of the way of everyone else.

In time, Shroomsworth came looking for them, and glad to see how well they were getting along, came down to supervise. At some point, Vertigo joined them too, and he seemed to be competing with Penumbra as to who could be of the least help. He just stood and wailed miserably, distraught to see his Café in such a state, unable to do anything for it right now, nor his loyal customers who had been trapped. Penumbra did her best to comfort him, and Meranda tried singing a song to cheer him up, and after a while, he did calm down (but not before getting on the nerves of most of those present). Only the Sentinel seemed to be more or less undeterred by the Spinda.

And, then, after toiling away together as a solid team, they broke through, and guided the trapped and injured to safety. Only once everyone had been brought out of the Café, did the group that had gathered begin to disperse. The two Merchant teams bid Firo and Gandor farewell, and then waited near Shroomsworth and Vertigo, Embory with them.

Some distance away, the sandshrews and the sawsbuck gathered together, speaking to one another with looks and gentle touches rather than words. It was hard for them to part, because they had missed one another so much, and they cherished one another, and treasured their unbreakable friendship. But part they must, because they were not selfish-hearted creatures, and as much as they enjoyed one another’s company, they knew that there were still things to be down in order to make sure that the citizens of Tao would be safe. And so they did part, Rose one way, Kage another. Lucian remained where he was.

When Paulie approached his father, he could see that the sawsbuck’s eyes were bright, but very sad too. He touched his father’s shoulder, as if to comfort him, but then the stantler was trembling, and it was the sawsbuck who comforted his son.

“You are more than you know yourself to be. Never forget that, Paulie.” The words were spoken softly in the stantler’s ear. A noise from behind him distracted Paulie, and he pulled back and turned his head, for only a moment.

“What do you mean, Dad?” He asked, as he turned back to look questioningly up at his father. But there was no one there. The sawsbuck had gone. All that he had left with his son, were the words, and a trail of footprints in the snow.

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

Not my most impressive Picture... :I
Also huge chunk of writing here!

Art is by
Written by

Cameos:
Team Madremonte [link]
Team Take Over [link]
Featuring

Description

Part 5
Next: [link]
Previous: [link]
First Part:[link]

Team Varekai:[link]
Team Slow Melody:[link]
Collaboration
------------------------------------------------------
The illumise was holding on to the remains of the ladder that led up to the Rescuers Treehouse base. The bottom section of it had been ripped away, and even if any of the two merchant teams that had come running would have been able to climb a ladder easily under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for them now. All they could do was stand beneath Embory, and look up at her struggling against the fierce wind with their hearts in their throats.

It was Persia who saw him first, the lone figure making his way up the trunk of the tree.

“Look!” She said, and they did.

The glameow seemed to be struggling a little, but he kept on climbing, until he was at the same height as Embory. The wind grew stronger the higher he went, and it took all his strength to cling to the bark. Turning his head, he squinted one eye, and stretched out his tail. The curiously shaped tufted end of his tail kept being blown off-course by the wind, but eventually, in a brief moment of calm, he managed to wrap it around one of the rungs of the ladder.

Slowly, slowly he began to pull it in towards him.

Embory, having noticed his presence before the others, finally figured out what he was doing, and bit her lip and reached out a hand in his direction. Once she got lower, she’d manage alright, but if she stayed here, the wind would carry her far away, and she’d be lost and likely injured.

“I-I can’t! I can’t hold on...” The glameow’s face was filled with worry, and his purple body tensed. A sudden gust ripped the ladder from his tail, and pulled him away from the tree. As he fell, the ladder swung back. Just as he was twisting in mid-air, the ladder clipped him on the side of the head. The cat’s eyes closed and he plummeted into a pile of snow nearby.

Penumbra fluttered her wings in alarm, and hopped over to see if the glameow was okay.

Persia, Paulie and Meranda remained where they were, desperately trying to think of some way that they could reach the distressed illumise.

With a mask of determination, Paulie headed for the base of the tree, and reared up, attempting to put his hooves up against it. He slid, and fell, and got up and tried again. When he eventually managed to do this without falling, he was still just a little bit too short for Embory to reach him. He backed away, shaking his head and growling in frustration.

A shadow leaped over him, and raised himself up against the tree, much like he had earlier. Only, this stranger was taller than him, and more capable of balancing on his hind legs.

Paulie trembled.

This was no stranger.

“D-Dad?”

But the sawsbuck was silent, and he was concentrating on holding his head still, and not accidentally knocking the poor tired Embory with one of his horns. Once he was sure she had a firm grip, he brought her back down to earth.

“Are you alright?” The Sentinel asked, lowering his head so that Embory would be out of the worst of the wind.

“Yes, I am now, thanks to you, thanks to you all.” And she turned and gave Paulie a tired smile, before glancing over to where Penumbra was settled in the snow, beside the motionless figure of the Glameow. Embory headed over to see if he was okay, and if there was anything she could do to help.

Paulie surged forwards to touch his nose to the Sentinel’s shoulder, and a wide grin spread across his face. He turned to see Meranda heading after Embory, and Persia hanging back uncertainly.

“Hey, Meranda, Persia! I’d like you to meet my dad!”

And the shellos turned back, glancing over her shoulder, and then smiling and coming to greet the sawsbuck. Persia cheered up a little too, dipping her head and introducing herself.

Meanwhile, Embory and Penumbra where tending to the downed glameow, who seemed to be stirring.

“I’m Embory,” the illumise said, reaching out to touch one of the cat’s ears. They were curiously tufted on the tips, something she hadn’t seen in a glameow before.

“I’m Penumbra,” the pidove replied, smiling a little at Embory. “I’ve heard ab-” She was cut short by a strained male voice, and glanced down quickly at the cat.

“Seeing as we’re sharing names, you can call me Jasper, or Jazz for short. Whichever takes your fancy.” He winced and groaned, before getting to his feet and shaking his head. “That really hurt. Oh well, I’ll feel better soon enough, after I get out of this cold wind, and can curl up somewhere considerably less snowy.” He turned his eyes towards Embory. “Are you okay, Miss?”

“Yes I am, thank you darling,” she smiled. His eyes, just like his tail and his ears, intrigued her. While she had been expecting them both to be the same colour, they were not. His left eye was blue, and his right was red. On top of that, his coat was not blue, but a delicate, pretty shade of lavender. He was a very curious cat indeed.

“As much as I’d love to hang around and chat…” The glameow flicked his tail, brushing the tip of it (with its three distinct tufts of fur) against Penumbra’s nearest wing, and gestured with his nose in the direction of the others. “It seems there are still others that need rescuing.” With that, he got to his paws, and shook himself free of snow, before heading towards the others.

“I was just heading for the Café, when I realised that you required assistance here,” The Sentinel was saying, glancing up as Embory, Jazz and Penumbra joined them, nodding by way of greeting to each of them, before continuing. “It seems that the entrance to Spinda’s has caved in, and there are several pokemon trapped within. I’d appreciate your assistance, so that we can get them out as quickly as possible.” He glanced around at the group gathered around him, and was met with nods of agreement.

“Excuse me, good Sir,” Jazz spoke up, his bi-coloured eyes troubled. “If I may be excused, I’m very worried about my friend. She and I were separated on our journey to Tao, and I fear she has run into some sort of trouble. She’s blind, you see, and if she’s alone… I dread to imagine what may have happened to her. I would like to go looking for her, if I may.” He twitched an ear, and then turned to leave, knowing that the sawsbuck would want him to go and search for his friend.

“Do not waste a moment longer, here, friend. Go and seek her out, and I promise you that as soon as I am finished here, I shall help you.” The Sentinel bowed his great head, and then turned to lead the way to the Café. There were several pokemon lingering around the caved-in entrance. Indicating a pair of pokemon off to the side, a volbeat and a sentret, the Sentinel turned to Meranda and Persia, who were to his left. “See if you can get some of these pokemon to help. The more able-bodied pokemon we have working to free those trapped, the quicker we shall succeed, and then all together, you can go to safety.” He turned to Paulie and Pen. “The two of you, see if you can’t start getting this collapsed entrance cleared. If it proves too difficult, then mark out possible places where we can make new entrances, to reach those inside.” And with those words, he turned to leave.

“Dad, w-where are you going?” Paulie took a step towards his father, as though he planned to follow the sawsbuck.

The Sentinel turned to look at his son over his shoulder, his wise eyes soft and tender. “I am going to seek out some old friends.” And then he wandered away a little, walking slowly with his head close to the ground, stopping often to stand motionless for several moments.

After several moments, after convincing himself that his dad wasn’t going too far (though thoroughly confused by whatever it was he [i]was[/i] doing) Paulie did as his father told him to. He headed for the collapsed entrance and nosed around a little, before beginning to push as much snow as he could away from the immediate area.

Pen just watched Paulie from the sidelines, feeling very tired all of a sudden, and not able to do much by way of helping, anyway. She offered him words of encouragement every now and again, and then her gaze drifted over towards Persia and Meranda, who were conversing with the two pokemon who were lingering – the sentret and volbeat. And turning her head, she caught sight of Embory, wishing Jazz luck on his search as he turned to leave. Beyond the two of them, the Sentinel moved backwards and forwards, sometimes clearing a small area of snow, and appearing to be listening for something.

Eventually, the illumise, the sawsbuck, the shellos and the hippopotas (with their new acquaintances in tow) all seemed to converge into the same place, so that they gathered around the unmoving pidove, all of them, except Paulie.

“I’m Gandor,” the sentret introduced himself. “And this is my partner, Firo. Don’t mind him, he’s in a bit of a bad mood. He doesn’t like being outside much, you see…” Gandor shook his head. “Anyway, we’ll help you guys free those trapped in the Café, if it means we can all get evacuated sooner.”

Persia was about to speak up when there came a noise from behind them, near to where Paulie was.

All eyes focussed on a patch of earth under a light covering of snow that seemed to be moving, crumbling. A figure emerged, and crouched in the snow, and a second, blurred shot out of the tunnel after the first, scampering over the snow. The first turned and desperately called after his companion, and though she slowed, she did not halt.

Penumbra looked up as the Sentinel laughed, deep within his chest.

“It’s good to see you again, friends. The circumstances haven’t changed much, have they?” His voice, while not overly loud, reached the ears of Black Rose, who stopped in her tracks, turning with wide eyes.

“Lucian!” She cried out joyfully, rapidly closing the distance between them.

Kage, likewise, perked up, and he too moved towards the sawsbuck, though not with as much energy or vigour as Rose moved.

The Sentinel lowered his head to nuzzle both sandshrews affectionately. “It has been too long.”

“It has indeed,” Kage said quietly, his voice ever-so-slightly strained. “Lucian.” He spoke his friends name softly, almost as if he liked the taste of it on his tongue.

Rose just pressed herself into the sawsbuck’s neck, humming, happy. The sawsbuck spoke the truth. The situation was similar to the first time they had met – Rose climbing a tunnel and Kage coming ahead of her. Snow everywhere, and cold seeping into their bones. And Lucian, the Sentinel, appearing out of nowhere. However, this time, the circumstance was a much happier one, despite the fact that Kyurem seemed to have turned on Tao.

“You look weary, Kage. Rest awhile beside me, and Rose-” The sawsbuck’s words were cut short by the sound of crumbling ground, and the sharp cry of surprise from the stantler as the ground beneath him gave way.

Everyone rushed to see if Paulie was alright, and peered down to find him in a section of the Café tunnel. As he stood and moved clear of the rubble, he disappeared from view.

“Paulie?! Son, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Paulie said softly, reappearing, and looking up at the group with wide eyes, and a small smile. “And I think I know how we can get the trapped ones out.”

As it turned out, Paulie had fallen into a section of the tunnel, that was blocked just out of view of the ones up above. Gradually, they came down, in ones or twos, and began to help clearing the rubble and debris. Kage, getting his strength back (or perhaps using up the last of the energy he could muster in order to help), and Rose commenced with the digging. Persia dug alongside them, while Firo and Embory flitted back and forth, carrying small rocks and lumps of earth out of the way. The two of them also took turns lighting the tunnel, as visibility was poor. Gandor worked on the ground alongside Paulie and the Sentinel, shifting earth away from the three diggers. Meranda wandered around, humming and singing, keeping spirits up. Penumbra just tried to stay out of the way of everyone else.

In time, Shroomsworth came looking for them, and glad to see how well they were getting along, came down to supervise. At some point, Vertigo joined them too, and he seemed to be competing with Penumbra as to who could be of the least help. He just stood and wailed miserably, distraught to see his Café in such a state, unable to do anything for it right now, nor his loyal customers who had been trapped. Penumbra did her best to comfort him, and Meranda tried singing a song to cheer him up, and after a while, he did calm down (but not before getting on the nerves of most of those present). Only the Sentinel seemed to be more or less undeterred by the Spinda.

And, then, after toiling away together as a solid team, they broke through, and guided the trapped and injured to safety. Only once everyone had been brought out of the Café, did the group that had gathered begin to disperse. The two Merchant teams bid Firo and Gandor farewell, and then waited near Shroomsworth and Vertigo, Embory with them.

Some distance away, the sandshrews and the sawsbuck gathered together, speaking to one another with looks and gentle touches rather than words. It was hard for them to part, because they had missed one another so much, and they cherished one another, and treasured their unbreakable friendship. But part they must, because they were not selfish-hearted creatures, and as much as they enjoyed one another’s company, they knew that there were still things to be down in order to make sure that the citizens of Tao would be safe. And so they did part, Rose one way, Kage another. Lucian remained where he was.

When Paulie approached his father, he could see that the sawsbuck’s eyes were bright, but very sad too. He touched his father’s shoulder, as if to comfort him, but then the stantler was trembling, and it was the sawsbuck who comforted his son.

“You are more than you know yourself to be. Never forget that, Paulie.” The words were spoken softly in the stantler’s ear. A noise from behind him distracted Paulie, and he pulled back and turned his head, for only a moment.

“What do you mean, Dad?” He asked, as he turned back to look questioningly up at his father. But there was no one there. The sawsbuck had gone. All that he had left with his son, were the words, and a trail of footprints in the snow.

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

Not my most impressive Picture... :I
Also huge chunk of writing here!

Art is by
Written by

Cameos:
Team Madremonte [link]
Team Take Over [link]
Featuring