At the End of an Age

Intro: A Char-ming Display

Intro: "A Char-ming Display!"

A rainy afternoon, several miles outside Pallet Town, towards the eastern bank of the coast; corpses of salamander-esque creatures litter the ground, the weather ensuring the surprised lizards could not flee from the steel falling with the rain. The charmanders let loose tiny squeals and rasps as the guild pushed the life out each one they found.

"Was it always meant to be like this? All this death. I wonder... if God ever even thought about it. About what would we do to each other."

"…God?"

"W-Yeah, well, you know- whatever made us, and everything."

"Maybe it was a Pokemon."

"A Pokemon?"

"Could'a been."

"...why is it that, you're always so glum, but whenever I wanna be serious, you get this unusual urge to crack wise?"

"Maybe because I'm a Pokemon?"

"Wha-? Well, I guess I found a new species; think I'll call you, "Jack-ass", jack-ass."

"Would you two kids stop chatting? We need to find this thing, quick."

Green approached Red and Leaf, presumably with a grumpy expression behind his fire-retardant mask. Red gave a casual sigh, while Leaf mimicked Green's pout, stating that he must be part of Red's "species". A few snickers from the group hailed only fiercer fire from the flame-proofed youth.

"Alright! Squads- regroup, and fall out! I better make it home in time for my stories, and for every minute I miss, someone's losing their pay! Hustle!" No one bothered to mention how unlikely that was, in any case, given that it took eight hours just to get to the area.

The 3 squads assembled into their respective orders, each team of six bearing a different spot to search. The area was riddled with potential caverns, nests, holes, and otherwise suspicious ground to cover, and at least 10 miles worth of it, at that. With the boon of the rain, and every guild-member wearing fire-resistant gear tanned from the skin of previously fallen char-kin, the advantage was more than stacked in their favor, but it wouldn't last all night. There really wasn't any time to waste, not when the charizard could be anywhere.

The mission started as a tip-off from local fishermen and residents of Pallet Town. A recent influx of charmanders had been noticed in the area, some even making it all the way to peoples' homes in town. The guild was prepared for this. Even prior to its inception, many were aware of the migration charizards often make in the springtime to lay eggs on the coast, and where charmanders and charmeleons gather for a few months. Years ago, they'd been a handful- then, they became a nuisance, as fewer and fewer people could stand against them. And just within the past two years, they'd become a danger. As charmanders grew into charmeleons, and a few charmeleons became charizards, they became all the more dangerous. But now, there was a force to stop them.

Green, both Guild Master and leader of Squad 1, hurriedly took his team to comb a few crags on the south-western reaches of the search area. Leaf, the Squad 3 leader, flashed Red a pleading smile and stalked off to the northern-most area, looking under large rocks and inside giant holes, which left the entire mid-section they'd arrived in for Squad 2- Red's guys- the realization of which bought a sigh from the entire group, with a few mumblings here and there. Not like there wasn't plenty to search, it's just that there was plenty to search. Crags and rocks everywhere, many of which held small nests, either in or under them, and the searching was all for Red. He put on his usual enthusiasm and made for them, team shambling behind.