PMD Side-Mission 4 Part 3

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Part 1: [link]

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The first meeting place had been the waterfall. They did a thorough check of all the surrounding bushes, trees and rocky hideaways they could find without putting themselves in danger but there was no sign of any sneasels. There were signs that there had been pokemon of some kind there recently but they had obviously moved on.

The next place was a large jutting stone in the forest. It stood surrounded by trees, hiding it from being spotted over-head. Other-wise it was rather unremarkable. There were no signs of any-one around there either.

The third place was a large oak tree that had once been struck by lightning. Page had reclaimed his spot on Tea-Light's back, rubbing his arms as he tried to get blood flow back into his paws. His feet had gone numb by now and he was glad to be able to dig them into the wool on Tea's back. Tea herself showed little to no concern when he promptly clambered back ontop of her without even asking if it'd be alright. She seemed to have gotten use to Page doing things without asking. Whatever Rhodes thought of this he kept to himself.

Soon the thunderstruck oak came into view. The reason it'd been chosen as a meeting place was pretty obvious. This was no mere tree that'd been struck. This was a massive, bloating oak tree, possibly having been struck when it was already very old. The thick gnarled branches were black from flame, making them seem all the more unsettling. Trees are not necessarily known for being threatening looking, but this one was sure giving it its best try. It loomed over them as they got closer.

“Well that's inviting.” Page murmured to himself as he got down again.

“It's just been hit by lightning.” Tea blinked at him, apparently confused but her partner's nervousness. “It's just electricity.”

“Yeah right.” He mumbled, suddenly aware of the fact that he was the only one present who seemed to be feeling unsettled.

“Usually we'd get into its branches and wait for the others.” Rhodes said as he walked closer to the ancient tree. “If any-one's here that's where they'd be.”

“Is this thing safe to climb?” Page asked, following after him. “I mean it's not gonna crumble under us or anything is it?”

“It's like a rock.” Rhodes reassured him. “Anything that could break off did so long ago and only the toughest parts of it are still here.”

“Good to know.” Page nodded, lowering himself to all fours before springing to the lowest branch, digging his claws into the wood as he landed.

“Wait! What do I do?!” Tea called up at him.

“Erm...” Page thought for a moment. “Stay down there and stand guard.”

“Guard?” She tilted her head slightly.

“Yeah!” Page nodded. “The note said there's Rouge members out here looking for these guys too. So if you see any let us know ok?”

Tea bounced ever so slightly at this and nodded happily. “Ok! I can do that!”

“Great!” Page answered before focusing back on the climb.

“If you look that side I'll look this side.” Rhodes called as he clambered up the bark to a different branch. “If we find any-one try not to let him run away.”

“No problem.” Page said as he moved upwards. In truth though he really hoped they could talk some sense into whoever they found before they ran away. A chase was not something he looked forward to doing. Plus it probably wouldn't do much to convince the sneasel to join their guild.

The oak did pose a great number of hiding places, more than one would think. There were various holes, nooks and crannies that were either difficult to get to or easy to miss. As Page and Rhodes were reaching the top it was starting to look like no-one was here.

Page sighed, eyeing the last few branches above him and wondered if it was even worth it to climb the rest of the way. The trees were thinner up here and the breeze managed to find him among the twigs and branches. His paws were hurting from having to climb in the cold and he was getting fed up with looking everywhere and finding nothing.

He turned to look down again, deciding it was pointless to check the last few branches if they couldn't even hold a pokemon's weight. Just as he leaned forward to drop down towards the lower branch however something struck him from above, knocking him off balance.

He made a sharp, cut off noise as his drop was thrown off course and he missed the branch he'd been aiming for. There were a few sickening moments in which thin twigs grabbed and tugged at him as he fell, twisting himself to land on his feet by reflex. Branches flew past him as the spindly dried twigs of the tree nicked and scratched him but only for the briefest of moments before a thick, knotted branch slammed into him from below, abruptly ending the free-fall.

Instinctively Page wrapped his arms around it and dug his claws in deep, panting. It took him a few moments before he realised some-one was calling his name.

“Page!! Page are you ok?!”

“Y-yeah I'm ok!” He answered, realising only after he'd done so that it'd been Tea calling up at him from below, no doubt having seen what happened.

“Are you sure?!” She called, her voice sounding worried.

Page on the other hand had other things to focus on right now as he turned to look back upwards to where he'd come from. “Yeah I'm sure!”

He narrowed his eyes before leaping back up a branch. There was no mistaking it, some-one had shoved him off of that branch.

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Now I have drawn what I can and need to get back to writing the next part.

For