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Ruby flew down the long, narrow corridor; a trail of small taps followed her footsteps. Running was strange now. Without her cape to increase drag, she ran faster, but really? She would have rather have her cape.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t. Not for a while anyways. Her beloved black skirt and red cape combo was ripped and torn. Memories she didn’t want to relive immediately, she shuddered.

Regardless, until she finds some suitable material to fix her clothes, she will be stuck without them. Thankfully, team Magma had been kind enough to lend her one of their spare uniforms. One of the smaller sizes managed to fit her. And it even had a hood!

That had been several days ago after she felt well enough to start exploring. The base looked to be underground if the lack of windows were any indication.



Patches of walls not yet covered in metallic sheeting showed red rock formations, warm to the touch. As she learned from the other members, the base was located inside an active volcano!



They also warned her of several areas of the base still under maintenance and construction. Some teased her about accidentally falling into open magma pools. She pouted and laughed with them. It was a joke… right?

Well, after being cooped up for so long, she felt restless. Wanting to stretch her legs, she decided to go for a run around the base. Technically she wasn’t supposed to; she might accidentally collide with someone carrying something important.

But as long as she didn’t hit anyone she would be okay, right?

As she took off, she heard soft patters behind her and looked down to see Drei faithfully running alongside her. She grinned and increased her speed. The race was on!

Their laughter echoed loudly through the empty halls. So engrossed they were in outrunning the other, they didn’t even notice the danger signs nor the lack of metallic walls. Grey gave way to red and the smooth floor became rocky and uneven.



“I win!” Ruby shouted as she crossed an arbitrary rock.

Drei growled in disagreement. They hadn’t picked that rock. Still, even if they had continued, he wasn’t sure if he could have won. For a such a shortie, Ruby was fast!

Still elated over her victory, Ruby propped on foot upon the rock and proudly declared, “You’re two years too early to challenge me - whoa!”

The rock underneath lurched and Ruby tripped onto the ground.

Shocked, she watched as the rock floated up and unfolded. Two bulky arms emerged, flexing stony muscle. It opened its eyes and glared at her.

“GEODUDE!” the rock roared and brought up an arm.

“GRRR!” Drei growled at the rock, drawing its attention. He bared his fangs and sunk low. No one but no one threatened his-

“No Drei!” Ruby shouted for him to run.

Shooting forward without any warning, the rock tackled Drei and Ruby heard a sickening crunch. In almost slow motion, the little puppy was thrown back, spittle flew out his open mouth from the impact. He crashed into the opposite wall with another crunch and slumped down unmoving.

“DREI!” Ruby rushed over to make sure he was okay.

“Whoa!” Taking her eyes off the rock for only a second, it tried to ram into her next and she barely avoided ending up like her dog.

With it relentlessly chasing her, Ruby hopped around, dodging as best she could. Because the trajectory was straight, she was easily able to discern where to move next.

But she miscalculated.



Fed up with her moving around, the next time the rock flew passed her, it reached out with stone hand and smacked her shoulder hard.

“Ahh!” she screamed from the pain. The force added to her torque, spinning her out of control and she tripped onto the ground.

Remembering not to take her eyes off her opponent, she quickly gathered herself and looked

…straight into its oncoming fist!

She froze awaiting the unblockable pain.

…

…

Huh?

A large hand gripped the rock and it hesitated to see who dared stopped it.

CRASH!

Over in an instant.

The large man before her shoved the creature hard into the wall. It cracked, it fractured. Bits of rock chipped off and scattered to the ground. Was it the wall or the creature? Ruby couldn’t tell.

Removing his hand, Ruby fearfully saw that the creature was so embedded that it didn’t even fall out.

“Got be more careful there,” the man chided her. “This area’s off limits for now.”

Realizing that he wore the uniform, Ruby quickly got up and bowed.

As she was stammering her apologies and thanks, she remembered Drei.

“Please help!” she pleaded as she rushed over to where the puppy laid.

He carefully examined Drei, making sure not to move him too much in case there were internal injuries.

“Hmm… taking a tackle hurts, but he’ll be fine,” the man reassured Ruby. “Just to be sure, return him to his Pokeball.”

“R-return?” Ruby tilted her head.

“You have his Pokeball, right?” he asked.

Ruby quickly nodded and produced the red and white orb. She hadn’t touched it since first meeting Drei.

“Press the button and point it at Poochyena,” he explained and Ruby followed.

A red laser shot out and Ruby watched in horror as Drei glowed in the same hue until he completely dissolved away.

“Drei! Drei!” Ruby called out helplessly.

“Calm down, calm down,” the man patted her shoulder to calm her down. “He’s just inside now,” he tapped the Pokeball. “If you want him fully healed, you should get to a healing station.”

At her confused look, he sighed. “This way then,” he started walking and Ruby quickly with him, clutching the orb to her chest like its life depended on it.

Noticing this, he raised an eyebrow. “You can shrink that you know?”

“I can?” Ruby stared at him incredulously.

“Sure. Just press and hold the button for about two seconds,” he shrugged. These were concepts second-natured to him, but he supposed this rookie must be completely new at this.

Ruby hesitantly shrunk the ball after making sure to ask him that Drei would be alright inside and that it won’t be too cramped for him.

Of course he would be since he was little more than a higher energy state right then.

Once they passed through several hallways, they came into a room with a strange device in the center. Large and rectangular, a large opening in its top revealed six round pits.

“Place the Pokeball in one of those slots,” he told her as he turned on the machine. “Good. Now, for grave injuries, we have nurses to properly address them, but for something like this you can use these healing stations for first aid.”

A few key inputs and the machine hummed to life. Thin lines of light snaked across the hollowed surface of the device, conjoining towards the Pokeball until it glowed.

A strange jingle played.

As she whipped her head around, the man laughed. “That’s just to tell you how long you have to wait!”

Once finished, he nodded for her to retrieve the ball and call out Drei.

“Arf!” the happy puppy bounced out and started licking her face.

“Drei!” Ruby cried out, happy and relieved that he was okay. Remembering her manners, she turned to the man and bowed low.



“Thank you so much!”

“Eh~ think nothing of it,” he nonchalantly waved. “I mean, I’m supposed to be looking out for you.”

“Eh?” Ruby tilted her head in confusion.

“You’re one of the new recruits right?” he asked.

“Not quite,” a stern voice called out from behind them, causing all three to jump.

Maxie walked in, hands folded behind his back and a stern face as always.

“Leader Maxie!” the man exclaimed. Perhaps Ruby just imagined it, but the man seemed to stand straighter, more dignified, and exuded more confidence.

Maxie just nodded at him and looked over to Ruby.

“How are you feeling, Ruby?” he asked, his voice masked any trace of concern.

“I-I’m fine,” Ruby answered. “Drei was injured but he’s fine now too!”

“Arrrf!” Drei called out in agreement.

“Hmm…” Maxie nodded in thought. “Tabitha!” he called out sharply.

“Here sir!” the man, apparently Tabitha, answered immediately.

“I want you to assign Ruby to the next entry level mission you have. It will be good experience for her.”

“Yes sir!” Tabitha saluted. He turned towards Ruby. “Alright, Ruby! You’re in luck, we have a mission just perfect for you in a few hours. Grab what you need to prepare and meet at Exit B in three hours!“

“Eh?!” Ruby shouted in shock. “H-hold on!”

“Time’s wasting! Get going!” Tabitha urged her forward, nearly pushing her out of the room.

Once outside, Ruby realized she lost the chance to explain herself. She looked helplessly at Drei who whined to let her know his sympathy.

Sighing, she decided that she might as well. After all, they did save her when she needed help, so helping them back would only be right. She was also excited at the prospect of exiting the base and breathing fresh air after so long.

“Let’s make the best of this, Drei!” she cheered and grinned at him.



He grinned back and the same idea crossed their minds.



“First to Exit B!” Ruby shouted as she took off in a flurry of petals, Drei right behind her.

Extra:

Tabitha nodded with pride as he heard her retreating footsteps. New recruits were so often lost that they couldn’t even walk properly. Seeing someone so young yet and so energetic was quite refreshing.

“Oh yes, I forgot to mention,” Maxie called out as Tabitha prepared to return to his work. “Please keep in mind that Ruby is not a full member of our organization.”

Tabitha nodded in understanding.

…

And then froze.

“Eh?” he looked at his leader in confusion. “I didn’t know we had an internship program?”

“We don’t,” came the simple answer.

“Field trip?”

“What school?”

“… Then why is she here?” Tabitha asked after a long pause, quite worried at how his leader will respond. A young girl in the middle of a secret base… that spelt all sorts of trouble with all sorts of groups.



“…Circumstances…” Maxie sighed. “I’ll explain to you and Courtney later.”

Tabitha nodded in acceptance. Things were very strange but… eh~ he’ll deal with it as it comes to him.

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