Creatures Caves

Urrrr... the one called Awmanman. The robot.
(Oh, Unani Ynas has been renamed to Erebus. It's a much better name, huh?)
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There was the Blaziken, Nidoqueen, a Feraligator, a Raichu, an Absol and a Doduo. Now that Mac knew thew were smarter than they looked, he noticed things he’d never spotted before, like the fact that Nidoqueen had jewellery and make-up, Blaziken had tattoos and a belt and the Doduo had a hat on one head and head band on the other.
“I’m just going back to where I come from to talk to Draconorn, is it okay if you guys help me out again when I get back?” Mac asked, twiddling his thumbs.
“Yeah, fine.” The Blaziken grumbled, then tramped away through the trees. One by one the pokemon all left, after glancing at Mac interestedly. The last to leave was Nidoqueen, who murmured as she went “So, he’s a Mod”
“Okay Bloo? Queer Quit!”

“Back already?” Awmanman snapped, slamming his magazine shut.
“What? We’ve been away for days!” Bloo yelled shrilly.
“Malurien time’s different. You’ve been away for ten minutes of my time. Ahhhh… ten sweet, silent, blissful minutes.”
Mac and Bloo went to the back room, where the Moderators had secret meetings. Mac pushed the door open. “Sorry we’re late, we-“
His mouth fell open.
Draconorn was sitting in a chair, her face (currently that of a Bengal norn) was disfigured by a massive black eye, and her arm was in a sling.
Jak stood beside her, looking very worried. He didn’t appear to be hurt, but one of the shoulder pieces of his armour was crushed inwards and his chest armour was covered in scratches.
Daxter, perched on Jak’s shoulder like a fluffy, orange parrot, looked wide-eyed and scared.
Aaron was there too, sporting a bleeding lip, KC11 looked as though she’d had a lot of her dragon scales torn off, Bonnieshee had a few missing teeth from her dragon’s normally dazzling smile, Symia was unconscious and Sahkmet looked terrified. Spike, Leo, Awmanman, Evilspirit, Shann and Neverwinter were unhurt but looked anxious.
“Wha… what happened?” Mac asked shakily, and Bloo peeked round from behind him.
“Jak and I went to Erebus to sort out a glitch that let Yllamar run free. We weren’t expecting to find an army there. There was a huge fight and we called in some of the others to help, but we only just managed to get away.” Draconorn explained as she pressed ice to her eye.
“What would Yllmar be doing with an army?” Spike squeaked.
“Let’s see… some of the monsters we saw were Black Vouivres, Shadows, a few nasty Digimon, a black dragon and a bunch of unknowns.” Jak said thoughtfully. “Daxter, details.”
Daxter got out a little notepad and read out what was on one of the pages. “Ten roughly humanoid creatures, dressed in bullet-proof armour and uniforms, equipped with Reflex Rifles.”
Jak winked. “Daxter’s too much of a scaredy cat to fight monsters, so it’s his job to record and find out about new ones we see.”
Daxter posed proudly. “My guess is that they’re hired troopers from around Malurien.”
Leo put his hand up. “Yes, I agree with that. I’ve been hearing weird things about citizens signing up for jobs and simply… disappearing. There’s one notable occurrence, a Lombax named Ratchet, from one of the Lombax villages in Tabur Nen. He’s a famous gunner, he signed up for a mercenary job in the Malurien newspaper, got on a train and never came back.”
“Ratchet? Yeah, I’ve heard of him. He usually gets jobs as a guard at important events like the Malurympics.” Jak said, frowning anxiously.
“Look at this.” Leo flopped a newspaper onto the coffee table and opened it out. On the page was a bright, bold advertisement.
“Looking for a job as a mercenary or a gunslinger? Feel like an outcast? Can’t find anywhere you fit in? Then look no further. We offer places as area and event guards, troopers and bodyguards, and a loving family atmosphere. Contact us… blah, blah.” Leo read out.
“Suspicious. They don’t say what the company is.” Aaron rubbed his chin thoughtfully. For now, his argument with Draconorn was forgotten.
“Poor Ratchet probably signed up for it, thinking it was just an innocent company looking for a good gunner, and found himself in something quite different.” Jak shook his head. “Yllamar’s up to something, I’m sure of it.”
“Who else has disappeared?” Draconorn growled, leaning forward. She looked quite alarming with the huge purple bruise.
“A little Digimon, an Agumon, called Max, an elven gunslinger called Radora, three Ronso from the mountains in Nimbus Irium and two baby Cubones, snatched from their nest.” EvilSpirit read off from her personal organiser. “There’s lots more, but those are the most recent ones.”
“Now is the hard part.” Draconorn grimaced. “Three of us need to sneak into Erebus unnoticed-” Draconorn glared at Neverwinter on ‘unnoticed’ and Neverwinter giggled guiltily. “-to find out what Yllmar is up to, and if possible to fix that glitch. Who volunteers?”
At first, nobody put their hands up.
Then Leo boldly stuck his arm straight into the air.
“Thanks for volunteering Leo, but you’d be easily spotted with that fur of yours. Erebus is a dark place.” Draconorn said grimly and Leo crossed his arms, looking miffed.
Aaron grumbled and put his hand up, and then Bloo put up his.
“Bloo, you idiot!” Mac hissed.
“Aaron, Bloo and-“ Draconorn started, but Mac put up his hand angrily.
“Aaron, Bloo and Mac, then. Everyone else, it’s our job to help them and keep attention away from Erebus. How? I dunno, start a fire in the Heather Plains or something. Remember go undercover and be casual. That means you too, Neverwinter. No dynamite!”
“Oh man.” Neverwinter sniffled.
“Mac and Bloo, you’d better get your special equipment.” Aaron grumbled and dragged them away to a shelf.
The norn passed down two watches, bulletproof vests, armour and two pairs of sunglasses.
“What’re the sunglasses for?” Mac asked.
“Hey, you’ve got to make an impression, look cool.” Aaron said, and put on a pair of sunnies.
“And the watches?”
“They’re not watches! They’re communication devices, basically they’re walkie-talkies disguised as watches. But they do tell the time too, normal time and Malurien time.”