CH58 (422), Standard Missions?! (3)

I called the 3 Arbok back out but ignored the two conscious ones in favor of treating the unconscious leader. I felt them staring at me while I was treating their group leader and they continued doing so after I turned toward them once I finished the treatment.

"He should wake up in a few minutes," I informed the duo and they nodded before giving me a hopeful look. "I'll be dealing with your situation now," I answered their silent request and went up to the first one to heal his paralysis and drowsiness.

"Thank you," I heard in PokeSpeech while I turned to the other Arbok. I looked back at him for a moment and gave him a curt nod along with a "no problem," before I focused back on the still-paralyzed Arbok in front of me.

I quickly used a spray bottle to spray a solvent-water mix on her to deal with any powder still on her body, just to be on the safe side since she seemed to be the most affected out of the trio before I feed her a potion that dealt with the drowsiness and paralysis. It took her only a few moments to feel better.

"Thank you," I heard her say as well, and I told her that she was welcome. Horus/Xatu gave me a mental knock to gain my attention and visibly bobbed his head in the leader Arbok's direction. I had noticed that the guy had woken up while I was busy with the other two, but he quietly observed me/us, so I had let him be.

However, now that everyone was free from the effects of Optimus/Butterfree's ambush. Wait, strategic offense sounded much better. Yes, now that everyone was cured of the effects of Optimus' strategic offense, it was time for some answers.

"So, do you know why your tribe has started expanding?" I asked and received three nods in return.

"The Furret in the north and the Linoone west of us have attacked our boss, er, the leader of our Arbok tribe," the female Arbok replied and I looked at the other two to see if they had something to add to it.

"I'm not sure if it's true, but I've heard that the leader has been waiting for a chance to expand for a while since our numbers have increased a lot during the last decade," the weaker male Arbok added, and I was wondering why they would have to wait for an excuse to expand instead of simply doing it. Was it because of the guardians?

"Why would he need an excuse, and why now?" Horus asked what I was wondering.

"Because of chief Exeggutor," the team leader replied, drawing looks from all of us. "Exeggutor is the big boss of the whole area in these parts and he dislikes it when someone stirs up a big commotion."

The existence of a boss overlooking the area was not surprising, even if it seemed to be one that preferred calm and order, but that still did not explain why the Arbok boss would start something now.

Unless their territory was really overcrowded of course, but I doubt that that was the case. I would have come across more Ekans or Arbok if that had been the case. My eyes bored into Arbok, asking him to elaborate, and he seemed to have gotten the message.

"From what I've heard, Exeggutor is at the top of the dark gold stage, and boss Arbo recently broke through to the dark gold stage as well," Arbok quickly said and while he did not outright say it, he implied that the breakthrough was what gave the boss Arbok the confidence to expand.

Still, it seemed it did not want to fully fall out with Exeggutor so it looked for a reason to expand. Yet, it seems to me as if I am missing something. Why would he expand to the north and west, why not the east or south, or just the north or just the west, or better yet, why not in all directions? Is it really because they attacked him?

Also, it seems the order's information on the boss Arbok's strength is a bit out of date, considering that it was at the (low) dark gold stage and not the (high) gold stage. Still, I guess I have two options now that I know this.

First, I go back to the order and tell them what I learned. Considering everything I learned just now, I'm pretty sure I've found out enough to satisfy the investigation portion of the mission, which should be enough for them to consider my mission complete. Especially after the bit with the boss Arbok reaching the dark gold stage, which should have increased the mission's risk factor quite a bit.

On the other hand, a (low) dark gold stage Arbok was not enough to make me worried. Forget about ganging up on it, I had more than one option to deal with it one on one. Besides, I had the distinct feeling that there was something else going on here besides the boss Arbok wanting to expand after reaching the dark gold stage and using an excuse to do so.

"Can you think of anything else?" I asked the three with my eyes on the strongest, but they shook their head.

Well, I had to admit that the possible mystery had roused my curiosity, so I decided to stay and keep investigating, and for that, I needed to know more about what I might face.

"Alright," I let it be and saw them relax a bit. "How about you tell me something about the number and strength of your tribe? Oh, and also about the Furret and Linoone tribes. It would be for the best if you add the tribes in the east and south as well," I inquired instead, and I saw them look at each other before the leader of the trio spoke up.

"The area south of ours belongs to a Sandslash tribe and from what I know, their leader used to be as strong as our boss," he started, "well, ex-boss," before he corrected himself, and I motioned for him to go on.

"The east belongs to a bunch of Gloom with their boss Vileplume," Arbok continued and I could practically hear/feel his distaste when he mentioned the Gloom. I could guess why, but I still chose to ask.

"What's wrong with them?" I saw the face of all three Arbok crinkle a bit at the question.

"That bunch stinks, and they tainted a big part of their place as well. We had to fight them a few times to ensure that they kept the smell away from our place. No one likes to go to the edge of that place and mostly only those that have to check that the stinkers kept the agreement go there," he explained and I had to nod.

Gloom were notorious for their ability to release a pungent smell, and that a species with a special/strong smell organ could and would dislike them did make sense. It would also be a possible explanation for why they did not bother expanding eastward.

As for the south, Sandslash have a type advantage over Arbok. Not to mention their quill-covered backs, and their sharp claws, which did pose a certain danger to most species. Moreover, they were pretty good at burrowing and underground combat, so I could understand why the Arbok tribe might have preferred expanding north and west instead.

Convenient explanation aside, the Arbok tribe could have at least attempted expanding in those directions, so that they could at least push them back a bit more. Still, I motioned for Arbok to continue since it had stopped after it noticed that I was contemplating.

"Both the Furret and Linoone bosses used to be as strong as our ex-boss. Also, their number is higher than ours, but we are stronger than them, even if those critters are pretty good at resisting our poison. Makes it harder to eat them," he resumed his report while mumbling the last bit, but I was sure everyone still heard it.

Still, he kept the info on his own tribe until the end, and I could see his hesitancy when it came to revealing information about his own tribe.

"Can I ask why you're really here, and what you're planning to do with our tribe," Arbok ended up asking instead of continuing his report. I saw the other two Arbok look at me with their complete attention when he asked that question.

I could understand his hesitation and did not mind answering his question, so I did just that.

"The expansion of your group has affected the villages around this place, and I have been sent out to investigate the reason for the unrest," they nodded at that. "Part of my mission is solving the problem if possible," I saw them tense when I said that, so I calmed them a bit.

"I'm not planning to attack your whole tribe or anything, at least not if I don't get attacked first, but I could try to see if I could help resolve the problem. If it's outside my capability, I have to report back so that they can send another Aura Guardian that can do it," I elaborated and they nodded a bit at that. Arbok seemed to mull over my words a bit before he began to speak up.

"I have no idea how many members our tribe exactly has, just that it's more than the Sandslash and Gloom. However, we have 4 gold-stage leaders aside from the boss, even if none of them are as strong as the boss used to be. Also, there are more than thirty Arbok stronger than me, and quite a lot of Arbok just as strong as me," he finally ended up sharing, and I had to admit, that the information given along with the mission had been off by a bit.

The Arbok tribe currently had a (low) dark gold stage boss, and 4 gold stage subleaders, which was quite a bit more than the 3 gold-stage Arbok mentioned in the mission info. Honestly, while the difference might not seem that big for many people, the difference was pretty large on the field, especially with the existence of the dark gold stage Arbok.

Well, that one was apparently a pretty recent development, so that can be excused, but even if that had not been the case, there would have been 5 gold-stage Arbok instead of 3, which could have caused a lot of complications for people that could somewhat deal with 3 gold-stage Arbok, but not more.

Still, all missions had a warning that variables like this can happen and that one should be careful. Moreover, this was mostly a scouting mission, so there was always the possibility of something being off.

Anyway, I decided to ask about their intrusion into the other territories. "How often and how many of you do head into the north or west?"

"Two groups like ours in both directions every few hours," he replied and I swear I could see him shrug his nonexistent shoulders while he said that. "None of the leaders is among the ones leading those groups yet," he added and I nodded at that. That meant that they had yet to go all out.

"Thank you," I thanked him and the other two for answering my questions, before recalling all three.

"We'll keep checking the border, and try to see if we can find more information before heading deeper into the Arbok territory," I told Horus and co before resuming our trek. I was hoping to come across another group like this one once we made it to the western border.

Not only to get some more Ekans and Arbok, which should help reduce their population problem but also to see what the situation was like on that front. That did not mean that I would not question any lone Ekans or Arbok I came across, because I would, just that we had to keep our eyes and senses open for a bigger group as well.

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