I know these guys...

The Mercenaries – Mission 4 part 3


Ash sat waiting in the snow near the edge of the village, taking her frustration out on little wads of snow she scooped up while Gin hummed to himself absentmindedly. After a few minutes passed, the sound of someone running through the snow was heard and soon a young sneasel came into view. As he reached them, Ash stood up, already impatient and ready to leave.

“Sorry if I left you guys waiting here long. I’ve been busy running around for the last few days with my new job and all.” The sneasel chuckled as he held out his hand to greet them. “I’m Rhodes. You guys must be the new Merchant team Shroomsworth told me about.”

“How do ya do. Nice to meet you Rhodes. I’m Gin!” The eager cottonee said happily as he shook hands –or leaves- with the boy. “Yep, we’re the Mercenaries! And this is-“

“I’m Ash. Now that everyone’s been introduced, can we please get moving?!” Ash growled, already short on temper and not liking to drag things out, especially introductions. “We can talk on the way for all I care. We have a mission to do, and I’d like to get it done soon.” She snapped, spitting out a puff of flame that caused the sneasel to jump back in surprise.

As she turned her back and started to walk away, Gin turned to Rhodes and gave an apologetic smile, at least what looked like one with only his eyes visible. “Don’t worry about Ash-puppy there. Her bark is worse than her bite. She’s just huffy because she wanted a different mission.” He said as he floated after his partner.

Rhodes sighed to himself. He hoped wouldn’t get on Ash’s bad side and that they could get along during this trip.

For about ten minutes they traveled in silence, with Rhodes leading the way to the forest as the other two followed. “So uh, thanks a lot guys for offering to help recruit my friends. I know it’s not really the mission you wanted, but it’s a big help.” Rhodes said, finally breaking the silence.

“It’s nothing. This mission was seemed way more exciting then handing out medicine. Heck, it might even be more dangerous to recruit sneasel from the forest then to fetch a simple book at a library.” Ash grumbled, calming down more the longer they walked.

“Ash-puppy isn’t very good at meeting new pokemon, so of course she chose a mission with danger over that.” Gin whispered, winking at Rhodes who chuckled slightly under his breath. “Heh, I wonder why.” He said softly, remembering the first impression he got from her. Even now, the poochyena looked like someone you didn’t want to mess with.

Not being deaf, Ash cleared her throat to get their attention again, as they were near the edge of the forest already. “Speaking of danger, I’ve met your friends before so I know we’ll have to be on our guard in here. Especially you fuzzball, since sneasel like to use ice attacks.” She said to Gin, who only shrugged to himself.

“Don’t worry about them. I can get you guys close to the main hideout without being detected. After we find some of my friends, hopefully we can try to reason with them.” Rhodes said as he pushed ahead into the forest, forming a trail for them to follow. The others nodded and went in behind him, keeping close to avoid getting lost.

After traversing through the snow, around trees, over roots and slick icy hills for a few minutes, Rhodes warned them that they were very close. When a few voices were heard up ahead, he hushed them and lead them silently behind some bushes and out of view. Peering through, they spotted a trio of brown and black sneasel sitting not far off, apparently having a conversation amongst themselves.

As Rhodes peeked over the bush to get a good look at them, he smiled as he seemed to recognize them. “It’s ok, I know these guys. But just in case they get scared seeing you two, let me go out to talk to them first.” He said as he got up and walked from behind the bush out into the open. It wasn’t until he cleared his throat that the three noticed him, but their tense reactions put Ash on edge in case things turned sour.

“What the hell are you doing back here Rhodes?” One of the sneasel asked angrily, lifting his claws threateningly at Rhodes, who was a little put off by the gesture. “Didn’t you abandon us for those Merchants when they killed Slasher?”

“No! I mean, you guys don’t understand what Boss was doing. His death was an accident. Really!” Rhodes tried to explain, but he had to back up slightly as the three began to form a circle around him. “The Merchants are really good people, they want to help us and everything…”

“Help us?! Their Deino friend killed Boss! We all heard about it from Damion, who saw the whole thing! And you want us to believe they want us? They’ll probably kill us too!” The brown female snarled, staring Rhodes down as she walked up to his face. “Maybe we should kill you for siding with them.”

“Mint, please! We don’t want to fight! They won’t kill any of you, I swear! I’m telling you, they offered us jobs and even a new home! We don’t have to live out in this forest anymo-” Rhode’s panicked explanations were cut short as Mint slashed out at him, causing him to jump back to avoid getting shredded.

Just as he stepped back he saw the other two sneasel leap towards him with claws drawn…
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I was going to post parts 3 and 4 today, but ran short of time. and a color dispute.

Not sure if I'll finish on time, or if I should even try. I've got like 3-4 more pics to draw after part 4, and I haven't even hit my major cameo's yet. And with tests and classes, I'm not sure I'll get it done.

Might stop coloring them after part 4(which is already colored) since I take too much time on that.

Team app:[link]