Kamina

After waking up and seeing Celes and Spruce in the same bed, a big smile came to Kamina's face. He left the room that he shared with his teammates to go and get something to eat as he once again began talking to himself "yes! Progress is being made! Soon the two of them will confess their love for each other on a sunny underneath the moonlight, as romantic music plays in the air and cherry blossoms fly through wind! The light of the sun will reflect off of the soft white snow as the two of them are overcome with the very essence of spring!" Then something occurred to him "wait a second...that's not right; to spirit of spring sounds much better then the essence of it. Being overcome with springs essence sounds like it's implying something much different then what being overcome with it's spirit"

First thing I know. The whole world is on my face. Either that, or lying on the floor, writhing in pain.

"Argh..." I groaned. Although, it didn't sound like my voice. It was... deep and coarse. "What the fu...?" I couldn't move. Heck, if anything, I could just feel... my head. That was about it. I inched my eyes downwards, to find a black snout growing. I could feel my heart spiking in beats as I tried breathing. Unfortunately, my lungs were blocked by a massive weight, and I could actually feel my heartbeat slowing down... before disappearing completely. Ohmygodohmygodoh-

Finally. I could start moving again. Well, that was shortly after a beam of metal hit crushed my hip. I screamed in pain as I somehow dragged myself out from underneath the thing, watching my flattened legs go red and black. Cracking noises stiffened what remained of my ears, a combination of bones and walls bending horribly. "Jesus. What the hell's going on!?" I shouted, my voice being drowned out by the vibrations of my throat. Making sense of the situation: nil. I dragged myself on the floor to lie against the darkened walls, trying to breath with all my might. I stifled my continuing screams (which went from painful screams to shocked screams), watching a tail- no, a hand erupt from under my back and between my legs and spasm on the floor, flexing away from red entrails covering it before I could start feeling it. I took a good look at my hands, as my fingers became pointed and giant. I had to bend my arms by a lot to just get a close-up. Tilting my head upwards from them, I could see my legs stretch out, bending and twisting as talons developed. Honestly, I wished it was the work of Richard's formula, making me go crazy with the cocktail of anti-psychotics he had at hand. I gulped, feeling and eventually seeing a series of patterns forming on the underside of my body, while a scarf had grown on my neck and beyond.. Within seconds, I had bounced up, because my entire hospital room was beginning to rumble. I had trouble standing from both the gravity pulling everything down, as well as my new stance of instinctively standing on my toes. Please. Someone explain this to me. Breathing lightly as my 'lungs' opened up again, I nearly tripped upon a computer that was donated to me. It struck me as odd (which itself was odd, considering my room was about to fall several stories) that the power was out, since the plug was still attached to the wall socket. The screen was dead, although that was because it fell from my table. I attempted to lift myself up, although I lacked the physical strength to do it. But, as the room was beginning to open up and reveal the several stories I would fall, I hastily flew up and grabbed onto the wall with my giant hands.

...

I yawned, stifling it against my pillow. What a dream. Maybe it's trying to tell me something. I ignored the dream, despite the sweat running on my face. I had woken up before anyone else did, just as the dawn rose... to blind my eye again. "Ah, frickin' hell." I sunk into my bed again, folding my blanket over my face.

I swore seconds just passed, but when I whipped my blanket off me, I had noticed something. Very odd. Almost... I started to laugh. "Oh-look-at-you-ah-haha-oh-ho!" I broke my voice for a second. This was what I needed to wake me up in the mornings from now on. "Ah... oh well. At least you're friends with benefits. If you know what I mean." That old saying by Davis would often disturb him. I never knew why. "I bet I could make several more cracks at you two." I joked, although I took it into consideration.

(((pre-skip:))I wake up from my hour-long nap, and rip off two large sticks and start to use them as crutches. I hobble back, past the lake, past the bushes, and back behind the gates of the town. I limp-walk with my crutches and try to find a place where I could get some more information, and as I do, one of the makeshift crutches starts to bend, and I release some tension on it. I couldn't afford to have these break until I found someone who could help me heal. I go to the nearest healer I knew, and ask him for help. He puts a cast on me and I am told to rest for a few days.

After getting the cast, I hop to the building where they hand-wrote the news and handed them some paper and the evidence. They gave back the evidence after a quick inspection and told me that it was most likely an Absol and a Scrafty, Scraggy, or Haxorus. I nod, and take back the materials. I walk outside, and carefully make my way down the stairs, then sit down at a wall, but not for too long. I go to my house and sleep on the bed.

---

((post-skip:))After healing a bit, I take my own look at the evidence and determine it's a Haxorus scale and Absol fur. But which ones? There are many in Allure Town already. Was there any explanation? I think. I shake my head and get up from the bed, and exit my house. They could have been wilds. Their fur and scales just coming off from fighting one of the monsters... I think. I write down on a piece of paper, "If seen with these characteristics, please tell William Lennard at 233 Green Ave. Look for any Haxorus missing some scales from it's tusks, or a talon/claw. Also look out for an absol missing a few tufts of hair. These are suspects for a burglary of an artifact. Do not confront either, as they could be dangerous." I find something on the ground that was sticky, and post that note up on a wall where people could see it. I walk out of town, and get on my way back to the Foggy Plains, hopefully to find more evidence. I don't stop to rest, or even to eat a berry. I was making haste, since the possible burglars may have a chance in not being caught.

As I get there, a Sawk is right in front of me. There was no running or hiding from this one, I had to fight him. I used Feint Attack and Scratch in that order, and then dodged one attack, buck get grabbed and punched, then thrown down to the ground, and hit with a Karate Chop. I push him off and grab a rock and throw it at his forehead, and it hits. I take the moment while he's stunned to bolt out and into the fog.

I stumble around, tripping on a bush or two, and walking directly into a wall. I rub my face and look at the wall. What was a wall doing here? I ask myself as I walk around the wall. I see some papers, a few matches, and a box with the human's language on it. I look at the jumble of letters and it says "CAMEL." I put it in my backpack and grab whatever was on the table. A folder, a pencil, and a small link of round steel balls, like a chain. Maybe used to operate something. My backpack was full of books, metal objects, and something with a translucent material in the shape of a flattened rectangular prism. I zip up my bag and walk, searching for another possible hint or clue to this crime.

I find the floating altar again, and make a few quick looks around, making sure there were none of the strange pokemon that had the power to break bones and throw people great distances. I closely examine the altar, and once I found nothing, I examine the ground around the area, and find some footprints when I stick my face as close to the ground as possible. Absol footprints. I follow them for a while, and then remember that these criminals could be very dangerous. I go back to Allure Town, past the lake, and past the structure that I made, with confirmation of at least one of the species of Pokemon.

When I arrive, I look for anyone that could be interested in old human technologies. No one wanted any, yet. Maybe I would find someone later. I had to go confirm that it was an Absol that helped steal the relic and that I was on the brink of finding them, hopefully. I go to my house, and wait for a knock at the door, or someone bursting in saying "I saw them, I saw them! I know where they are and you can arrest them!" I chortle at the thought of someone doing that 2nd thing.

[Spruce]

I finally wake up from my sleep, thankful that I no longer had to go through that dream. It was one where I was standing in that weird nothingness, beside Celes, fighting Giratina. The bad part came with the fact that I would always be beaten down in the dream, and then would be forced to repeat that moment until I woke up. I then open my eyes to see Celes... in my bed... and not a blanket like I though she was. I notice her blushing, and get up a little too quickly, which led to me hitting my head on the bed above mine. "Ow, um, I mean... hi? Why did you sleep in my bed, and what the heck is M talking about with 'friends with benefits'?" I ask Celes as I, more carefully, move off of my bed. This whole situation was weird, and even awkward, though... I'll admit, it was kinda nice with her in the bed... wait, what? What am I thinking? I clear my head of those thoughts, and look around my room. Kamina was going on another filibuster, and M was laughing his... er... body... maybe, off. The beds were unmade, which was normal for this time of day, and I could have sworn Celes was either a tomato berry, or a flareon with all the blushing she was doing. The curtains were pulled away from our windows, letting some light in, which felt really nice, the floor, however, didn't seem to be in the best of conditions, and felt as though it could leave me with a splinter or five.

Josh was pretty tired. It had been a long day, and now he could finally get some rest. The rest of his teammates had gone to the guest bedroom, but Josh slept in the pool of water by the entrance.

He woke up dazed and confused. There was darkness all around him. He didn't know where he was or how he got there. The only sign of life was a slightly muffled voice.
"You're probably wondering why I called you all here today."
It was a deep, gravelly voice, and although it sounded familiar, Josh couldn't quite tell who it was.
"Three months ago, Joshua Blitz betrayed us all. We offered him our trust, and what did he do? He left the safe haven we tried to build for him, and retreated to the hazardous waters of the outside."
By now, Josh had figured out who the voice belonged to. He turned around and tried to swim away, but it was no use. There was a metal cuff around his torso, connected to a chain. There was no escape.
"Now, I want to make sure that never happens again."
A two large stone doors opened up, letting some light into the room. After his eyes had adjusted, he saw Zane standing just outside. Most, if not all, of the Pokemon living in the reef surrounded the small building that contained him.

The chain began pulling him outside, closer to Zane. He tried to resist, but there was no point. He was being pulled closer to his enemy, until they were right next to each other.
The crowd was talking among themselves.
"They caught him..."
"What's he going to do?"
"Jimmy, cover your eyes. You don't need to see this."
"QUIET!" Zane's voice echoed through the crowd, and the chatter ceased immediately. "This is what happens to those who abandon us!"
Zane's claw was inches away from Josh. He closed his eyes, preparing himself for what was coming. The first blast - Josh assumed it was Dragon Pulse - hit him pretty hard. He was barely conscious when the second one hit him.

Josh opened his eyes and looked around. Where was he? Why hadn't Zane killed him? It took a while for him to figure out that it was all just a dream. He let out a sigh of relief. Now he just had to wait for the others to wake up. Hopefully nobody saw him panic.

Celes looked awkwardly somewhere else before getting up and moving away quickly.
"I... I am sorry... I guess I was so weak and sleepy yesterday that I did not notice which bed I got in... I... I am sorry Spruce." she says blushing very hard at the moment. She looked at Miloon, and then looked down, blushing even more, before going to the door.
"I think... I am going to go eat something... ya.... I ... I think I might wake up from this..." she says, blushing so hard that it looked like her fur and skin were the color of a charmeleon. She moved to the exit, and looked as Kamina was talking about something... she only caught the end... but this was too awkward.... She really wished she would have been more awake and had more energy yesterday. That was too awkward. Now Spruce might dislike her... maybe even kick her out of the team or something. She was stressing, sad. That was too much. She did not want to sleep in his bed... she was way too tired yesterday and falled on the first bed she could.

After a while of not hearing anyone or anything knock on my door, I get up and continue thinking about how dangerous these people could be. The Haxorus had to be strong, otherwise it would be an Axew or a Fraxure. I walk outside, and down. I ask some people where I could get any more information on this, and they either pointed to the guild, or west, and said "Foggy Plains." I didn't want to go to the guild. It looked unappealing and full of hoodlums. I head out the gates, and west.

I take a sharp left when I get to a lake, and the ground gets steeper, and steeper, and higher until I have to start rock climbing to get up the mountain. Once I'm at the top, I look at the fog bank up and down. Maybe there was a place where they were hiding, in the forest... I think. I scan the forest, and see a building in the fogginess that was just barely sticking up from the mist. I get excited and climb down the mountain, charting the location.

Once I'm down the mountain and in the forest, I run in the windy path I made on my piece of paper. I sprint into the fog, and think I might as well live here, the news station needs me here so much... man, sometimes I hate this job. as I enter the abyss. This time it was so strong that I couldn't see anything but a light gray wall in front of me. Then it hit me... Or I hit it, I guess. I walked straight into a wooden wall and I feel for a door. I feel a brass handle and I twist it, then I walk into the building. I close the door and it very suddenly got dark, and not foggy. I light a match and I could actually see with it.

As I walk through the room, I see another door and I open it, into a hall. As I walk down it, there is a dead end. I walk into a room, and see an open vent. I lift up the covers on a bed, and there's blood. I put the covers back on, and move paintings, and then hear a loud stomping coming down the hall. I'm startled, and look around. I jump up into the vent and go invisible as fast as possible and start climbing around. I look out the vent's panel and see a large figure burst through the door. I jump in surprise and the thing that looked like a giant Conkeldurr. It looked frightening. Was it wild? I wonder. I didn't want to take the chance.

I crawl in the vent until my arms are sore and I felt tired, and I burst out of the nearest opening. I was now in a giant room, that looked extravagant. I rub my own shoulders for a second, and snoop around. The stairs were blocked by two fallen pillars that looked too big to climb over. I look for any other stairs. None. I walk around the top floor, and look at how far the drop was. I shook my head and walked away from the ledge. Right into a warm body. I look up and see the Conkeldurr and it yells something unintelligible and grabs my by the stomach and throws me off the ledge, onto the hard marble floor. I hit the ground hard, and faint.

When I wake up again, I feel an intense pain in my arms and head. I look down to see my arm was sprained, and I also had a very bad headache from trauma. I check myself for lacerations, and there were none. I sigh a sigh of relief, and get up. My side hurt, and I was a little hungry. I start limping and look for a door or way out. I see one and rush towards it, and try it. It was locked. I push against it, and it wouldn't budge. I hit the door with my fist and sit down. Tears form in my eyes. If they were here, I'd be dead. Absolutely, positively, no doubt, dead. I wipe my eyes and look for any other type of escape. I think about burning the place down, but I'd die from the smoke before I got out. I write down my current situation, crying. Tears fall on the paper and smear the lines. I shake my head and crumple it up. I see many other doors, but none of them had an 'EXIT' sign on them.

I walk into a dark room, and light a match. It was a kitchen. Maybe I could get something I could defend myself with... I wasn't a fighter. I can't do this. I just want to get out. I see a body. It was a Riolu, probably wild. I knew the Conkeldurr wasn't wild, because it had yelled actual words... kind of? I wasn't sure what the hell it said. It nearly killed me, too. Maybe it used to be civilized, and came here, and then got crazy. I sit in a corner and fall asleep.

Hex lay resting, comfortably in the bed. Darkness had set in, and seemed to press her down, covering her like a blanket. Her rest was not dreamless, however. The events playing out in her mind were rather chaotic, not quite as lucid as she had hoped.

"Just need to get out.. just gotta get out."

I pushed through the flaming rubble, coughing raucously, the flames licking my wings and body. Fire had completely engulfed our house that night, and screams rung out throughout the air, drowned out by the flickering and the crackling. I coughed again, nearly tripping over an ashy support pillar I'm going to die. I realized, as I gave another cough. I could feel the ash settling into my skin. I inhaled another shaky breath of smoke before coughing once again. My lungs felt restricted, like they were coated in ash, like they were on fire. I slowly climbed through the flaming wood. The pain was intense. I felt like I was about to die every step I took. However, I made it to the charred rubble of her room. If I could just get her out, everything would be alright. Everything would be fine. It wouldn't matter if I died, she still had years and years ahead of her. I stumbled into her room, to see she was still sleeping, hanging upside down on a quickly burning wooden beam. I shook her awake.

"Fern, time to go. We need to get out." I whispered, my throat to weak to speak loudly. It sounded odd in my ears. "We need to get out now."

I gave a glance toward mom and dad's room. Could they make it out..? I hugged Fern tightly, hiding her under one wing. The air seemed to distort before me, shimmering, which I imagine was due to the growing heat. I was sweating buckets, drenched in my own sticky sweat. "Stark..?" Fern whispered, trying to push through my wing. "Just stay under there, and try not to breathe too much." I coughed out once again. I slowly stumbled to their room, but just as I was about to walk in, a flaming support beam crashed down before me, barring off the entrance. "NO!" I tried to yell! but my voice was too weak. I scratched at the door, as more flaming pillars and beams crashed around me. No.." The white hot fire was all around, getting closer.. it was too close.. I was going to..

Hex awoke, suddenly rising. She seemed to be drenched in sweat, like the dream. "Ugh." She mumbled, rising up out of the hot blankets. "Bad dream." She fluttered off, out of the bed. "Really bad dream."

I dream about the conkeldurr, but it was only for a few minutes, as I had been woken up from a loud crash. I stand up, and walk through the kitchen, looking for tools or food. Maybe a rich guy used to live here and then the fog settled in and he just left. I walk into a hallway, where there was light. Light? Where was the light coming from? There wasn't a lit match. I look up and see the buzzing white light. I cover my eyes as I peer into it, as it starts to worsen my headache. I walk through the hall and rub my forehead. I open a door and it was dark again.

As I walk into the room, I light a match and see that it was a storage room that had shelves full of empty boxes. All except one, which had more matches. I grab them in a hurry and put them in my backpack. I make haste in getting myself out of here. It was dark, and if the... thing found me, I would be crushed. I open the only other door and walk through, and see some windows. I try opening them, but they were rusted shut, and punching the window would only make my arm worse, and severely cut my arm. I try the other windows. None of them worked. I mark it down on my map for later. If that guy finds me, I can run back here and have him accidentally destroy the wall, allowing my escape. I smile and sigh. Hopefully that plan worked, and I walk into a room labeled "Dining Room." I enter it and find old, rotten scraps of food, and I plug my nostrils as I enter it. I step through a cobweb, and into something that felt like slime mixed with feces. I scream upon contact and bolt away. It was covering my foot, and had an indescribable smell.

I walk back to the big room where the exit was, and look for any other rooms. I find a room that led to a giant spiraling staircase. I walk down, my fungus on my foot sticking on to everything it touched, leaving a trail of footsteps. I throw up twice from the smell of it, and nearly slip down the stairs. When I get to the bottom, I see a room labeled "CELLAR" and I enter it. It was hot upon entrance, and I light a match. I see a tank that had a diamond with fire in the middle and I think That's either a warning, or something that tells me where to put fire. It's probably a warning. I should put this match out before something bad happens. I lick my fingers and put out the match and close the cellar, then I walk back up the staircase when I hear something behind me.

"LITTLE PIG!" I hear the Conkeldurr yell, and I sprint as fast as possible up the stairs. I shriek like a little girl as I enter the big room, and slam the door on the monster. I bolt around, looking for a place to hide, not remembering my plan, and I run into the other open set of doors, into a kitchen. I grab a cleaver and as it opens the doors, I throw the cleaver at it, nicking its arm. Blood dribbles out of its cut, and it roars and I run into the hall, closing the door behind me again. I suddenly remember where I was going, and hear it crash through the kitchen, and rip open the door like a beast. I shriek again and run towards the door in the supply room, into the hall with the windows. I stand at one of the windows, and it barrels through, and tries to smash me with its pillar, and I dodge it mostly, it only taking out my left leg. I grab it as soon as it was hit, and the pillar smashed the window, sending glass everywhere.

I dive for the opening and roll out of the building, and hurt my leg even more. I stand up, and look at the opening, which was now ripped open even more. I limp right into a gate, and my bum leg wasn't going to hold up to climb over it. I try to lift up the bottom, and crawl under. I, now panicking, rush out the gate and laugh triumphantly at the other side. I limp-walk out of the fog bank and collapse as soon as I do, fainting from exhaustion.

"Well. You just spoiled a moment with Celes." I yawned, my attempts to stifle it failing. "...and I'd tease you about it- oh what the heck. Spruce, you have to get it on with her, because life's just proven we can die easily. Since yesterday." I would've chuckled for longer, had I not reacted the way I did upon floating upwards.

"ARGH! Who the BLOODY in IN MY OWN PERSONAL HELL welded an extra bar onto my magnet!?" I was talking about my third magnet, which was located behind me. I could see it, because instead of staying behind me, it was at the bottom of my body. My screws were... well, someone had definitely burnt them while welding the third bar onto my magnet. I mean... how does one do this without waking me up? "I-I'm serious. How did this perpetrator managed to do this without waking any one of us? Do you know how loud welding gets, let alone the light it creates? It's like burning magnesium while you dissolve it in some hydrochloric acid!" Random facts I just decided to spurt out to emphasis the situation. Disturbingly, the bar didn't look like it was welded, and my screws were slightly jagged.

...yes, I was pissed. If there was one thing that annoyed me, it would involved vandalism to my body. Sure, I probably let Dementia off the hook, but we were in a fierce battle. This was just uncalled for. Well, maybe it was a punishment for being such a jerk, but even then this was rather extreme.

"Kamina! Are you sure you didn't sneak into my bed and have some fun, not unlike the snake and fox?"

Kamina was confused when M asked if had sneaked into his bed lat night "what are you talking about? What kind of fun could I have with you while you're asleep? In fact, I can't really think of anything fun the two of us could do in bed...unless" suddenly an idea came to him "late night training, of course! How could I have been such a fool to overlook something as simple as that! Thank you for bringing this to my attention M, I'll make sure to sneak into your bed tonight so that we can train together"

As I wake up, I gasp and grab my leg. I look at it, and see it had a few glass shards in it. I scream as I get up from the ground, putting pressure on it. I close my eyes and bite my lip as I grasp one of the shards, and slowly take the glass shard out of my calve and put massive amounts of pressure on it to stop the bleeding. After I'm sure it's stopped bleeding, I repeat the process until all of the shards are out. and all the bleeding has stopped. I breathe heavily and grab a branch to pull myself up. I hop on one leg for a small bit, and try to walk on it. It was too painful, so I hop one one leg back to Allure Town.

As soon as I get to Allure Town, I ask for someone who could help with the leg, or maybe get that brute taken care of. I mash up some berries into a paste, and put them on my wounds, hoping that would help them heal, or disinfect. I saw that in a book one time. It stings at first but then gets numb and soon my whole leg is asleep. I hopped over to 'The Guild', and mumbled something as I wobbled in. Dirty hoodlums... probably doing work for... for... a bad... dude... yeah... I think, and I sit in a chair and write a small letter down. 'Brutish Conkeldurr at tall building in Foggy Plains. Possible whereabouts of the thieves of the artifact, and it could be their bodyguard. Broke my leg, nearly killed me, to locate the building climb the mountain before you reach the fog and search for a very tall building. Take caution, very strong, but also very clumsy. Reward of 500 poke will be given if confirmation that it's dead, or at least locked up.' I tack it to the board and limp out. I look at the guild again. I didn't know why I hated it so much, I just did. It looked like a place where thugs might be.

I hobble around town, and wrap some cloth around my bum leg, and sit on a crate, open my bag, and take out the old human technologies, and yell "Auctioning relics from the far past!" and wait for a crowd to come over, and I begin thinking How much could I make off of these? as I take out the 2 rectangles that unfolded and had a clear and shiny substance on the front. I look around, and make sure anyone who wanted to bid was here, and clear my throat. "Welcome to my auction! This here is a... um... a... an antique... uh... berry squishing device! Never used before! See, you just put the berry here and close this top rectangle on it, making a paste that goes great on food!" I say as I point to the middle of the bottom rectangle and pushed the top one down on top of it.

((The 'berry squishing device' is really a laptop.))

[Spruce]

I listen to what M and Kamina were yelling about, and I could only come up with "Uh... right... training." as my response. I then look over to Celes who was apologizing profusely about sleeping in the same bed as me, and add "Uh... don't worry, it was kinda like I had an extra blanket." I kinda hoped that she wouldn't hate me for this incident, after all, she seemed nice... heh. Great, there I go again, thinking about Celes. I have to focus on missions if I'm ever going to get good at this. I think as I dare to walk on the splintery floor. Luckily, no splinters stuck into my foot as I escaped the wooden deathtrap that was known as our team's room, and I made it to the nice, polished, and splinter-free (if a bit cold) hallway, living to see another day. There were already several pokemon filling the hallway, almost all of them being a completely different species from the last... or the next. I eventually make it to the little circular room where the guildmaster usually filled us in on what to do for the day. He was awake... I think... and was standing next to Archie, who was reading from a stack of papers. "Ah, Spruce, there you are. I've got a mission for you." Archie says to me. This would normally be a happy occasion, however, the tone of his voice, or, rather, Archie's voice in general quickly put a damper on that. Regardless, I approached the dino-bird, who almost looked as though he was angry with me... oddly enough, that wasn't the case. As soon as I approached Archie, he said "Rosebud, a Keckleon shopkeeper, has gone missing... apparently, she was taken for ransom, as we've gotten a note saying that we should give this... Team Skull... about five hundred thousand poke if we ever want to see her again." I gave a shocked look, as he simply continued, apparently ignoring me, adding "Thankfully, Rosebud was able to send an SOS mail, revealing her location as somewhere in Scale City... oh, and, you should go alone. I'll give the rest of your team other missions... that's all for today, and here's the SOS mail we got." he then hands me the mail, which had pretty much everything he said written on it, as well as a reward of 800 poke... and something else. "Uh... why am I going alone?" I ask Archie, who seems mad at that, shouting "Because if you go with an entire team, Team Skull will know that you're not handing them money! Oh, I almost forgot..." He then gives me an empty bag, or, rather, a bag full of geopebbles, that had a pokedollar stamp on the front. I take the bag, and hesitantly head off... on my own...

---

[Anthony]

Apparently, I fell asleep somewhere in the hallway leading to the guest's bedroom... not exactly the safest, or most comfortable place to sleep, but, thankfully, nobody seemed to step on me while I went through my utterly dreamless sleep. It was my first one of those in years, and I always thought those were the weirdest ones. I yawned as I got up and I looked around only to see that Carrol was still asleep, Hex was sweating enough for me to think she was a water type, and speaking of those, Josh appeared to be panicking for some weird reason. "Another day, another adventure!" I say to everyone enthusiastically. I then add "I, um, read about that phrase somewhere... apparently, some cubone used that as his motto... really helped him get through some of his worst days." Of course, nobody asked me why I said that, but nobody had to, as it was unlikely that anyone knew exactly where that phrase originated from, as it was pretty obscure Wildvines trivia. I then hear someone in the next room shout "Who the HECK is up at this hour!?" it was Terra, who still looked really tired, and was holding a plush Axew in her left hand. I held in my laughter, as something about the way she looked at me made me think that she would destroy me if I ever decided to laugh at... well... her little friend. She then said "Well... I guess we might as well start on that egg thing, huh? I'll get Blaze, and then we can head off." She grabbed a backpack from a nearby wall, and ran towards the egg in the middle of the room. Sometime before she picked up the egg, she apparently put the plush toy in her bag, as it was gone when she took the egg. She then headed off in a direction that wasn't towards the cave's exit... which was odd... "Uh... Terra, are you sure that you're going the right way?" She turned around, glared at me for a moment, and said "Yes. This is a secret exit that should lead us to somewhere near Scale City. We're going to go past that place, and head north. After we scale Mt. Dragoncoil, we should start heading north-east, and that will take us to our destination." After that long explanation, I simply followed... it seemed as though she knew where she was going... even if she did lead us to a pitch-black, cramped cave area where I could almost swear something was growling at me.

I twitched my eye at Kamina, the only thing moving as I had a frozen expression. "Okay, now I know you're too stupid to start welding. Spruce, I'm gonna-"

By the time I had turned to him, he was exiting our room. As soon as he opened the door, we heard several footsteps and some chatter going on outside. "Agh. I don't even like the fact I'm able to twitch my screws." I jiggled the pair before holding them firm, not really knowing who I was talking to at this point. I tried following Spruce, leaving Kamina by himself as I mid-way between the partially chipped ceiling and smooth floor. I sometimes wonder how two days can quickly change someone. Oh man, I like the cold. Doesn't make me melt or anything. I let out a sigh, floating above several Pokemon as I entered the lobby by forcing two doors open. I guess today's our break. I'm still sore from yesterday. You know how you get scars? Pokemon usually go 'oh wow, you're so manly' when they see them, although... everything was rather quiet today. Not too much activity in the lobby, neither in the hallway. Instead of the usually mess left behind by Muks and Goomies, it was polished, wooden floor. The counters were rather sleepy, while most of the chairs in the lobby were barely filled up.

Meanwhile, I was quiet visibly disturbed by a... certain Pokemon. Hasty writing, bit of blood, obviously got himself into some trouble. As soon as he left, I began floating over to the board by myself. Although, a Porygon (which nearly caused me to blurt out 'DAVIS!') came over to the board first. I followed, taking a look around and finding that note. "Oh man." Strangely, the Porygon didn't sound... robotic, unlike Davis. Heck, his voice was similar to mine. But, the differences included being a Porygon, having a strange blue-black colouration, and what appeared to be speakers in his skin... as well as some sort of circular device on his back. "That guy obviously got himself into some trouble." I started staring at the Porygon, if not leering at him. Looking down at him, I asked him something that would scare me...

"Hey. What's your name?"

"Hold on. Just need to warn you that you're gonna go through a lot. Like, A LOT. 'Whenever a pet goes missing, the owner replaces him.'" With that, he left, turning and walking to a secluded area of the lobby. I followed him frantically, into a room and finding... a dead end. It was the room where guild members teleported into, although only a snoring Bisharp was available. That Porygon simply disappeared.

"So much for hallucinations." Maybe he popped down into a parallel universe. I came back out the room. finding the same old quiet lobby. "Hm... that was quite creepy."

I look around at the group of people. "Is everyone here?" I ask. There were several pokemon. Pawniards, a lucario, a raichu, a froslass, and a timburr... ugh, I'll never be able to look at that species in the same way ever again... I think as I look around. "Starting bid for the berry smashing device is 350 Poke!" I say to the crowd. Someone raises there hand and I call out "350 from the... Lucario!" and I ask "400, 400 anyone?" and the Froslass raises her hand. "400 from the Froslass!" and continue raising until I reach 750, then no one but the 2nd Pawniard wanted it. "Going once, twice, sold!" I yell out, and I take the 750, and give him the device. I look in my backpack and take out a box with more of the clear material on a small side of it. I flip open something on the side and say "It's... uh... um... a box! What does it do? It... lets you see things that are far away with this side thingy here!" and I call out for 100. One person raises there hand, so I raise it to 150, and the Lucario raises its hand. and I call out 200, no one wanted it at that time. "Going once, twice, and... sold!" I say again and I hobble over to him and take the 150 and give him the 'advanced telescope'. I take out a small dinky little thing with something weird and wiry inside of it. I look at this and fiddle with it, and say "Find out what this does, I dunno." I call out "100, anyone?" and the Raichu raises his hand. No one wanted it other than him and he won the auction. I toss it to him, and he gives me 100 Poke.

I shrug and think "Might as well go edit my note to fit a better price. I don't need anything right now, other than something to fix my leg. I get off the crate, put all the Poke in my backpack and hop back to the guild and edit my note. I think about how much I had and reset the reward to 1000 Poke. I didn't need to throw away all of my money, whether I had it before or after the auction. I leave the building, and head over to the station. I hand my boss all my papers, and he sees the hasty writing and the giant jagged line one one paper and shakes his head. "We can't accept this!" He says. I sigh, and say "I nearly got killed," and he replies with "You agreed to get the case." I ask "Are there any other cases at all?" and he says "No. All the others are already taken. We could assign you a partner to help you with the case, but it will take... a while. Maybe by the time it's finished, we'd have one ready. Sorry." I look at him through squinted eyes and almost utter the words 'I quit,' but I didn't I only said "I-i-i-iii..." and he asks "You what, Mr. Lennard?" and I cover my mouth and say "Nothing, sir," and I bolt out of his office and out the door of the station. I sit on the steps and shake from the thought of being homeless, or jobless.

Josh tried to calm himself down. It was only a dream. As long as he stayed away from the ocean, Zane couldn't get to him.
Anthony had seen him panic, but thankfully didn't question him about it. Hex had woken up too, and judging by how much she was sweating, Josh assumed she had a nightmare as well.
A shout came from another room. "Who the HECK is up at this hour!?"
It was Terra, who at the moment seemed pretty tired.

She headed out, taking a secret passage to some place called Scale City. Anthony followed.
"Hey, wait up!" Josh yelled after them. "Shannon and Matt aren't awake yet!"
"I'm sure they won't leave us behind." Matt had emerged from the guest bedroom, looking even more tired than Terra was. "Come on. Let's wake Shannon up."

Josh swam into the bucket as Matt was re-filling it. They both headed into the guest room, where Shannon was still asleep.
"Time to wake up." Josh said, splashing a little water on his face. "We're heading out. Come on."
"That was a little rude."
"Yeah, I guess, but it's a lot better than what Z...how I used to get woken up."
Josh had almost spilled the beans about Zane. Hopefully Shannon wouldn't question him about it

Celes was going to go downstairs heard Archie talking to Spruce. She quickly hide and listen carefully to what was being said, hearing something about a solo mission and everything. She shakes her head, and continue to listen, hidden behind a potted plant. She stared at Spruce as he was leaving, and then think a bit. So brave to do this alone but... also very risky... it might end up as a suicide mission, and she knew she could not let him do that... but she also knew how the fact that he was suppose to go alone in this. This was splitting her apart from the inside. One side wanting to just go and help him, another trying to stay behind and hope for the best... It was not long till the side about fallowing took over, but she knew that Spruce might not accept... and less Archie if he saw her. She though about it... what to do... what to do about it... She then had a idea, and head outisde. She knew where Scale City was... and Spruce might take time to actually arrive there. She could fallow him from behind, that she knew, but she needed to be silent about it. She then head to the market district, and head to a small clothing shop, looking at the selection. Black and white cloths. When she though about it... she could also use this for stealth missions afterwards... and knowing her moves, it might be better to use stealth here. She buys normal cloths of white and black color, and put it in her bag, before running, going to fallow Spruce at a distance. She knew what she would do tonight. She knew it might take time to prepare, but in the end it will be useful. And thinking about it... she might be able to work the clothing a bit more at Scale city... having heard of some great clothing shops over there.

Hex yawned, her eyes heavy and dull. "What time is it, anyway? Feels a little early." She commented, her voice slightly slurred from drowsiness. She looked around for a window, before realizing she was in in a cave. "Huh. Well, I guess we gotta go on that mission, huh?" She started up her wings, and soon, they were flittering rapidly, creating a slight, quivering shimmer in the air. The wings picked her up, displacing air from under her, and she fluttered up.

Hex followed Terra and Anthony into the cramped, cold cave. The close details of the dream were already beginning to fade, as was the warmth in her face and the growing sweat. It involved fire. She always hated fire. It had plagued the young combee her entire life. Even in the forest, fire types were always trouble. They would show, their white hot flames flickering, and start a growing dry fire in the area. It always took the combined efforts of some water wild pokemon to stamp out the fire, dousing it down and scaring away the troublesome fire types. There was always that crispy, bitter ash smell after the fire that she despised. Her hate for fire didn't help when she was weak to it. The slightest ember, the closest flickering flame, and her wings would be set alight and burned to a blackened, charred crisp. Fire was always a problem. It could set the hive alight, or it could damage the soldier Beedrill, or it could cripple a scout, or it could do something even nastier. She continued on down the cramped cave, forced to fly low in order not to hit the stalagmites hanging off of the ceiling. Terra seemed to know where she was going, but Hex had no idea how she managed to get through all this hard stone and rock. Jagged and rough edges covered the walls and ceilings, dangerous to anyone too big for the small tunnel. Water dripped from the roof of the tunnel, coming down in steady drips, the sound of the clink echoing down the otherwise silent tunnel. There was a soft, dull footstep, a wet cough, and occasional shuffle. It was rather awkward in the cave, having to huddle low to avoid the cramped walls and roof.

"Pretty small tunnel." She commented, trying to break the silence. "Is there something else in here? Feels like there's something else in here." A low, gristly hum filled the cavern, like a white noise. It was like something was growling.

Kamina

As M left to go do whatever it was that he did, Kamina caught Spruce in the corner of his eye leaving the guild building...alone. There was only one logical explanation; Spruce was going on a secret mission to some place, he wasn't sure where or why, but that that was the only reason why he would leave on a mission without the rest of them, for they were a team. There was only one logical course of action Kamina could take; follow him in secret and then leap out into action when he was in mortal peril to save his life, thereby teaching him an important lesson in teamwork and trusting your allies...it was so obvious! Now some people would tell Kamina that he wasn't a very stealthy person...being a limbless fish and all, but he would just laugh in their face. This was yet another chance to further his training...he wasn't quite sure how, but he still knew it "there is training in living" he chanted his own personal manta as he began to shadow the Snivy surprisingly stealthy for a Magikarp

Tini

After 'knocking' at the front door, Tini waited there for someone to answer for a few hours...however no one came "huh...guess they're all out" he said to himself "oh well, might as well look around town" and with that, Tini broke his long and rather pointless vigil at the gates of the town's guild to explore

-later-
I rewrite my logs in a neater fashion, and look at it, and draw a conkeldurr on the last page. My boss walks by in the middle of the drawing and yells "What in Arceus' name are you doing?! You can't be slacking on the job! Stop drawing, and get to work!" and I jump from being startled and my pencil flies up and hits me on my head. I grab it and erase the whole drawing and slide the stack of papers over and drum my fingers on my desk. I get a new sheet and write down some other reporter's paper, since his was rejected too, for horrendous handwriting. Not fit for the newspapers. I put it on the stack and grab it, stand up, and limp over to the Smeargle that somehow got all the papers to stick together, no matter what. I sit in a chair in his space, and ask him how he gets them to stick together.

"Well, you see, my tail's secretions are twice as sticky as the normal smeargle's, making it pretty much useless for painting, but perfect for this type of job. I just coat it, and it gives our papers the signature green 'binding'," he says.

I nod, and say "Oh, okay. I have to go talk to the boss," and I stand up. I walk-run to my boss's office and wave to him nervously. "Hi, sir... um... I-I'd appreciate it if... if you wouldn't yell at me in front of the whole station, please..." I say to him.

"Excuse me, what?" he asks, looking at me as if I had a cold.

"I said that I would l-like it if you wouldn't yell at me like that, sir," I say, looking at him.

"Oh... come, sit," he says, pointing at the seat in front of his desk. I walk to it and hop up into it, and sit down. "You... disapprove? ... I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" he says sarcastically. "Well, I'm glad you brought this up, because I believe that a business surely can't run properly without communication."

"Right, right, yes," I say, nodding. I look at him, sweating and tapping my fingers. He was meandering around, picking up and putting down things, moving things and closing cabinets.

"Well, in that case, let's make one thing clear. What did I tell you the very first day you applied for a job here?" he asks, and I don't say anything in my nervousness. "Let's review. I told you the very first day you applied here that your thoughts. Are nothing. Your opinions. Are NOTHING. And then you get the idea to come into MY office and try to tell me--"

I cut him off and stand up. "This is a bad time," I say, getting ready to rush out the door and back to my workplace.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU LITTLE UNGRATEFUL PIECE OF SHIT? LET ME MAKE ONE THING CLEAR YOU NIMROD, YOU ARE NOTHING!" He yells. He grabs a binder and looks at me, and asks "You see this? This means more to the news station than you do! But does it whine when I do this?!" and he throws it at me. I cover my eyes and face and I yelp as it hits me. "YOU MEAN NOTHING. THESE PENCILS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU, THESE PAPERCLIPS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU!" he yells, throwing pencils at me, and paperclips at me. I cover my head again and flinch. "YOU MISERABLE LITTLE CRYBABY, IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT HERE, THEN LEAVE!" he yells, pushing me out of the chair and into the door. "There are tons of people who would kill for your spot, who would die to be here! You little pansy! Why can't you show any backbone, HUH?" he yells. "I don't appreciate your yelling, sir," he mocks, in a whiny voice. "You gotta be a man to do this job!" he yells as he throws a book at me, and I open the door and leave his office. I breathe wavily, and walk back to my desk, and get my stuff and put it in my backpack, then walk out the door. I was shocked, since he hasn't yelled at me like THAT in almost a year.

I shiver and walk down the steps carefully, to not hurt my leg and ask if there were places I could apply for a job at, since I knew I was getting fired for this. Someone points me to... ugh. That place. The 'guild'. I would only go there if I was fired for good, and couldn't find a job anywhere else. I rub my eyes and think about it. I didn't notice my skin had changed color to a light red from the abuse and the humiliation. I quickly go back to a green and rub my eyes again. I wasn't crying, my eyes were just teary.