Chapter 5:
The stuck Jolteon and
the Lost Leafeon
The next day, Loudred, as usual, woke them up with his voice. Rihou and Jarexius were getting used to it. As for Diego, the time he was lost made him get used to any type of Awakening. On the usual briefing, Chatot explained the usual: an explorer's job. He also welcomed Diego officially to Team Hope.
-"All right, everyone, dismissed!"- said Chatot.
-"HORRAY!"- everyone yelled, and they went on. Jarexius, Rihou and Diego stayed behind, discussing what to do, until Chatot called them:
-"Hey, Team Hope. "- said Chatot.
-"Yes?"- asked Jarexius.
-"Today, look ONLY on the Job Bulletin Board"- said Chatot.
-"Why only there?"- asked Rihou.
-"Gerald will refresh the Outlaw Notice Board, as well as give it an update. Today, it won't be working"- said Chatot.
-"Oh, no prob!"- said Diego.
-"Do your best with your new member. "- said Chatot.
-"We will!"- said Jarexius; -"well, Team Hope, we heard Chatot. Let's get to it!"-
-"Yay."- said Diego.
-"Let's go!"- said Rihou. The three of them nodded and went to the Job Bulletin Board. Once there, they were supposed to pick at least two jobs. However, they were a lot, so it was really hard to choose.
-"Wow. Never did I thought we would have this problem"- said Jarexius.
-"Let's just look closely and see what job we think is most important to do"- said Rihou.
-"…Bingo!"- said Diego. He grabbed two papers; -"this one says that a Jolteon is stuck on a pipe for a week, and this one say that a Leafeon disappeared, both at the same dungeon: The Dreamyard"- said Diego.
-"The Dreamyard?"- asked Rihou.
-"Yes. I haven't heard much about it, but a Pokémon named Munna appear there…and it shows dreams"- said Diego.
-"Wow, no way!"- said Rihou.
-"Yes, but I've only heard about it, so don't get too excited about it"- said Diego.
-"Humph…same thing, Emolga…"- said Rihou, and he went on.
-"Ugh, Rihou, if you are going to start with that attitude, better stay here, got it?"- warned Jarexius, and she went on. Diego shrugged his shoulder and followed them.
On the Dreamyard entrance, Rihou quickly recognized that it was a factory or some sort, while Jarexius remembered that in a place like this she met Team Plasma for the first time. It had the same atmosphere like this one.
-"Well, team, are we ready?"- asked Rihou.
-"Naturally!"- said Diego.
-"And our leader?"- asked Rihou.
-"More than ready"- said Jarexius, and she went on.
Rihou and Diego followed her behind. It had the same thing as the other ones: wild Pokémon attacking them for no reason, and some of them…covering them in mud…Jarexius looked at Rihou, who looked back and shrugged his shoulder. Jarexius rolled her eyes. Diego was fighting against a wild Shellder. He used Spark and the Shellder fainted. In the middle, they saw a pipe and a yellow thing half inside.
-"Hey look! A Thunderstone!"- said Rihou.
-"That's no Thunderstone…that's a Pokémon!"- said Jarexius. The trio hurried to the yellow thing. Once close, they saw it had some yellow fur that made it look like Thunder Spikes. It was nearly fainted.
-"Give it a Revive"- said Diego; -"without a doubt, this is the Jolteon we're looking for"-
-"Really?!"- said Jarexius.
-"Here, let me give it to him…"- said Rihou. He grabbed a Revive and slowly made the Jolteon chew on it. Rihou was very careful with it. The Jolteon woke up and stood up.
-"Ugh…where am I?"- asked the Jolteon.
-"In The Dreamyard, sir"- said Diego; -"you were lost for a week. We came to rescue you"-
-"Oh, really?"- he asked.
-"Yes. The name's Rihou"- said Rihou.
-"Mine's Diego!"- said Diego.
-"Jarexius to serve you!"- said Jarexius, with a big smile.
-"Oh, I see…you're an Exploration Team…anyways, my name is Armando Jolteon"-
-"Nice to meet you, Armando"- said Diego.
-"Come with us. We still have to rescue a lost Leafeon"- said Jarexius.
-"Sure! I'll do my best to help you guys!"- said Armando.
-"Humph…just be sure to not let us down"- said Rihou.
-"Shut it…"- said Jarexius as she rolled her eyes; -"don't mind him, Armando. He's just a little cranky since this morning"-
-"Oh, I see"- said Armando.
-"Come on, Armando, let's go on! We must never give up Hope!"- said Diego with a pose.
-"Nice"- said Armando.
-"Jijiji, why, that's a unique pose for a baby like you!"- said Jarexius.
-"Let's go!"- said Rihou, and he went on.
Diego and Armando looked at him going, then looked at Jarexius, who seemed…angry and serious. They both looked at each other and went on. Along the way, Rihou was on the second lead, Jarexius was leading, and Diego and Armando were behind, talking and laughing. Diego picked up some rocks and threw one at Rihou. The rock hit him on the head. He looked behind and he quickly hid them and started looking to the trees. Armando didn't notice Diego throwing the rock to him. Rihou shrugged his shoulders and thought that he was just imagining it. Diego giggled and kept throwing rocks at him. Armando noticed him and took the rocks away from him, but, at that same time, Rihou turned around, and saw Armando with the rocks! Rihou took a deep breath.
-"So it was you! Just so you know, you are here helping us, you traitor!"- said Rihou.
-"Wait, dude…"- said Armando.
-"What do you mean 'traitor'? It was me. He took the rocks away from me just when you turned around"- said Diego.
-"Humph! Stop defending him, Diego!"- yelled Rihou. Jarexius couldn't take it anymore. She turned around and used Quick Attack on Rihou. He fell to the ground; -"hey, what was that for!"- said Rihou as he stood up.
-"One more of your….thingies…I swear, I'm going to kill you…"- she said.
-"But, Jareh…"- said Rihou, but…
-"Shut it…"- said Jarexius, and she went on.
-"…Fine."- said Rihou.
Jarexius stopped and looked back at Rihou, Diego and Armando. The three of them stopped and looked back at her. She looked serious and angry at the same time, but she was just staring at Rihou with those angry and serious eyes. Diego and Armando were a little scared to see, or hear what she might do.
-"…hey, Jarexius…"- said Diego.
-"What is it…"- said Jarexius, serious, while staring at Rihou.
-"We should keep on…"- said Armando.
-"Yes…yes, we should"- she said, and she stopped looking at Rihou, and went on.
-"Is she going to be all right?"- asked Armando.
-"She will…"- said Diego; -"give her some time"-
-"Let's go, Team Hope. We've got to rescue that Leafeon"- said Jarexius.
-"Oh, yeah. After all, it's part of the Eeveelution Family Tree, and Armando must help her!"- said Diego.
-"Eeveelution?"- asked Rihou.
-"I've only heard of evolution…"- said Armando.
-"Eeveelution is a term that it's best used to describe Eevee's evolutionary forms."- said Diego; -"like for example, Jarexius is an Eevee, and Eevee's evolve into seven different kinds of evolutions"-
-"Wow, really?!"- said Rihou.
-"Yes. Both Jolteon and Leafeon are two of the seven."- said Diego.
-"Which are the remaining?"- asked Jarexius, curious to know.
-"Vaporeon, Glaceon, Flareon, Umbreon and Espeon"- said Diego; -"and adding Jolteon and Leafeon make seven"-
-"True that"- said Armando.
-"Humph! Isn't Armando so smart?"- said Rihou sarcastically. Armando looked at him.
-"Rihou…I'll warn you now…if you start, I'm going to make you see the stars before nighttime…"- said Jarexius. Rihou gulped upon hearing her. He realized she was serious this time.
-"Hey, now that you mention 'nighttime', we've got to hurry. It's about five o'clock"- said Armando.
-"Hey, over there…"- said Jarexius, spotting a lost green Pokémon. It had yellow on it. Its eyes were as yellow as the sun. The tail looked like a leaf. Upon looking at it, Diego had no doubts.
-"Yep, judging by the way it looks…that's the Leafeon"- said Diego.
-"Really?!"- said Armando.
-"Let's go"- said Jarexius.
The four of them moved towards the Leafeon. The Leafeon looked at them and quickly went up to them. Rihou was just getting ready to secretly prepare his Shadow Ball in case, but Jarexius noticed him and stopped him by just looking at him. He looked doe and stopped.
-"Are you guys an exploration team?"- asked the Leafeon.
-"Yes, we're Team Hope"- said Jarexius; -"I'm the leader, Jarexius"-
-"I'm Rihou"-
-"I'm Diego"-
-"And I'm a guest. The name's Armando"-
-"I'm Krystal Leafeon"- said the Leafeon.
-"Come with us"- said Rihou.
-"Oh, thank you for rescuing me!"- said Krystal; -"never did I thought that I would be found by some rookies, because by the look you have…you're rookies"-
-"Exactly"- said Jarexius.
-"Shall we go?"- asked Diego; -"it's getting dark already"-
-"Yes, let's go. Krystal, Armando, come with us"- said Rihou.
-"Ok"- both replied. They looked at each other and smiled at each other. Diego smiled mischievously.
-"Jejeje…I saw what you did there…"- said Diego. Everyone laughed.
After the job was done, the Team went back to the Guild, where they were paid by Chatot, with the exception of taking some of the money apparently to the Guildmaster, when, in reality, it's for keeping his evil ally Victoria happy. The Team was thanked by both Armando and Leafeon, and was secretly paid so they can keep that money without Chatot taking some. Just about when they were about to leave the Guild, Jarexius stopped them.
-"Well, we should be going…"- said Armando.
-'Wait!"- said Jarexius.
-"What is it?"- asked Krystal.
-"Do you have anything to do right now?"- asked Jarexius.
-"I don't"- said Armando.
-"Me neither"- said Krystal.
-"Well, how about you join us?"- asked Jarexius.
-"What?!"- asked Rihou, shocked.
-"Well, Armando helped us find Krystal, and Krystal is nice, so why not?"- said Diego.
-"But, he…"- said Rihou.
-"Forget it, Rihou"- said Jarexius, annoyed; -"your grudge won't stop me"-
Gr-grudge?!, thought Rihou.
-"Well, yes, I would love to join you!"- said Krystal.
-"Well, I don't see why not! Count me in too!"- said Armando.
-"Thank you!"- said Jarexius.
-"Yay, Armando and Krystal!"- said Diego.
Rihou didn't seem too happy about the decision, but his love for Jarexius is bigger than any objection, or any bad moment with Jarexius…or any grudge. He just smiled at Krystal and tried not to get carried away by the grudge he has with Armando.
-"Another one?"- asked Chatot, who saw them hugging each other.
-"Make that two more"- said Rihou.
-"Two more? Why, you two are getting really famous around here!"- said Chatot. He smiled and left. The Team thought for a moment those words…
-"What does that has to do with us joining?"- whispered Krystal.
-"Don't know, don't care"- said Jarexius; -"he's weird…like that"-
At that moment, Chimecho ringed the bell, which meant that dinner was ready! The team led Armando and Krystal and went to eat something before going to sleep. At the table, Jarexius noticed that Gerald wasn't there. She did saw Victoria, who was with Chatot, who declared that they were in a relationship, but Diego thought the same as Jarexius: "she's just using him." She did ask Bidoof, another apprentice.
-"By, golly, now that you mention it, he's not here! Gosh, I wonder where he is?"- he said.
-"Hmm, thanks anyway, Bid"- said Jarexius.
-"Gosh, no prob, Jareh!"- he replied and continued on his way.
-"Hey, Chatot!"- said Diego. Chatot came to him.
-"Jarexius is looking for Gerald, have you seen him?"- asked Diego.
-"Well, the last time I saw him he was updating the Outlaw Notice Board"- he replied.
-"Oh, I see"- said Diego. He went on.
-"I just don't get it…why would he disappear like that?"- asked Jarexius, a little sad.
-"Humph, I don't know, but with that Victoria accusing us falsely, maybe he went to Officer Magnezone and the night catch him and he stayed with him."- said Rihou.
-"Yeah, maybe that's it…well, Team Hope, let's get to sleep. Armando and Krystal, tomorrow's going to be though, so sleep enough"- said Jarexius.
-"Roger"- said Armando.
-"Got it"- said Krystal.
The Team said Good Night to each other and lay down. Jarexius fell asleep almost immediately.
~…Meanwhile…~
-"Hey, Vicky. You're ex-teammate is missing"- said Chatot.
-"What? Gerald is missing?"- asked Victoria.
-"Yes. Jarexius was looking for him"-
-"Ugh, that…that girl…always in my plans…he must be planning something."- said Victoria; -"let's just be careful"-
-"Of course"- said Chatot. He left the room. Victoria was left behind.
What are you up to, Gerald?, she thought, nervously thinking the worst that could happen to her; did you went to that stupid idiot Magnezone…or maybe you are just doing this to just make me stop my plans…humph! I mustn't stop my plans just because Gerald is missing! I must stop Jarexius's team for getting more famous…I, Victoria, will be the only one with all the jobs! Victoria had an evil look on her face as she kept thinking her devastating plan towards Team Hope.