Ch.3: Alex, Eve, and new friendships!

Author's Note:

Hey guys, it's been a while. I'm so sorry for the two month wait, but for those of you who have a lot of college classes to take, you know how busy I am. Even so, I will try my best to update more frequently. Anyway, here is the chapter you have been waiting for.

Austin: Wow, took you long enough, but I guess you have been busy so I'll give you that.

Ally: Finally, it's been a while since our story has been told.

Eve: Hey it's our story too!

Alex: Yeah, in fact, it's mostly about us so don't count us out!

Ally: hehe, sorry.

Me: Ok...well, I can see you guys haven't lost sight of your personalities so I'm doing a good job. Now, on to the chapter!

Drenched Bluff, Alex's POV:

After a few hours of walking, we reached the Dungeon called Drenched Bluff due to the relatively close proximity it had to the guild. I seriously hoped that other dungeons weren't as far of a walk regardless, but I somehow knew that there was no hope in the matter.

"So this is the Drenched Bluff." I said out loud to no one in particular. The dungeon had appeared to have a dark, cave-like entrance which didn't allow for much visibility into it's depth. Scattered along the entrance to the cave was an arrangement of huge rocks that had strangely seemed to take on a sort of artistic placement despite being noticeably untouched by pokémon. In the center of the two set's of rocks was the short dirt path leading into the dark cave in which mine and Eve's first mission together was to take place. All in all, the dungeon was pretty intimidating. What is with dungeons and their seemingly unearthly atmospheres anyway?

Seeing as our other two companions, Austin and Ally, had apparently saved the world from a meteor as I've been told, I seriously doubted that they felt quite the same way about the dungeon. I looked to my right to see Eve, who had a look of anticipation mixed with a bit of fear in her eyes. I wanted to say something to comfort her, but I had a feeling that with her personality, I wouldn't be getting anywhere by doing so. I secretly found her personality quite cute, though I would probably never admit to it. She seemed to catch me observing her as she tilted her head in an effort to look confused while she noticeably chuckled.

"What are you staring at?" She giggled as she stared at me playfully. This seemed to snap me out of my um...daydream.

"Huh? O-oh um...I uh...n-nothing r-really." I stuttered, finally realizing what I was doing as I blushed in embarrassment. I really hoped she didn't notice, though part of me knew she hadn't missed it as obvious as it was. She just giggled cutely.

"No no, it's ok. I don't mind if you stare at me, especially since your reaction to my question was so hysterical." She teased with a laugh. She just stared at my completely perplexed expression that was displayed across my face. She sighed with a laugh. "Come on Alex, Austin and Ally have finished checking supplies. It's time to start the mission." She said as she proceeded to push me from behind to get me going. I snapped out of my trance-like state as we met up with the others who had wandered closer to the entrance as we had talked.

"You guys done with your little flirt fest?" Teased Austin with a chuckle. I just rolled my eyes at him.

Ally shook her head with a sigh. "This is gonna be a long mission. Let's go guys!" She spouted before she and Austin entered the cave. Eve and I exchanged a look. Oddly enough, before we could even begin to walk into the dungeon, the world became dark for a moment.

After a few seconds of the darkness, I suddenly tumbled straight onto the ground face-first. I was about to get up before Eve suddenly popped up and landed straight on top of me, forcing me to give out a gasp from the suddenly surprising, slightly heavy, fluffy pokémon that had just landed on top of me. Eve quickly got off. "Sorry!" She exclaimed with a small amount of guilt in her tone. Austin and Ally just stood off to the side, laughing like crazy at our displeasure.

"What the heck just happened?" I asked them as I got up and dusted myself off. They just laughed again.

"I guess your exploration team badges and our rescue team badges are on the same frequency. One of the more simple functions of our badges transports other team members to our side if we enter a dungeon or another floor without them, though I seriously doubt that our badges are as advanced as those made with funds from the guild." Explained Ally.

"Instant transportation is disorienting isn't it?" Laughed Austin. I just ignored him.

"What do you mean more advanced? I asked before my badge emitted a peculiar beeping sound that made me jump slightly in surprise. I quickly detached it from my scarf and looked at it. The orb-like object in the center of the badge seemed to be glowing, the same simultaneously happening to Eve's badge. I pushed the orb to find that it was actually a button. Immediately after I pressed it, a strange voice emitted from the badge.

"As owner of this badge and a member of Exploration Team Eviolite, please enter your name for confirmation that you are admitted to use it's features." Spoke the badge. The button in the middle then lit up again. I pressed it once more before a sort-of keyboard hologram emitted from a small lens on the was a bit strange, but I regardlessly proceeded to type in my name and press, or rather touch, enter. The badge just beeped for a minute, as if processing something, before the same computerized yet slightly feminine voice spoke up again.

"Exploration Team member Alex the snivy successfully recognized. Activating map and transceiver functions." It began processing again. After a short while, another hologram shot out from the badge's lens. The projection display seemed to be a map-like panel with two white beacons lighting up in one point of what I guessed to be a coordinate in the dungeon. Two other yellow beacons seemed to show up for Austin and Ally, undoubtably due to their rescue badges. The map then closed as I pressed the center button again.

"Transceiver function may be used to contact each individual member of Team Eviolite. Data analysis suggests that you have two other members on your team who lack a proper badge. Please note that you will not be able to communicate with those members until proper badges have been obtained. This function as well as others including navigator mode may be accessed through the home menu that should be displayed in front of you as I inform you of this. Welcome to Team Eviolite Alex the snivy." Concluded the badge's navigator before it, or she, went dark again. I looked over toward Eve to see that her badge had already done the same. Austin and Ally just stared at us.

"Man, I cannot wait to get my new badge." Exclaimed the both of them before we proceeded further into the dungeon.

? POV:

"Hey! Get back here you runt!" Came the angry shouts from my pursuers as I ran to get away from them. Here's the thing. My name is Kalamari, or Mari for short and I'm a mudkip. The reason I'm running? Well, that's pretty simple really. I'm a thief, or at least I was today. Now I know what you're thinking, what was my motive? Well, to be honest, I really don't know. As I was running, I spotted someone up ahead. A growlithe. I suddenly had an idea, it was a desperate one, but it would work.

(One hour earlier, Flint's Pov)

"Flint honey, wake up!" Shouted my mom, an espeon, from another room in an attempt to wake me up. I knew better than to ignore her so I forced my eyes open and slowly pushed myself out of bed. As you may have heard, my name is Flint and I'm a growlithe.

"Alright mom I'm up." I shouted into the other room to avoid any further conflict in the matter. I walked into the kitchen to find her standing in the doorway.

"Good morning sweetie, would you like me to make you some breakfast?" She asked, curiosity clear in her eyes. I, however, had other plans.

"Nah, I think I'll just go take a walk today. Is that ok?" I asked.

"Of course honey, be careful now." My mom has always been a bit overprotective. She always seems to worry about me, though I couldn't blame her. She really hasn't been the same since my dad, an archanine, died. I grabbed an oran berry and left through the front door of the house.

I always loved this town, pokémon talking and going about their normal everyday business, shops open all around the square with their owners carrying on with their usual jobs and making conversation, and a wonderful beach in perfect proximity.

I headed left from my house and began my walk through the town square. As I was walking, I was greeted by nearly every shop keeper.

"Hey Flint, how's our favorite customer?" Asked the Keckleon brothers in perfect synchronization. It always creeped me out how they could do that.

"Hey Cam and Leon, I'm just going for a short walk. How's business?" I questioned casually. They just smiled with a laugh.

"Great. Business is still as frequent as ever. Our profits just seem to continue to grow each year, quite due to the growing number of exploration teams that use our service I must say." Said Leon, though I could see that his brother wasn't in complete agreement.

"I beg to differ. I think what's attracting more business to us is our new variety of products and the shop's friendly atmosphere. I still say selling perfect apples would give us more business with how much Wigglytuff likes them but Leon just doesn't think we'd pull a profit from just one customer. Said Cam to his brother.

"I said it once and I'll say it again. There just isn't enough demand to match the cost of each apple." He argued. I just had to make a suggestion.

"Why don't you just send someone to go collect them from apple woods? It's not too far from here and I don't think it would be much of a hassle. Maybe you could even hire an exploration team to do it."

The two brothers seemed to contemplate this for a moment. "Ehh, no I don't think Chatot would like that idea very much and it wouldn't really be appropriate to take up an explorer's time that could be spent helping those in need." Said Leon with a sigh.

"And it's not like we're pressed for time. Our profit margins are fine as is after all." Added Cam. I just laughed.

"Ok guys, I've got to go. Nice talking with you." I then walked off in the direction of the crossroads. When I got there, everything seemed normal until a mudkip suddenly ran behind me looking terrified.

"Hey, are you ok? I asked the mudkip who looked to be female by her size. I suddenly heard shouts out in the direction the mudkip had come. I stood in front of her protectively while I waited for the two pokémon to catch up.

"Hey! Move out of the way so we can get that pesky mudkip. She's a sneaky little thief!" Said one of the two, a charmander. The other, a sneazle, just stood out to the side trying to catch his breath.

I realized how scared the mudkip was so I tried to reason with the guy. "Hey, isn't there possibly a way we can work this out? Preferably non-violent?"

"Non-violent?! How can you say that? She's a thief! She stole my friend here's necklace." Said the charmander motioning toward the sneazle.

"Hold on, let me handle this." I said as I turned towards the mudkip. "Is what he said true?" I asked her calmly. She just nervously nodded. I then moved closer so as to speak into her um...ear.

"Why don't you just hand me the necklace. I promise, I won't let them hurt you." I whispered calmly. She just nodded and took the necklace out from a small bag she kept around her shoulder and handed it to me. I then turned around.

"Here, I think this was all a misunderstanding." I said as I handed over the necklace to which the charmander excepted.

"Hmm, I guess we'll just let her off the hook since we got it back. Thanks um..."

"Flint." I finished for him. We shook paws and the two just walked away. I then turned to face the mudkip. "Why did you steal that?" I asked her.

"Oh, thank's my name is Mari, nice to meet you." She said sarcastically with a laugh. Her smile didn't last for long however. "The truth is, I don't really know I just um...felt compelled to do it I guess." She explained to me. "Thank's for the help by the way. I'm on parole, I really don't need to be arrested again. I don't want to go to prison." She explained with a scared tone.

"Again? You've been arrested before?" I questioned her.

"Well yes, but the judge decided I was innocent since they found the real culprit. I don't really know how they could have thought I was capable of burning down a village. I'm a water type for crying out loud and I didn't even have my lighter on me that day." She explained while pointing to said item that was around her neck. "People now think I'm crazy due to my impulsive 'criminal behavior'." She said with imaginary air quotes around the words criminal and behavior. "Stealing that necklace was the worst thing I've done so far, though I'm not saying I'm completely innocent."

"Crazy?" I asked her in confusion. She didn't come across that way.

"Yeah, just because I said that "the voices" tell me to do things doesn't mean I'm crazy." She said, failing to be sarcastic in doing so. She then looked away from me to stare at her paws. "So I guess you think I'm crazy too?" She asked me with shame in her voice.

I just observed her for a few seconds before I smiled. "No no, it's ok. I believe that you aren't crazy." I said to her cheerfully. She looked up at me with a surprised expression.

"W-what? R-really?!" She asked me, a smile starting to grow on her face. I nodded with a smile.

"But what do you really mean when you say "the voices" tell you things?" I asked her.

"Oh, well it's not like I have thoughts that aren't mine. That really would mean I was insane. It's more like someone is talking to me telepathically. I just don't know what to do about it. No one believes me." She explained with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, that may have been true before, but I believe you." I said softly, trying to console her. "It is what a friend would do after all."

"Wait, f-friend? You...you think of me as a friend?" I nodded. "But you just met me." She said, looking shocked.

"I guess I just make friends easily." I replied with a laugh. After staring at me for a few seconds, she hugged me tightly around the neck. After a while, I felt the warmth of tears running down my back. She was...crying?

"T-thank you. I-I've n-never h-had a f-friend before." She thanked me between sobs. I just pat her on the back while quietly shushing her. I really did feel bad for her and I truly believed that she was sane. It was the matter of "the voices" that was really concerning me. If she wasn't crazy, which she wasn't, then what was with those voices?

After a while like that, she calmed down and looked at me with her beautiful dark blue eyes. Wait a minute, beautiful? Where did that come from? "Thank you." She said sweetly. Before releasing the hug. I strangely found myself wanting to keep hugging her. Weird right?

"So do you have anywhere to go?" I asked her. "If not, you're welcome to stay with me and my mom."

"Huh? Oh um...sure. Thanks...again." She laughed cutely. I nodded and we headed back over to my house.

When we got there, I knocked on the door. After a while, my mom opened the door. "Hey sweetie, back from your walk? Oh, who's this?" She asked me while motioning toward Mari.

"Mom, this is Mari. Mari, this is my mom, Emily." I introduced.

"Nice to meet you!" Said Mari with a smile as she shook her paw. Mom then welcomed us in, or rather welcomed Mari in. She stopped me at the door.

"Flint, this is the first time you've brought a girl home to meet me. Have anything to tell me?" She said with an expectant look in her eyes. It took me a few seconds to get what she meant.

"Um...no mom, Mari's just a friend." I whispered to her nervously with a blush on my face. Mari just giggled cutely.

"Oh, ok...Right." She replied. I then followed Mari deeper into the house to show her around.

"Anything you say." She smiled.

Drenched Bluff, Alex's POV:

Sometime before we started the first floor of the cave, our group had agreed to split. I went with Eve while Austin and Ally (of course) went together off in another direction. I do suppose I shouldn't be complaining though. I am alone with Eve after all...wait a minute, what am I thinking? These thoughts were about to give me a migraine before the room we were in suddenly went pitch black, causing a surprised scream to proceed from the mouth of my eevee friend. Luckily, she was directly beside me so I didn't have to search for her.

"Hey Eve, it's ok. Don't worry, I'm sure this happens here all the time. It is a cave-like dungeon after all." I reasoned, a hand resting comfortingly along my companion's back. Sadly, consoling Eve didn't seem to be that easy, so I did the next thing that popped into my mind, I put my arm around her and pulled her close. I then proceeded to whisper into her ear.

"Hey Eve, it's gonna be ok. Take it easy, I'm right here." I whispered to my partner soothingly.

"I-I know b-but I-I'm k-kinda s-scared of the d-dark." Stuttered Eve in apparent fear. I sighed.

"Eve, don't worry. Nothing bad is going to happen to you so long as I am here remember. I promised you would always be safe with me around and I intend on keeping that promise so just try to calm down." I whispered to her calmly. I then searched around until I found Eve's paw and held it.

"Let's quickly find the stairs and get to the next floor. I think I saw them before it got dark." I explained to my now slightly less terrified friend as I carefully led us forward through the dark room. Luckily, it didn't seem as though there were any wild pokémon roaming around the room so there were no "unneeded surprises" as we made our way towards the stairs that I was sure I saw before. After about five minutes or so of endlessly wandering around in the dark, I suddenly felt something with my foot besides the usual wet, rocky terrain that adorned the floor.

"Great! The stairs are right in front of us Eve. Let's go!" I told my partner before making sure she was next to me and heading down the staircase.

On the next floor, we were gratefully greeted with a room filled with light, a big improvement from the previous floor. "Whew, are you ok Eve?" I asked worriedly with a sigh.

"Yeah I'm fine, although a softer landing would have been nice." Said Eve in a less than gracious tone. Apparently, Eve had tumbled down the staircase and face-planted on the hard rock floor. I rushed over to help her up.

"Ugh, next time, don't let go. Ok Alex?" Continued Eve through an annoyed tone as I got her to her feet. That made me feel a bit guilty.

"Oh, sorry ehehehe." I said with my hand on the back of my neck and a drop of sweat near where my eyebrow should have been. I then noticed a medium sized cut on Eve's forehead. It wasn't too bad but it was bleeding regardless.

"Here Eve, hold on a sec." I stated as I searched through my treasure bag for something. I strangely recalled something my mom used to do for me whenever I had a cut. It involved the use of an oran berry, for healing, and a heal seed to help prevent infection. It was a pretty simple procedure, but since the cut was in a rather inconvenient location, it took me a while to figure out what to do. I crushed the seed and the berry and spread it on my scarf before I tied it around Eve's head in such a way that it covered the cut without obscuring her vision.

"There, that should do." I stated as I gave Eve a smile. "It actually makes you look rather cute." I said without thinking. "Ope, um oops, I-I mean..." I tried to interject but it was too late.

"You think I'm cute huh? Well, thank you very much doctor." Teased Eve with a cute giggle in response to the bright blush on my face. After a while, she calmed down again. "Really, thanks." She continued with a smile before she hugged me around the neck.

She let go a few seconds later, gave me a cute wink, and walked on ahead of me. Is it just me, or does she seem more confident when she flirts with me? I pondered before I followed after her.

After that, the floor seemed rather uneventful. A couple of resident pokémon showed up from time to time, but they proved no match for us. I decided to take this time to get to know Eve better, so I cleared my throat and began to talk. "So um Eve, uh...where are you from?" I asked her. 'Really? Is that the best you could come up with?' I mentally slapped myself.

"Huh? Oh um, well, my sister and I are from a place called Evolution Forest a while to the south from here near a town called Pokémon Square. It's not really that exciting or anything, but that's where Ally and I grew up. Plus, it's where Ally met Austin, so I guess it's really important to her. To me, however, I never really took a shine to the place. Maybe it's because my parents disappeared when I was too young to remember, but I just never grew attached to the place. What about you? Do you remember anything about where you're from?" She asked me after answering my question.

I thought for a while before I shook my head. "Nope, I still can't remember anything besides my name and that little cut treatment thing." I responded with a sigh. Eve must have noticed my disappointment, because she gave me a great smile. Man, does that girl know how to smile or what?

"Hey, that's ok. You're bound to remember something sometime. In the meantime, you can continue to have fun with me!" She continued, although I was too deep in thought to respond.

After a while, I guess Eve got a little nervous, because I wasn't expecting the next question that exited her mouth. "Hey um, Alex? If you um...had the chance to become human again and leave me, would you?" She asked me while looking quite depressed. That question alone was all it took for me to snap out of it.

"Huh? What? Oh, um...leave you? Um...Well Eve...it would definitely be a pretty hard decision since I've always been a human, but, I think I would miss you too much."

Eve just looked at me, surprised. I smiled. "The answer is no, and it will always stay that way. I would never leave you no matter what! You're my best friend Eve! How could I even think of doing that?" I asked her reassuringly. Eve just stared at me before tackling me to the ground.

"Ohhh thank you so much Alex!" Squealed Eve as she hugged me with joy. I was at a loss for words.

"Ok, ok. Eve, I get it. I made you happy. Now can you please get off of me?" I asked with a laugh. Eve suddenly stopped and looked at me.

"Huh? Oh um...s-s-sorry Alex!" Apologized Eve as she quickly jumped off of me and helped me up, a huge blush decorating her cute face.

"Oh no, Eve it's ok. I understand your excitement." I said with a laugh. "I guess I'd be pretty excited too if my best friend basically told me that they'd give up part of their life for me." I explained while dusting myself off. "Anyway, so what's your favorite color?" I asked, still at a loss for conversation topics.

"My favorite color? Oh, that's easy! Pink, like my eyes." She replied with a giggle. "What's yours?" She asked me.

I had to remember this. "Um...I think it was um...oh yeah! My favorite color is yellow." I replied in excitement. "So um...when's your birthday?" I asked her curiously.

"My birthday? Oh, it's January 1st. One minute after midnight to be exact. Ally was born before me exactly on midnight so we're both technically born on New Years. In fact, I don't get my name from my species, my parents named me Eve because I was born on the eve of a new year." She explained to me.

"Huh? Really? That's so cool!" I replied cheerfully. After a while, we finally reached the stairs and moved on.

On the next floor, there didn't seem to be much of anything. Not a good sign. Earlier, Eve had warned me about empty floors, telling me that they usually contained traps. Eve and I carefully made our way towards the next hallway before the ground suddenly gave way below Eve's feet. Thankfully, I was quick to react.

"Eve!" I shouted as I grabbed her paw to keep her from falling into the dark abyss below. I quickly pulled her out and hugged her. "What the heck was that?" I asked her in exasperation.

She tried to catch her breath before responding. "That...was a pitfall trap. Man do I hate those!" She exclaimed before resting her head in my arms. "At least when I'm the victim. Thanks for saving me. If you hadn't grabbed me like that, I would have been forced from the dungeon. I don't know about anyone else, but I prefer not to fail on the first mission." She explained to me.

"Wasn't a picnic for me either." I told her with a sigh. We then focused our attention ahead, only to be staring directly into each others' eyes.

"Wow, your eyes are so beautiful!" I stated dumbly as I looked at Eve. Eve just smiled. "Thanks um...so are yours?" She replied to me. After a few seconds of thinking about what she just said, we both burst out laughing.

"Wow, is that really all we could say? How cliché is that?" I asked her hysterically. She just laughed some more.

"I don't know, but I don't think you should take what I said as a complement." She said while laughing. I then put on a fake pouty face.

"What? You don't think my eyes are pretty?" I said sarcastically as we both laughed. After a while, we got up. "Haha, man, I love hanging out with you Eve." I said to her. She just smiled and laughed.

"I love hanging out with you too." By chance, we ended up face to face, staring into each-others eyes. We just stood there, blushes upon our faces, in a silence that could only be described as awkward. "Uh...um...c-come on, we should p-probably get going. Austin and Ally'll be waiting for us. Said Eve trying to calm down before I nodded and we continued down the stairs that we had apparently come across during our laughing fit.

Drenched Bluff Pit, Eve's POV:

After we exited the final staircase, we saw Austin and Ally waiting for us a few steps away with puzzled looks on their faces. I really couldn't blame them with how ridiculous we both probably looked after rolling around on the floor and almost falling down pitfalls.

"Woah, what happened to you guys? Did you get run over by a geodude or something?" Asked Austin as we made our way over to them. I just rolled my eyes.

"Just having a little fun. So, is this the end of the dungeon or what?" I asked them. Austin just pointed towards something shiny on the floor.

"Well, judging from the fact that that's the pearl we're supposed to find, I'd say that's pretty likely." This was confirmed when a voice emitted from Alex's badge.

"Target item acquired, would you like to escape from the dungeon? Please push the center button and clearly speak your choice." Alex just stared at the badge weirdly.

"You know, I don't think I'll ever understand these things." I said to him. Austin swiftly picked up the pear and carefully put it into his treasure bag. Alex suddenly looked around with a weird expression on his face.

"Hey guys, did you hear something?" He asked in a suspicious voice.

"I didn't hear anything, did you guys?" I asked the others. Austin and Ally exchanged a confused look.

"No, we didn't hear anything either. Maybe you just imagined it Alex." Alex still didn't look too convinced, but he shook it off and pressed the button on his badge.

"Um...escape from the dungeon?" He said with a great amount of uncertainty before we were enveloped in a peculiar blue light and sent out of the dungeon, our mission completed.

Drenched bluff pit: ? POV:

Not too long later, a dark figure walked out from behind a stalagmite. "To have let them form an exploration team..." The figure laughed, an evil looking grin plastered upon his face, clawed hands rubbing together, perhaps out of anticipation. "Oh how foolish you two have become..." He said before disappearing in a cloud of purple-ish smoke.

Mari's POV:

After showing me around the house, Flint and I sat down to talk. "So, is there anything that you've ever wanted to do, you know, future plans?" Asked Flint curiously. I looked at him confusedly.

"Like what I want to be? Well, if people would stop acting like I'm insane, I've always kinda wanted to be an explorer, you know, in an exploration guild. My mom she, well, she and my father were quite the explorers to say the least. I used to always look up to them, which is exactly why I want to be an explorer. To honor them...follow in their footsteps, you know?"

"Wait, so your parents are..." He began.

"Yes, my parents are...are..." I tried to finish, but ended up bursting into tears. Flint looked surprised when I proceeded to bury my face into his chest, but he quickly shook it off and held me close, my head resting just beneath his.

"Shh, it's ok. I'm here. Everything's gonna be alright." Continued Flint as he tried to calm me down.

"I...I'm sorry I'm falling all over you, it's just...I've been mulling around with these feelings for a while and I've never really had anyone to share them with. I never get to, you know, talk about my parents because I don't have anyone to talk to." I told him, practically pouring out every ounce of stress that I've kept pent up inside of me for years.

"You ok now?" Asked Flint after a while. I nodded, pulling away and looking at him. "Thank's for being there for me. I appreciate it." I said with a smile before I leaned forward and kissed Flint on the lips. Immediately, I was struck with a feeling of the most intense joy that I had ever felt. My mind and heart were racing as I continued to kiss him. It was hard to explain, but I just wanted to get as close to him as possible. It was the greatest feeling I had ever experienced...until I realized what I was doing. I quickly broke the kiss.

"Oh...um...Flint I...I'm s-so sorry, I just...!" I started before I broke out of our embrace, ran out of the room and bolted straight out the door.

Flint's POV:

"Mari wait!" I yelled after her as she bolted out of the room.

"Flint honey, is everything alright? I just saw your friend run out the door." Said my mom with a concerned look as she entered my room. I just sighed.

"Yeah mom, everything's fine, I'll go talk to her." I said before I left the house. When I got outside, I saw foot-prints in the sand leading to the left. After following them, I soon came upon Mari. She seemed to be crying.

"Hey Mari, what was that about? Why did you run away?" I asked her as I approached. She looked over at me, apparently surprised that I had followed her.

"Huh? Oh, Flint um...I...I'm sorry for kissing you, I just got caught up in the moment I guess." She apologised. I just looked at her, confused.

"Hey, why are you apologizing? I asked her. I'm not mad at you."

She looked surprised. "You're not?" She asked me, looking up.

"No, why would you think that?" I asked, sitting down next to her. She looked at me shamefully.

"I kissed you. We just met, and I kissed you. That's not really something a friend does, and it's really not a good way to start out a relationship...at least for us." She explained. "I guess I just...I don't know. I'm not really good with these kinds of situations. You're the first friend I've ever had and I don't want to loose you.

"I know, I know. I get it. You're not used to being social. That's not a bad thing, you just didn't know how to handle the situation. I'm not mad at you. I couldn't be mad at you for that. Besides, I kinda liked it." I explained to her. She proceeded to give me a confused look.

"Look, my mom had a right to act the way she did when I introduced you. I really do like you, and I get it. We haven't known each other for that long, barely a day, but it's not uncommon to ask out someone that you've just met, and, although it usually doesn't start with a kiss, I understand."

"Wait, ask out? You didn't ask me out. What are you saying?" She asked suspiciously.

"I'm saying that it might be great if a certain mudkip I know would accompany me to the new café that just opened up at the crossroads." I said hintingly.

"What? What are you talking about? How is that even relev-Oh...wait a minute...you just asked me out didn't you? She asked me with a stupid look on her face.

"Yes, I asked you out." I laughed. "What did you think I meant?"

"Huh? I um...I just, uhh..." She stuttered cutely as I continued to laugh.

"Anyway, is that a yes I hear?" I said hopefully. She just smiled. "Well I don't know, if I say yes, will you take me to Wigglytuff's Guild so we can become an exploration team?"

"Well played." I sighed, laughing all the way. "It's a date. Come on, let's just get some sleep." I offered before we headed back for the house.

Author's Note:

Ok, so how was it? Was it worth the wait? Anyway, at least I finally finished it and again, I'm sorry it took so long.

Keyla05:

Thank you so much for the OC of Mari. The addition of this character gave me a lot of new ideas towards my underlying plot. I hope to hear from you soon with feedback on my use of your character!

SunnySummer77:

Thank you for submitting the OC for Flint. I haven't really had a character with his personality up until now. Also, thank's for your continued support of my series!

Everyone: See you next time!