Nikki stumbled back, falling into the cool sand and watching Midori go flying and land next to her. He slowly sat up, dazed, and looked at the pokemon who had run into him. The Zubat had scooped something up. It was a small cloth pouch. Nikki stared at it. Had it been there a moment ago…? The Zubat smirked at Midori, who was rubbing his head.

"Owww." The Treecko moaned, blinking at the bat-like pokemon. "Oh, I must of dropped that," he gasped, climbing to his feet.. Nikki also climbed to her feet- or rather paws now, and glanced towards the ocean for a second, gaping. Had it always been so beautiful? She realized she had never seen anything like it- of course, that might just be her memories messing up on her but for a split second she was sure it was gray, unmoving… She shuddered, looking back to Midori.

The Zubat grinned. "Oh, did you now?" He reached out as if to hand it to Midori, a challenging smirk on his face, but the Treecko's paw closed on air as the bat-like pokemon suddenly zoomed past him, flying off at full speed. The Koffing laughed stupidly and quickly floated after his companion..

Nikki frowned, eyes wide. What just happened? She hated thieves like that- but didn't even know what they had taken. She turned to glare at them as they darted off into a cage, spitting on the ground. "Assh-", she started, a whimper behind her causing her to trail off. She turned towards Midori to see the Treecko in near tears, his hand still held out to take the pouch and shaking. "Midori? What's wrong?" She asked cautiously.

The question had barely escaped her lips when Midori explained after taking a deep breath to steady his voice, which still shook slightly. "That was my most precious treasure! They t-took it…" His eyes widened as he looked at Nikki, and he smiled weakly. The forced smile brought back another memory for a fraction of a second, but Nikki shook her head, shaking the feeling off. "Will you help me get it back? Please?" He begged, staring at her desperately.

Nikki nearly fell over. She just met this pokemon, and now he was asking her to help him get his stone… treasure… thing. Okay, calm down. She thought, inhaling. It's not like this is a date or anything. She exhaled now, then nodded. "Sure, I'll help you, Mido." She said after a minute. There were more pressing matters- getting herself cleaned up, getting her memory back- but how long could it take to chase a could thugs and steal a stonetreasurething?

Midori blinked. "Mido…?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow. Nikki frowned, blinking. Okay, that nickname didn't work, huh? Oh well. Midori shrugged it off and leapt, flying at her. She cried out in surprise, staggering back slightly and falling to the sand. He landed on top of her with his arms tightly around her, barely allowing her precious air. The Treecko was laughing happily while Nikki's eyes bulged out of her head. "Thank you, Nikki!" He said, finally releasing her and allowing her to catch her breath- for about two seconds. "Come on, we should hurry." He grabbed her paw, dragging the Pikachu across the beach towards the cave.

Nikki struggled to keep up with Midori, still gasping for breath, as he dragged her across the sand. He hesitated before the cave, though, giving her a chance to catch her breath and balance. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked, stepping up next to him and frowning at the Treecko. He was trembling. Nicole directed her attention to the cave. She could hear a steady dripping of water, which for some reason made her hair stand up on the back of her neck and her heart skip a beat. It's a CAVE, she told herself. Of course there's going to be water. The dreariness and grayness of the cave, though… Somehow sound and movement didn't seem to belong. Swallowing and shaking herself off, deciding that made no sense, she smiled at Midori. "Come on, lets go!"

"Eh?" Midori turned to look at Nikki, staring at her for a moment before grinning and nodding. "Right." He took a deep breath, trembling becoming much less noticeable, and carefully stepped into the cave. Nikki frowned after him before nodding to herself and following.

After a couple of minutes of wandering around in the pitch blackness they found they had to pause to let their eyes adjust to the light. Nikki felt Midori shivering next to her, and wondered whether it was from the cold, moist air, or from fear as he had been outside the cave. She wasn't much better off, to be honest. Once her eyes adjusted, though, she saw a determined look on his face and grinned slightly. If he could be brave, so could she. They carried on, keeping close together and moving carefully.

For a while they had no problems, but then Nikki yelped as she was soaked. Not from a small water drip from the ceiling, but from a Shellder glaring at her madly, eyes somewhat red and large tongue lolling about in it's mouth as it advanced, getting close enough for Nikki to hear gurgling noises. "What's wrong with…?" She started with a gasp, stumbling back in surprise.

Midori appeared frozen for a moment before shaking his head, leaping towards the Shellder. He twisted in mid-air, slamming his tail on it, and Nikki could only stare for a long moment as he growled at the poor pokemon, which had bitten it's tongue in the attack, gurgling noises now sounding pained as it moved back for a moment.

Once recovering, the Shellder responded by slamming itself into Midori, who stumbled back with a grunt, falling to the floor. Realizing she should probably help, but having no idea what to do, she glared at the Shellder, gasping. Somehow she managed to make electricity build up in her cheeks, sparking around her face. Concentrating, she managed to shoot the electricity at the Shellder. The attack sent the stunned pokemon stumbling back even further before turning and fleeing.. The Pikachu and the Treecko, both panting, looked at each other, Nikki's eyes wide with shock and remorse, Midori's eyes wide with fear and surprise.

"What was wrong with it?" Nikki finally finished the question, swallowing. She felt rather guilty for hurting the pokemon, but decided it had had to be done. They couldn't just let themselves get attacked, after all. Midori glanced after it for a moment, frowning and sighing.

"It's gone crazy, I suppose… Most of the wild pokemon have. It has to do with time… Something's messing up. I'm not really sure." He answered, also feeling guilty. He shook his head, looking at the ground.

Nikki froze, staring at him in shock, eyes widening, pace speeding up, mouth going dry. Time was messing up? "WELL, SHIT!" … She hadn't meant to say that out loud, and now Midori was staring at her in shock and she winced. But time was messing up… There was something about that that horrified her, but she couldn't figure it out. "Well, aren't you worried?! Time is messing up! We should try to do something, it's probably… uh… Uh… Nevermind," she muttered, realizing she had no idea what she was saying. She sighed, voice quiet as she added, "lets just keep going."

It got colder the further they got from the cave, and both of them nearly slipped on the wet floor more than once, shivering and stumbling with exhaustion. Nikki briefly wondered what time it was. They neared the end of the cave and paused, holding their breath. Laughing could be heard from ahead, and once they got slightly closer they saw the Koffing, the Zubat, and Midori's stone, pouch carelessly tossed aside. Finally!