Time for the Gatekeeper chapter. I had fun writing this chapter especially.
I don't own Pokémon, or the games or books...though I do buy them. I just finished a series of Pokémon manga about Pokémon Black and White. It was good, and there's going to be a continuing series of it! I found it on Amazon and it was a box set, which was lucky, since getting a whole series of manga can be expensive. And I'm cheap anyway.
Enjoy the chapter! It might be the last one I update before winter break because I have a final paper to finish for my health class, though chances are I'll find time to procrastinate. I'll see how it goes.
~Gatekeepers~
"HEY! YOU TWO!" I jumped backwards into Shiloh when Ran's booming voice split the air.
"Ran!" Shiloh gave me a little push, and I stepped out of the way, then watched nervously as she stomped up to Ran with a furious expression. Ran closed his mouth, startled, then widened his eyes in bewilderment and stepped back when Shiloh stood right in front of him and glowered straight into his eyes. "We are right here," Shiloh said, curling her paws into fists, "so stop screaming at us all the time or I will water gun you into next week!"
"Alright, alright...sorry," Ran muttered apologetically, and I wondered if it was possible for him to use a quieter voice. "I have a job for you, that's all. Come here." Shiloh eyed Ran through narrowed eyes as he led us to the small green sprout that I'd seen Diglett by the first day at the Guild. "It's like this," Ran explained, standing beside Diglett. "Duthie has to help with updating the job posters, so he can't pull sentry duty today."
"Sorry about that," Diglett said breezily, and I repeated his name over in my head, trying to memorize it. "So if you two could help, we'd appreciate it. Callo and Lysa have done Gatekeeper duty before, and they said it's pretty fun."
"Gatekeeper duty..." Shiloh mused, and looked over at me. I shrugged and she caught Duthie's eye again. "You mean, figuring out who wants to come into the Guild?"
"Yeah, you got it!" Duthie nodded. "So, that's it. You will yell to Ran what kind of Pokémon footprint you see, and we'll let them in after you do that. There are lots of visitors sometimes, so do your best. If you help each other, I'm sure you'll be fine." Before Shiloh and I could ask more questions, the burrowing Pokémon had vanished underground; I watched the furrow of earth trail away, then turned to Ran.
"UNDERSTAND...uh, got it?" Ran asked nervously when Shiloh stared menacingly at him. I hid a laugh just in time and nodded.
"I think so," I replied while staring at the green plant. "But how do we get underground?" Ran stomped forward past me, leaned over, and pulled the seedling carefully out of the ground. I stared, surprised; it had covered a larger hole than I expected could be there. "Just go into that hole and follow the tunnel. You'll have to do a bit of climbing, but you'll be fine. Get going." Shiloh hopped into the hole first, and I followed after I saw that I wouldn't fall on her after jumping.
"Well, this is an interesting job..." Shiloh said thoughtfully, "but Callo and Lysa said it's fun, so let's go for it." She had a bit of trouble climbing up the walls of the tunnel, but I'd discovered that I had little hooks on my paws that made it easier to climb. It was pretty useful when climbing the ladders in and out of the Guild, and I was getting kind of good at climbing, so I went first and helped Shiloh up afterward. Once we'd gotten through the tunnel, I glanced up and saw the woven branches of the grate above my head.
"I think this is the right spot," Shiloh observed, also gazing upward. She walked to the edge of the tunnel and called down. "We're here, Ran! What do we do now?"
"JUST WAIT UNTIL SOMEONE STANDS ON THE GRATE!"
"WHAT'D I SAY ABOUT YELLING!?"
"YOU'RE FAR AWAY! I HAVE TO YELL!"
"YOU CAN TALK TO US WITHOUT YELLING THAT LOUDLY!" With a grumble, Shiloh walked back towards me. I pulled my paws away from my head and grimaced. "Sorry, Gale." I shook my head a couple times. "I'll do the yelling."
"That's ok. And thanks." A shuffling sound made both of us glance upward.
"Hmm...it's a Pokémon...but which one?" Shiloh wondered aloud, holding a paw under her chin in thought. I squinted upward against the late afternoon sunlight streaming down through the grate and narrowed my eyes.
"Is it Meowth? It kind of looks like that...paw pads, long back feet...so maybe." Shiloh looked at me, then quickly back up.
"I think so too. Good job!"
"Just a guess," I told her, then glanced around. "Better tell Ran."
"It's a Meowth!" Shiloh shouted down the tunnel.
"Heard you!" I watched the paws above and saw them step forward. My feet were too small to stand across the grate's branches, but a Meowth's feet were pretty long and they'd be able to stand like that without falling. On the first day at the Guild, Shiloh and I had balanced, holding one foot over the gaps in the grate so Diglett could tell what species we were. "You're right! Keep going!" Ran called approvingly, managing to yell just loud enough to be heard, but not enough to make us go deaf. Shiloh stepped beside me again, then nudged me and smiled. "Keep guessing."
"I'll try," I told her, and glanced upward at the grate again. A couple minutes passed, and my neck started to ache, so I looked back down and rubbed it gingerly. I pulled a small apple out of my new satchel and looked at it, wondering how I could divide it up for Shiloh and me to share. If I knew some more attacks, then I probably could have cut it in half with one of them.
"Hey! I want to come in!" An impatient voice called from up above and I dropped the apple in surprise. Shiloh moved closer to me and glanced up, and I did too. The foot wasn't very big, and it was dark grey with three toes. The Pokémon, from what I could see, looked like a four-legged one.
"I think it's a Houndour," Shiloh said, and I nodded in agreement, so she walked over to the edge and called to Ran. "It's Houndour!"
"Heard you!" A moment later we heard Ran calling to us. "You're right!"
"Phew," Shiloh exhaled deeply. "I was worried for a second." She picked the apple I'd dropped up and passed it to me. "Here you go. Are you hungry?"
"A little," I answered. We'd had breakfast today because we'd gotten apples as rewards for an earlier mission, but that had been a while ago now and it was time for a snack. "Do you want some too?"
"Yeah, but how do we split it?" She wondered, glancing around. "There's nothing here that could help really."
"That's the problem," I noted, then rummaged in my satchel. "I have that grass Gummi from Magnezone, so you can have this." Shiloh eyed me closely and I nodded, then approached her and held the apple out. "It's ok."
"Thanks," Shiloh said with a grateful smile as she held the apple to her mouth while I buttoned my satchel closed. I still had the old one over my shoulder, and I'd emptied the Oran berries and apple from it into my new, bigger one. The Gummi was just big enough—a little smaller than my paw—to hold me over until supper.
"Should we ask for a bag for Crest?" I wondered. "I thought he could use my old one, but it's better if he has his own."
"I think so too," Shiloh agreed as she munched the apple. "Let's ask Chatot if we can get a new one. Oh, and I asked him this morning while you were getting your items ready if recruited members could stay at the Guild, and he said no. The Guild is full now." She shook her head. "So I guess anyone who joins has to live outside of town or something."
"Uh, hello? Sorry to bother you, but I'd like to come in, please."
"Whoops," I exclaimed, jumping upright and staring at the grate. "They don't have a footprint. They're just floating there."
"Huh?" Shiloh tilted her head backwards. "I think it's a Gastly." She walked off and yelled to Ran.
"You're right!" He called a few moments later. "Good work!"
"This is kind of harder than I thought it'd be," I remarked, leaning against the earthen wall of the tunnel. "I've just been guessing...hopefully the next Pokémon that show up have feet."
"I think it's easier if they don't have feet," Shiloh explained pointedly, "because most Pokémon do. If they don't have feet, that narrows it down."
"Then you take the ones without feet," I said with a little smirk as I ate my grass Gummi. Shiloh frowned indignantly and leapt up.
"But it's not likely they'll come by."
"So what?" I asked after swallowing the bite of Gummi; I don't know why I was suddenly having fun messing with her. "You can take a break and finish eating."
"That's boring," Shiloh said with a disapproving frown. "And you need to help figure out which Pokémon it is."
"It's not that hard," I said, shrugging, and Shiloh's mouth dropped open.
"How's that, all of a sudden? You're pretty confident!" She glared darkly at me. "Fine, then you guess the next one!"
"Only if they have feet," I said, smiling as I walked to stand under the grate, and stumbled as I tripped on my heavy tail. It got in the way more than I wanted it to; it was hard dragging it around, and I was still was walking on two feet. Maybe Treecko who walked on all fours could avoid stepping on it, but I had no idea. I had tried to walk on all fours once, but it had been awkward and I'd looked and felt pretty stupid. I couldn't make my legs move the right way, according to Shiloh, who'd caught me trying to walk on all fours, and she said that was why I tripped. She hadn't been able to keep herself from laughing, so I had stopped practicing since then...at least in front of other Pokémon.
"Oh, they'll have feet," Shiloh said with a challenging grin. "Also, you'll get it wrong, and I'll laugh." Movement above caught my eye and I stood to get a better look at who it was. I glanced down and beckoned to Shiloh and she narrowed her eyes. "You're on your own." Grinning, I held up my paws.
"No feet," I told her, and she rushed to stand under the grate.
"No way!" She darted off and yelled, "Pupitar!"
"Heard ya!" Ran shouted. Shiloh scoffed and took a big bite out of her apple.
"Sometimes Pokémon don't have feet," I said, jokingly consoling Shiloh, and she gave me a look. "It's normal, especially for Pupitar." Shiloh swallowed her mouthful of apple and stuck her tongue out at me, then pointed up towards the grate. I caught a glimpse of movement and looked up. "Feet. My turn." The Pokémon's paw was white-furred with three black claws. I thought for a second, thinking of all the Pokémon it could be.
"What's the matter?" Shiloh taunted, and I turned to her. "Don't you dare tell me a wrong name."
"I won't," I promised in a taunting voice. "It's Absol."
"It better be, or you're getting it," Shiloh warned, setting her apple core down and standing up to call the name to Ran.
"Gotcha!" He yelled back.
"A no-feet one," Shiloh groaned, tilting her head back. "Duskull!"
"Alright!" Shiloh and I waited a while, and then she motioned towards me as footsteps sounded from above.
"Your turn."
"Gible!"
"Darn you," Shiloh growled with a frown, and told Ran the name.
"Good!" He yelled. "You're almost done!" Shiloh and I glanced up, surprised.
"It's sunset already?" I asked in amazement, seeing the red-orange streaked clouds against a darkening sky. "Time flies."
"That mission earlier took most of the afternoon," Shiloh reminded me. "That Vulpix just wanted to explore every single place she could find, and we took a Torchic on an exploration too." She patted her satchel a couple times. "At least we got lots of Gummis."
"We?" I repeated, smiling dubiously and narrowing my eyes. "You kept them all."
"They were all blue and sky Gummis. You wouldn't like them." She stood with a smirk and looked up to examine the grate.
"It's mine," I said, studying the foot above, but Shiloh gave me a strong shove to the side, and I stumbled into the wall.
"It's Glameow!" She yelled.
"What's...going on down there?" I heard the Glameow ask uneasily.
"Nothing!" Shiloh called, then ran to the edge of the short tunnel.
"I knew that!" I grumbled, brushing dirt from my face while glancing up to see the Pokémon staring down nervously. I waved and saw the Glameow tentatively smile down at me.
"Too bad!" Shiloh chirped. "Mine! Ran, it's a Glameow!"
"Heard you!" Ran hollered. "And I can also hear your arguing! Knock it off! The visitors are getting nervous."
"Okay!" Shiloh cheeped, casting me a competitive glare, and I crossed my arms.
"I'll get the next one," I told her firmly, but she just leaned forward and smiled challengingly.
"You gonna say it or do it?"
"Both." I waited under the grate and tipped my head back eagerly, waiting for the next Pokémon, but just then Ran's voice reached us.
"Chatot's closing the Guild up for tonight!" Shiloh burst out laughing and I felt my jaw drop. "So get back here!" I gawked at Shiloh as her fit of laughter continued.
"Looks like I won that round," Shiloh choked between laughs. "Too bad!" I stared at her, then gradually smiled and laughed with her. I'd tried to make a friendly competition, and even though it may have gotten a little crazy, Shiloh seemed to have had fun.
"You were good," I sighed, out of breath from laughing so much. "I think being Gatekeepers again would be fun." I crawled over the edge of the tunnel and glanced back up at Shiloh once I'd jumped down. "Need help?"
"No, I'll jump too," she called. I stepped hurriedly out of the way as she readied to jump, and watched as she touched down beside me with a light thud. "Let's get back!" The tunnel had gotten a little darker, but we got back before it was too dim to see anything. "That was really fun, Gale. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much."
"Me neither," I said, smiling, then thought for a minute. I really don't remember, but I think that's okay.
"I'm glad we got the Gatekeeper job, Gale, and I can tell it helped you." I stopped just before I'd been about to climb back up towards the hole, freezing with my paws on the wall, and turned to look at Shiloh. She was smiling, a little wistfully, it looked.
"How do you mean?" I asked slowly.
"When we joined the Guild, you seemed kind of sad, but now I think you're finally having a good time." I turned back to the wall and got a grip again, getting ready to climb.
"Well...I guess so. I just wasn't used to everything, maybe."
"Whatever the reason," Shiloh said, moving to stand on my left, "I'm glad." She put her paws on the wall and we started to climb together.
Maybe because...you said you'd help me, and I needed help. You don't mind now that I have visions, or that I was a human. I closed my eyes.
And it seems like I know you from somewhere...even though that's impossible.
Aww, isn't that nice? They're getting along better. Lots of the Pokémon, especially Shiloh, remind Gale of his human friends even though he doesn't remember them.
It was fun picking which Pokémon to mention during the Gatekeeper job. My favorites are Meowth and Gible...Meowth because they're cute, and Gible because I worked so darn hard to catch one in Pokémon Pearl. It took me forever to realize that I was looking in the wrong place. There's a part of Wayward Cave that's hidden under the Cycling Road. Darn bridge.
Thank you for reading!
