DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon. I only own the characters, but their respective specie are owned by their respective owners.

BEFORE YOU READ: Yes, this is indeed a PMD3 story. Sorry if you haven't completed that, or if I've given you a spoiler. I just thought I'd get that out there before anyone got confused. I'm going to put '(PMD3)' on the story's summary so new readers will know this. Sorry for the inconvenience.

If you're wondering, the really quick update is due to my being ill for the past three days. No school. :)

Just so ya know, This kinda speak is when it's telepathic, or in a dream. You'll see what I mean.

Oh, yay! 2,467 words. Big. Whoop. Oh well, I'll work on that. Anyways, this is kinda a filler/plot development.

Six: Out of the Bed and into the Water

Tide…

A hazy fog surrounded the Piplup. The darkness of the sky in contrast to the cold light of the stars had dissipated, leaving him in an empty whiteness.

Tide…!

Tide spun around, searching for where the sound was originating. The fog was almost choking; the air was chilly on his spine. But all the same, he felt like there was something, or some things, there with him, or at least close to him.

Tide!

"Olivia?" he called. His voice echoed strangely, but he could have sworn he saw a smudge of orange light in the distance.

"Olivia!" This time, he was sure - that was the light of the Charmander's tail! He started to run, wishing he was swimming so he could go faster. "Olivia! Olivia!"

Something flew overhead; a colorful blur that he couldn't make out in the haze. It swooped, and the pink thing flew sideways into his path, causing him to halt. It circled around him once before flying up and away into the sky.

Annoyed, Tide was about to start running again when someone grasped his shoulder. Angry now, he spun about. "Leave me-"

He stopped short. The last Pokemon he had expected to be there was, indeed, there.

"Don't go after her," Grovyle warned. His talon-like hand was still on Tide's shoulder. It was an iron grip.

"Let me go!" Tide, after getting over the shock of seeing who he considered a thief, his old friend, and most of all, his rival in Olivia's friendship, started to thrash. But his shoulder never loosed from Grovyle's grip. "Let me go!"

Grovyle shook his head. "I can't let you. It's a waste of time - a fruitless chase. She's gone, Tide; she can't and won't come back."

"You liar!" Tide screeched. He blasted a Hydro Pump at Grovyle, but, to his surprise, the water passed harmlessly through the Wood Gecko. Tears of frustration started to well in Tide's eyes. "Let me GO! You went after her when you came from the future!"

"That was different, Tide, you know it was." Grovyle's voice was calm. "She's gone, I'm gone, Celebi's gone. We all leave; we can't help it. But Tide, she's there, in your memories. Memories make us who we are. In a sense, Olivia is a part of you, I'm a part of you - so is Celebi, Bidoof, everyone you've ever known.

"You have to stop chasing her."

Tide's sobs were hysterical. They caught in his throat almost as often as they escaped. Tears fell off of his cheeks. "Let me go! Let go, let go, let go!"

"Tide!"

Tide blinked open his eyes. The haze was gone, and the white blankness was replaced by an eager Vulpix's face staring down at him.

"Tide!" Ranta exclaimed joyfully. "You're up!"

The little fox bounced, then seemed to catch herself and shuffled her paws shyly. "I mean… good morning, Tide."

Tide held back a groan - his head hurt, as if he had been bawling his eyes out, instead of dreaming. At least the dream was over with. But he couldn't shake off the feeling of a hand clasping his shoulder, and the feeling of dread.

Grovyle… He was telling the truth. He had to be - Tide never remembered the Grass Pokemon ever lying. Perhaps maybe once or twice he concealed the truth, but never behind a lie. But Tide couldn't believe it. It was impossible. It was like when Tide grew up knowing that the sun would never stop rising, then being transported to the future and getting slapped in the face with the cold reality that time would freeze. It just wasn't believable.

"Tide?" Ranta inquired, "You were muttering something in your sleep. It sounded like… 'Oh-larvae-uh.'" Amarante's muzzle rounded strangely when trying to sound out the word.

Tide was dumbfounded. He slept-talked? But his worst problem that left him speechless was how to explain to a hatchling that Olivia had basically died. He didn't want to burden the young Pokemon's mind with apocalyptic thoughts.

Luckily, he was saved from speaking when Bidoof groaned sleepily from his bed. Ranta, forgetting about 'Oh-larvae-uh,' hopped over to Bidoof. "Wake up!"

Bidoof's head shot up. "W-wha..? Fire?!" His head whipped around until he spotted Amarante, and then he sighed. "What time is it?"

Ranta shuffled her paws again. "It's not dawn yet. I thought you two might like to get up before Loudy woke you up."

Tide looked out the window. Indeed, milky predawn light was filling the sky. Trying to look as nonchalant as possible, he yawned, stretching out his arms. "Well, Bidoof, we're up now, there's no going back to sleep."

Bidoof huffed. "Fine." He rose from his hay bed and shook his pelt, scattering a few strands of hay around the room. Stiff with sleep, he padded out the doorway and down the hall.

Ranta, who seemed to have much more energy than the day before, circled Tide as he got up and started to walk down the hall.

"Who put a Chesto Berry in your breakfast?" Tide grumbled jokingly as they walked down the hall, trying to keep his mind off of his fog-filled dream.

Ranta's face became puzzled as she continued to circle Tide. "Ches-what?"

Halfway down the hall, Tide took his Treasure Bag down from its hook on the wall. He reached into the bag and pulled out a Chesto Berry for Ranta to see. "A Chesto Berry. They keep you from falling asleep."

"Oh!" Ranta exclaimed. "I saw one of those." She twitched her tail (which was now filled with more red hairs and just starting to curl into six at the tips) and added, "I think it was in that… dungeon, right? Beach Cave?"

Amarante bounced again, "If you're gonna be this slow, I'm gonna go see what Bidoof is doing." To Tide's surprise, she actually bounded ahead of him down the hall. He guessed that she felt more comfortable in the guild now that she knew there wasn't an enemy around every corner - but still, she probably would get anxious if Tide wasn't right behind her.

Slinging the Treasure Bag over his shoulder, his scarf shifted, and the teardrop-shaped crystal he had found yesterday fell on the floor. Quickly, he bent down and picked up the tiny blue crystal. For a moment he studied it. Thin dark lines went every which way in the crystal, as if it had been dropped and broken, then expertly glued back together.

For the first time, he wondered how the crystal had been formed. He definitely was not an expert in jewels and the like, but still, he wondered how this tiny, blue, smooth crystal had gotten into the pit of Beach Cave.

Tide shook his head. He'd figure out the mystery when he had time. Stuffing the crystal back between his neck and in the fold of his scarf, he continued down the hall.

When he came to the main room, he found Bidoof lazily lying on the ground, Ranta circling him.

"Hey, Bidoof! Why so tired all of the sudden?" Tide teased.

"Yup, yup, yup," Bidoof sighed tiredly. "I don't know about you, but I'm not a morning Pokemon."

The flap of feathers caught the trio's attention. Chatot flew down from the floor above, muttering about how cluttered the guild was. When the bird saw the three Pokemon already awake, his eyes narrowed, and he landed in front of them.

"Why up so early?" he asked.

Ranta shuffled her paws again. "I thought they might like to be woken up by me and not Loudy."

Chatot nodded, but his eyes were still slightly narrowed. "Loudred should wake up the others any minute now. I suggest you get ready for the morning briefing." The bird Pokemon turned around and entered the Guildmaster's chamber.

Bidoof snored peacefully on the ground; his legs were tucked underneath his chest much like a cat Pokemon. His chin was rested on the floor, and Ranta sniffed him curiously until he let out a loud snort in his sleep. The little fox jumped, and dashed behind Tide, peeking around him at the plump mouse.

Outside the window, dawn, at last, broke out over the horizon. A split second after, however, the silence was broke by none other than Loudred. His wake up call echoed down the hall, and a minute or two later, the apprentices filed out into the room.

Somehow, Bidoof was still asleep after Loudred's wake up call. Diglett popped out of the ground from underneath the plump mouse, sending him a few feet in the air and landing, wide awake, on his rump.

Bidoof scowled. "Thanks, Diglett."

Wigglytuff and Chatot came out of the Guildmaster's chamber. The bird clapped his wings together for attention.

"Good morning, everyone," he greeted. "Today, you will go about your normal chores."

With that rather brief briefing, Chatot led the morning chant. This time, however, Ranta chanted in time, but still mispronounced the words.

---

Ranta trembled behind Tide, not even daring to look at the roaring, extremely treacherous waterfall that fell in thousands of gallons a second.

Bidoof, who Chatot had forced to go along with Team Siempre for some reason or another, huffed. "Ranta, it's not going to kill you." With that, the plump mouse dashed forward and jumped into the waterfall, most likely landing in the entrance to the dungeon.

Ranta squealed in terror. "No! I won't go in! It'll hurt me!"

Tide sighed. "No, it won't."

"Yes it will! I know it will!"

Tide sighed again in exasperation and picked up the little fox, who shot Embers every which way in protest. The Piplup charged at the waterfall and leapt. For about three seconds the duo was pummeled by the water, then were plopped onto the damp stone floor.

Ranta struggled out of Tide's grip, completely soaked, and shivering from head to toe. She shook her pelt as if she had filthy Dunsparce clinging to her.*

"Water," she spat disgustedly. "Is water in every single dungeon?"

"No," Bidoof said, irritated, as he was showered with more water. "Some dungeons are deserts, and there's probably some fire dungeon somewhere, if that'd make you happy."

As Ranta glowered, Tide interrupted them. "C'mon, guys, let's just go do our job for the day, then we can go home and get some rest."

The two four-legged Pokemon couldn't ague with Tide's logic.

Waterfall Cave, B First Floor. Objective: None.

While Waterfall Cave was a relatively easy dungeon, it proved many more a hazard for Fire Pokemon than Beach Cave. One, the cave was much more dark (this wasn't necessarily a hazard - Fire Pokemon could produce their own light), which reduced visibility of such things as what Ranta referred to as 'giant, stupid puddles.' This, with the already damp floor, proved the dungeon capable of 'slipping you up.' Not to mention that water tended to leak down from above.

A spat of water dropped down from the ceiling, landing square on Amarante's muzzle. Mumbling, she shook it off. "This dungeon is worser than the one at the beach."

"You mean worse," Bidoof surprisingly corrected. The brown mouse was taking up the rear of the patrol.

"Yeah," Ranta muttered. "That."

"Okay, guys, keep your eyes peeled for the stairs, please." Tide was already exasperated and tired. The humidity of the cave reminded him of the fog in his dream, and that wasn't helping his mood either.

After following a winding hall and coming across no enemy Pokemon, the trio entered a long room. Tide squinted his eyes, and saw a spec of gold near the end. He also noticed that the stairs were about halfway down the hall.

"Hey Bidoof, can you run ahead of us and grab those Poke?" he pointed with his hand to where the money lay. "It wouldn't hurt to have a little extra."

Bidoof nodded and trotted down the room's length, looking around every so often, just in case there was an enemy in the darkness.

Tide and Ranta followed more slowly. Tide stifled a shudder when they passed a gaping entrance to a hallway, which was extremely dark and looked like it could swallow the both of them at any moment.

Tide gave himself a mental shake. There wasn't anything to be afraid of. Heck, he'd defeated Primal Dialga. A little darkness wouldn't kill him.

Tide…

Shivers went up Tide's spine when he heard Olivia's voice. He glanced back at the dark entrance, but saw no one. It felt like she was there, like she was right behind him, but he couldn't see her. It was as if she was reminding him that he wasn't alone when Primal Dialga was defeated.

Damn it, Tide, he told himself. Stop imagining things. She's not there.

She's not there.

When they got to the stairs, Tide wordlessly took the money from Bidoof and put it in the money pocket of his Treasure Bag.

For the rest of the dungeon, the group, unless needing to speak, went along in a stony silence.

---

The sun was almost touching the horizon when the trio finally got back to the guild. All of them were wet, tired, and frustrated, although they had completed all of their jobs. Tide was struggling to keep his feelings down, Ranta was glowering from getting wet, and Bidoof was being a bit of a grump, because, well, he was just plain annoyed.

After collecting their reward (and having most of it taken by the guild, then splitting it up between Bidoof and Team Siempre) they had supper with the rest of the guild. The apples and berries seemed tasteless in Tide's mouth. Despite his resistance, his dream kept replaying over and over in his mind, from the cold stars all the way to Grovyle's hand on his shoulder, and back again.

Unlike the night before, Tide's belly wasn't full to the brim. Ranta was curled up next to him on the hay bed, finally dry, with her white-and-red, slightly curly tail over her nose.

While the little fox feel asleep quickly, what with her exhausting day, Tide found sleep to be harder to find. Finally, with his mind spent, he fell into somewhat of a restless sleep.

After he was sure that the two were asleep, Bidoof rose and padded out of the room, back to his old bedroom.


*Dunsparces look like maggots, no?

Okay, this probably seemed short and - as I see it - boring. Well, most of it, probably. Anyways, now the gears are starting to shift faster, so to say. Anyways, here's a reminder - I love foreshadowing. I usually see it miles away. So, there's already been foreshadowing. And symbolism, if you know what the heck that means (I give thanks to my English teacher, even though I hate literary anaylsis stuff).

I'm much more a plot person than a chapter length person. Reviews are very welcome!