Chapter 7

The Guild's Big Exploration

Everyone, after receiving their teams, plotted a course to the Foggy forest. Bidoof, Tim and I each had our own ideas, but we finally compromised and set out on a coastal route.

"By golly, look here!" said Bidoof. "There's a cave here!"

"No duh," I said sarcastically. This much traveling had made me a little grouchy, and I had been snapping off to both of my travel partners. This was a big exploration, and I really had no idea how to take it.

"Hmm, Well, we should probably check the map," said Tim. We opened up the wonder map. Tim pointed to the coastal route that we had been following. "It seems that we are averaging about three miles an hour… At that rate, we'll be at fogy forest by… Oh dear, four days?"

"That won't do," I said. "We'll need to pick up the pace a little bit. We need to get there in about two days. Or even better, tomorrow."

"But golly, Alex. Isn't that a little fast?"

"Might be, might not be…"

"Well, let's go. Time's being wasted," Tim said. He took the lead and started to head into the cave.

It was then that I truly noticed how much Tim had changed since I had first met him on the beach. He was really taking a leader's roll. It must be the exploration that's bringing it out.

"Uh oh…" Tim said.

"Uh oh what?" Bidoof said.

"Two things. Number one, There's a statue here, and it's kind of creeping me out. And number two, there are two paths here."

"Oh! A Kangashkan Rock? I've seen one of them before!" Bidoof said with a shock.

"Really? Where? And, um… What is it?"

"Well, A Kangashkan rock is a mighty helpful thing to us explorers. You can check your storage and save at the statue. They're usually right before a larger dungeon and at a half-way point in a dungeon."

"Huh… Wait, didn't you say that this was your first exploration?"

"Yup yup!"

"Um, then why do you know about these Kangashkan rocks?"

"Well, once we get a goin', I'll tell you about it."

"Well, what path are we going to take? There are two, as Tim said…"

"I think that you should choose, Alex. So, should we take the Side path or the Coastal Road?"

"Hmm. Let's try the Coastal Road. But not before getting ready."

As it turned out, Coastal Road was the better choice. It was a simple dungeon. Because of Tim and my over-training in the Dojo, it was really easy. Bidoof really didn't have to do anything.

After we cleared the coast, we came to a large mountain range.

"Hey, Alex?"

"Yeah? What?"

"Well, I was thinking… Well, maybe it would be better if we stopped here for tonight. I mean…"

"I think that what Bidoof is trying to say is that it would be night-fall before we reached the other side of this mountain. It would be better if we camped out here for the evening. Besides, I'm hungry."

"Eh. Fair enough." I said, setting my bag down on a rock. "But that means we'll be going double-time over this mountain range tomorrow."

"Fine by me," Tim said, starting to gather some fire wood. "Hey, I wonder how the rest of the guild is fairing?"

"Huh. Golly, well… I reckon that they're all probably either still traveling or already there at that foggy forest place that chatot was telling us about."

After getting a fire started (Courtesy of me), we talked. Bidoof told us about the first time he had encountered a Kangashkan rock. (Maybe I'll write Bidoof's Wish. Probably not. I'll see how popular this series gets first.)

After Bidoof told his story, Tim and I each told our own stories. Tim made up a story about a haunted house with a Rotom that caused a lot of trouble. I myself couldn't think of anything, so I made up one as I went along.

"Once upon a time, there was a little human girl."
"Human? Golly…"

"Shut up Bidoof and listen to the story."

"Any way, this little girl loved all Pokemon. She had a Miltank and a Torchick and many other Pokemon. But her favorite Pokemon were the wild ones that she met when ever she went for walks. But do remember that she did love all Pokemon.

"One day, when she was on one of her walks, she happened to get lost. She happened to come along a Teddiusa. She asked him, 'Mr. Teddiursa, do you know where my house is?'

"'No, I do not know where your home is, and I'm kind of busy, eating… yeah…'

"'Oh, that's ok. Thank you anyway!' said the little girl.

"Next, the little girl met a Chikorita who was sun-bathing in the bright sun shine.

"'Miss Chikorita, do you know where my house is?"

"'No, I don't," the Chikorita replied irritably. 'Would you please go? You're like, blocking my sunlight.'

"So, the little girl kept walking until she met a Snorlax.

"'Mr. Snorlax? Do you know where my house is?'

"But the Snorlax didn't answer, because he was asleep.

"So, the little girl kept on walking and walking until she was so tired she couldn't walk anymore. The little girl sat on a rock and started to cry. But suddenly, the rock she was sitting on started to move. It was a big Golem, and it didn't seem happy that it had been sat upon. The little girl was so scared that she forgot how tired she was and just started to run and run and run as fast as her little legs could carry her. She finally ran back home and into bed, where she fell fast asleep."

Apparently, my comrades had also fallen asleep. I only smiled and curled up and fell asleep, just like the girl in the story.

The next morning, I was the first one up. I went over to the nearby Kangashkan rock and grabbed an apple for each of us. Tim was up next, stretching and yawning. Bidoof was last, sitting bolt up right and screaming something illegible. Tim and I looked at him, and after a few seconds, burst out laughing.

"Not funny. I was having a nightmare."

"Oh, what? All of the food in the world disappeared?"

"…"

I could barely contain my laughter, but then I realized the severity of something like that actually happening. O well. Hehehe…

After clearing up our camp site, I checked the Kangashkan rock, Tim checked our bags, and Bidoof stood around, looking bored.

"Hey, I never heard the end of the story last night. I fell asleep… Golly, what I heard of it reminded me of my mama's bed time stories she told me before I left home to come to the guild."

As we headed up the magnificent mount Horn, I re-told the story to Bidoof and Tim. Mount Horn was a huge mountain, easily the longest dungeon that I had ever been on. But luckily for me, it was mostly bug types. Much to my surprise, of course.

At the base of the mountain, we fond a deep forest. Eventually, we realized that it was starting to get rather foggy. After we realized this, we decided that we were probably in the foggy forest and thus getting close to the camp site.

Soon, we stumbled into a clearing. Through the fog, I recognized the silhouettes of all of our guild friends. The minute Chatot noticed us, he started yelling at us, saying,

"Tsk tsk! Team Diamond, the rest of the guild arrived hours ago! Hurry and unpack your bags and get ready for a meeting!"

I didn't immediately go. I had the strangest sensation in my gut. It felt as if…

"I've been here before…" I whispered to myself. Tim called me over to the Kangashkan rock, and I was snapped out of my little world.