Chapter 9

Part 1

The Mystery of Fog Bound Lake

At first, the three of us just kind of stood there, mesmerized by the sight. Then Corphish said, "Hey hey, I think that someone should head back to let everyone know what just happened. I'll go."

"I guess that means that the two of us will find an entrance and try to get up there. Thanks Corphish"

"Hey hey, no problem!" he said as he turned and left.

Tim and I were just about to go ahead and leave when we heard something to our left. I turned and immediately smelled something pungent. I immediately knew who it was.

"Cha ha haw! Great job, you two! Wonderful job! Now we can knock you two wimps out and explore the lake ourselves! Cha ha haw!"

"No way!"

"We won't lose to you!"

"Woah ho ho, have you forgotten our last bout?"

"Heh! You two got trounced!"

"Yeah, well, that was a while ago. We've gotten a lot stronger. We can beat you guys!"

"Then bring it on!"

The five of us were just about to lunge at each other, when a shiny red apple started to roll in front of us. It bounced up and hit my chest.

"Come back Perfect apple!" I heard a voice saying a little bit away. Wigglytuff appeared, brushing off his apple. "Oh, perfect apple, I love you so much! If I lost you, I don't know what I would do!" Wigglytuff finally noticed us. "Oh, Hiya! What are you guys doing? You two need to be exploring! Go on!"

"But-"

"Oh, now you aren't listening to me? Boo! Boo! Skedaddle! Go explore!"

I opened my mouth to say something, but Tim grabbed my Silver bow and ran off. I chased after him, of course, trying to get it back. I was shouting and laughing all the way, though. How ingenious of him to get me away from a dangerous situation like that. We chased each other to the cave-like opening in the bottom of the plateau. There was a Kangashkan rock, so we grabbed some extra things such as a sleep seed and an x-eye seed. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Wigglytuff stood there, admiring his perfect apple. Team Skull were debating on what to do.

"Wigglytuff is like, creepy man," said Koffing.

"Yeah. Hey, I've heard rumors that Wigglytuff has a priceless treasure."

"Hmm. Yeah, I heard that too. I was planning on mugging him for it soon anyway. Now is the perfect time. The great explorer Wigglytuff is going down!"

The lower steam cave had many fire types. They were all trying to use fire-types moves on me. I assume they thought I was some kind of dark-type. My flash-fire ability maxed out the power of my fire type moves when ever I was hit. It didn't even hurt. Unfortunately, there was another target. And there were more than just fire-types.

But we made it to the half way point without too much trouble. There was a Kangashkan rock here, but we couldn't seem to store or take out items. We were just going to pass it up, but suddenly Tim looked around.

"Did you hear something?" he asked. I shook my head. Even my super-sensitive ears hadn't heard anything.

"You must be hearing things," I said. But then I did hear something…

"grrrroh…."

"Ok, I did hear that!" I said, starting to get scared.

"W-we'll be ok. Trust me on this. Like when we leapt into the waterfall. Yeah, like that. We'll be ok."

I smiled up at him. Even through our fear, we still had all the trust in the world.

Then I realized that I still hadn't told Tim anything about my strange sensations. When I told him, he looked at me, and then said, "Well, there's just one more reason to get to the top."

We continued on our way.

"Yo, boss… You've been staring down Wigglytuff for a while now… what's wrong?"

Wigglytuff turned and looked at Team Skull "Oh? You have been making such strange faces at me." Then he made a silly face. "Oh, I get it! You are trying to make me laugh! I can make you laugh too!" And with that, Wigglytuff let loose with a whole bunch of strange faces. "BLABLABLOOP! BLEEBEBLOP! BLOOPAWAFFLESABLOOP!"

Koffing looked at Skuntank. "Dude… this is getting creepy…"

"Yeah, I know…Hey, Wigglytuff!"

"?" Wigglytuff asked in his crazy way.

"Prepare to get Skunked!" he roared, as he and Koffing let loose a large dose of smog…

The rest of the steam cave was very similar to the first half, except there were actually quite a few bug types. It surprised me, but I was able to take them out easily. Tim? Not so much.

"But hey- that's what I'm here for!" I said as we ascended the final flight of stairs. Above the final floor, there seemed that there was some sort of canyon. Tim seemed tense.

"Th-the air… it feels… dense… it's as if… the very air is… filled with tension…"

There was a bright flash and we heard a tremendous roar, like "GROO-OOH!" but ten times louder. I was fearful for my life. Tim looked the same way. Small tears were forming at his eyes.

A short thump reverberated through the ground. And another. It was getting closer…

Tim gave a soft whimper as a huge- no, colossal Pokemon appeared! It roared so deafeningly loud, it nearly busted my ears. And there I saw it, coming towards us.

"It's… the same Pokemon as the statue…" I whimpered

"That Pokemon really exists?" Tim shouted. We both looked at the Groudon, stomping towards us. "I need to be brave…" he said.

At the base of the plateau, the rest of the guild had assembled at the statue. They were discussing what was happening.

"Are you sure?" Chatot asked. "Because no one's here anymore. By the way, has anyone seen Team Sapphire?"

"No. No one is here."

"Hmm. Well, that's that. Let's go. The guild master and Team Diamond and Sapphire must have gone up ahead."

As the guild went on ahead, Diglett thought he heard something. He ignored it and continued behind his dad.

But he had heard something. It was… (drum roll)

Team Skull. They had been whooped by Wigglytuff (Because Wigglytuff is amazing like that!)They were so embarrassed. LOL!

Corphish asked Chatot about Groudon. "Is he real?"

"Only in legend, of course."

"Hey, what would happen if you tried to, uh, let's say, battle Groudon?"

"Battle? Out of the question! It would be like throwing your life away!"

"More brave than ever…" Tim was saying. Groudon moved closer and roared again.

"YOU WHO DISTURB THIS PLACE, LEAVE!" he said.

"I'm scared…" I whispered to myself. Tim touched my head absent mindedly, and I immediately felt better. What do I have to fear with Tim by my side? He was probably thinking the same thing.

"No," Tim said. "We came for information. A-and we aren't going to go!" Tim was being brave. If he could be brave, so could I!

The battle began. I started to go up to Groudon, but a huge earthquake went through the ground. I had no idea what was happening, so I just stood there. I ended up taking a lot of damage. Meanwhile, Tim did know what he was doing, so he used the earthquake to his advantage. Leaping from one heaving block to another, he made his way onto Groudon's back. I used flamethrower, but it simply bounced off of Groudon's chest. Like, 12 damage, maybe? Meanwhile Tim was up on Groudon's back, Force-Palming away. -100, -120, -98, down until he was pretty beat up…

Groudon was groaning on the ground. Tim climbed down off of it's back. I ran up to him and nearly tackled him with a big hug. He looked surprised, but then hugged me back. We both looked and turned to the Groudon.

"Something doesn't add up though…" Tim said. "Chimcheo said that the Pokemon protecting this lake was-"

But he was cut short by a bright light. It was coming from Groudon. It got to bright to see, but then it cleared. Groudon had disappeared. I looked around, surprised.

"W-What?" Tim asked. Then, we heard it. The voice. It was small, but still strong with power.

"Who are you? What do you want with this place?"

"We're explorers…" I said. "We've come-"

"I know what you want!" Said the voice. A light started to glow in front of us. It took form. It was small, with a yellow head and a blue body. It had two long tails, tipped with small fans. He did not look happy. "You have come here to steal-"

"Would you listen!" Tim said loudly. He was starting to glow red with anger and frustration. "We aren't here to steal anything! We are explorers, and we would like to leave with something. But not treasure, I assure you!"

"And you expect me to believe that?" the Pokemon asked.

"Who are you?" I asked. "I mean, are you Uxie, the guardian of this lake?"

"Uh, duh!" he said. "And you do know that I can wipe the memories of Pokemon?"

"That's what we're here to ask you about," Tim said. "This is my partner, Alex."

"Hi," I said.

"We believe that Alex may have been here before, and that you wiped her memory clean,"

"Yeah… I woke up on the beach with only the memory of my name and being a human before that,"

"Oh really?" Uxie said. He did seem surprised. He came up to me and stared me in the eye. Sort of, because his eyes stayed closed. Then he spoke. "I am sorry Alex, but you have never been here before. Aside from that, there has not been a human here in centuries. And third, I can only wipe the memories of this lake, thus protecting this lake."

"O-oh…" I said. My heart fell.

"Well, that's it then. You haven't been here before Alex," Tim said. His look was neutral.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Uxie said, "Ok then… um, well, you two have earned my trust. I would like to show you something. Please, this way,"

Tim and I looked at each other and followed Uxie.

Uxie brought us out of the mini canyon out onto a small pier-like rock. "Hey, it's night," I said.

"Thank-you captain obvious," Tim said.

Tim and I looked out at the lake. "This is Fogbound lake," Uxie said.

"Thank-you captain obvious," Tim said again. Uxie looked at him with a strange look. Tim's face flushed slightly.

"Please cast your eyes to the center of the lake," Uxie said. We did as instructed.

"Wow!" Tim said. I said the exact same thing. The lake was beautiful. Ilumise and Volbeat had come out to play over the lake. Out in the center, there was a bluish green light emanating. Tim and I looked closer. My pulse started to race as Timothy asked, "Uxie, wh-what is that?"

"That," Uxie said, "Is the Time Gear of Fogbound Lake,"

"The Time Gear…" I said. "So you protect the Time Gear…" I could feel my pulse getting faster. I closed my eyes and sat down. I started to calm down a little.

"The Time Gear is the sole reason I am here," Uxie said. A small smile crossed his face. "If I wasn't stuck here taking care of this Time Gear, I would be traveling the world,"

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's one of those crazy things that you'd never expect someone like me to think. Don't you think?"

"Hmm," Tim said. We all stood looking out at the lake for a while. Suddenly I heard the soft patter of footsteps behind us. I turned to look and was surprised at who it was.

"Well, we can't take a Time Gear, that's for sure," Wigglytuff said.

"No kidding," Said Summer. Team Sapphire was with the guild master. Wigglytuff went up to Uxie and said,

"Hi! You're Uxie, I'm Guild master Wigglytuff!"

"Uh…" Uxie said. He looked at Tim and I.

"That's our Guild master," I said. "And this is another team from the guild, Team Sapphire,"

"How many other teams are there?" Uxie said, looking worried. I knew what he was thinking. If too many Pokemon learned about this place, then he could risk the secret leaking out.

"There are no other organized teams, but there are some others who operate as just explorers and bounty-hunters."

"But hey, Wigglytuff's Guild is famous for it's awesome reputation," Quinton said. "If you want us to keep a secret, we'll keep it. We don't shirk work, we don't run away, and our smiles go for miles!"

"Wow Quinton. You have no imagination. You just took the guild's motto."

"Well then," he said. We all started laughing.

After a little while, Uxie showed us how he had conjured the Groudon illusion. He made it move around a little. Then I noticed the rest of the guild standing behind the illusion. They were all petrified of the illusion. Uxie started to have a little fun. He made the illusion go toward the rest of the guild.

"DON'T EAT ME I'M NOT TASTY!" Corphish screamed. We all started laughing. That's when the rest of the guild noticed we were there and the water started spouting. We all turned around and watched the beautiful sight.

The Illumise and Volbeat all lit up and started dancing in the starry sky. The Time Gear sent up a bluish glow through the fountain, and the lights from the Illumise and Volbeat bounced and sparkled off of the waves. Tim scooted a little bit closer to me. I looked up at him. With the most beautiful scene as a backdrop, I kissed him. It was only a little lick, but we both blushed pink. We returned our gazes to the water.

Everyone else stood behind us, watching. Quinton started clapping. Then Wigglytuff, and soon the rest of the guild, along with Uxie, followed suit. Tim and I blushed even more.

Eventually, the water stopped spouting. Uxie made his way to the front where everyone could see him.

"You guys have earned my trust," He said. "So I have decided not to take your memories away."

A small hurrah went up from the guild as Uxie continued, "But I must ask you, please don't tell anyone about this place. And I mean anyone at all,"

"In the name of this guild," Chatot said,

"We swear not to tell a soul about this lake," Wigglytuff continued. "Now, Chatot, if you may,"

"Guild! We are heading home!" Chatot said. Everyone cheered.

So, the Guild's big exploration ended, and everyone returned home. But when they got there, someone was waiting…

"Myuki?" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh… What am I doing here?" she said. "This is what. Team Aven has been disbanded,"

"What?" Tim asked. "Why?"
"Dodrio. Each head tells a different lie. Poor Izzy has gone psycho. She can't think strait. Tyrone has become an outlaw. No one can reason with him to stop. The first thing I thought of was you guys. So, um… Do you think that I could join Team Diamond? I can't join the guild. I've already graduated."

"You used to be an apprentice here?" Tim asked.

She nodded. Tim and I looked at each other and nodded. So then and there, Myuki became a member of Team Diamond.

After Myuki joined the team, there was no stopping Team Diamond. They went up the ranks, and eventually reached the Gold rank. We had a little party. Yay for us! Then again, that was the night we discovered that another Time Gear had gone missing. There wasn't anyone living there though, but we were still worried about it. Besides that, the days passed by. We rescued, arrested, and guided Pokemon. That is, until…