The Story of Team Fate - An Explorers of Sky Fanfiction
Chapter 29 - Home's Relief
Evening, Beach, Chime's POV
'One! Don't shirk work!'
'Two! Run away and pay!'
'Three! Smiles go for miles!'
I hold my Explorer's Badge in my hand, taking in the sound of the sound recording already installed into it. As it turns out, these badges have more than just a mere hologram system and a series of voice command activations. One of these voice commands allows me to record voice recordings. And once I discovered that it could do that, I definitely had some fun with it.
One time, Chatot left the Guildmaster's Chambers holding a large pile of papers, and apparently he was looking for Croagunk who wasn't at the cauldron where he always works for some reason. At the time, I was watching the entire thing hiding against the ceiling.
"Croagunk! You should still be here, right?" Chatot said at the time, struggling to stay upright with those papers weighing down his wings and blocking his view ahead of his. "The Guildmaster is busy doing other errands around the guild, and since the cauldron and its little station where you work is right across the room where the Guildmaster's Chambers, I was wondering if you'd be willing to give me a hand in carrying these papers… I really need the help…"
That's when I teleported my Explorer's Badge right near Croagunk's cauldron, where Chatot would expect him to be, and played the voice recording I made of Croagunk.
"Meh, I couldn't care any less."
Chatot appeared ticked off after I played that recording and stormed off towards the ladder, just like I wanted.
Messing with Pokémon's minds… messing with this badge is way too fun. I thought, teleporting my Explorer's Badge back onto one of my ropes.
As I continue watching Chatot totter from the weight of papers in his wings, I wait until he's headed up the ladder with the papers on his back and out of sight. I really should mention how powerful those wings are if Chatot can still fly up even with a stack of papers on his back.
Afterwards, I snickered to myself as I levitated back down closer to the floor, but as I looked around the empty room amused with my little prank, Croagunk was right behind me.
I'll just say that despite that vacant stare he always wears, and I mean always, he wasn't very pleased with what I did. Nor was he forgiving. At all. I even had to lie to Chimecho about why I needed several Pecha Berries after that poisonous experience. And that was only caused by the poison from Croagunk's left hand.
But that event is the past, and right now I shouldn't be lingering there, especially since I'm trying to use this voice recorder to memorize the guild cheer. The pre-installed recording continues playing out of my badge while I levitate to the beach to sleep for the night.
Alright, once I finish this recording, I should be able to memorize the cheer by tomorrow by going over it over and over in my head…
… 'Eight! Helping all Pokémon in need is an explorer's duty, indeed!'
'Nine! Do lots of jobs! That's truly the key! You'll reach Gold Rank. Just wait and see!'
'Ten! The money you earn is shared with the guild! That's the way our friendship will build!'
An extra loud 'HOORAY' cheer suddenly erupts from my badge, making me flinch slightly.
"Whoa, easy there," I say aloud. "You're not the only one who can emit ear-splitting screams. I can do that too, but it's my Monster House summoning technique, so I really only use it in Waterfall Cave."
Then, as I levitate right over the beach of the sand, in the night's darkness, I can just make out three figures lying unconscious in the sand ahead of me, two of them looking very familiar to me.
Wait… no… could it be?
As I start to get my hopes up, I try to levitate closer to the two figures, but start to see them stir.
Uh oh. They were sleeping here on the sand, weren't they? And my badge woke them up? I need to hide!
I instinctively teleport back to my little bush shelter and peek out, trying to observe the three figures.
Please be them, please be them…
Violet's POV
"Ugh… Where… where are we?" I groan, looking around.
As I get up and feel my paws against the familiar texture of sand, I look around and widen my eyes at the realization that the first thing I see isn't grey.
We're back! The time portal actually worked!
Despite the darkness of the bittersweet atmosphere of night, I manage to look around me to see Sparks and Grovyle also unconscious on the sand. The two of them regain consciousness and get back up as well, though i notice Grovyle had a bit of trouble standing straight and seemed to be keeping his arms near his chest.
"We're… we're finally back…" Sparks lets out a relieved sigh, looking around. "We're finally back!"
"Sparks! Violet! You're back!" A familiar voice says from behind us. Before Sparks and I could turn around to greet the voice, we both find ourselves wrapped by ropes and pulled towards Chime in a gesture resembling a hug, with both short arms as well as his ropes wrapping around us.
"You guys! I knew you'd be back! I missed you!" Chime exclaims.
"Uh… well, we missed you too, Chime." Sparks says slightly hesitantly, caught off guard.
"Have… have you been doing well?" I ask, just as surprised.
"Oh, well, I've been fine. Stuff has still been happening around Treasure Town, but I've been a busy helping out around the guild while you were gone." Chime replies, still not letting up on his ropes.
"Well… this is certainly awkward… especially from you, Chime," Sparks mentions, still chuckling nervously at Chime's gesture. "Who's been teaching you how to hug?"
Recalling Chime's memorable quirkiness, I expect a reply right away, but to both Sparks and I's surprise, he hesitates.
"Uh… well, that's not important! Don't mind that!" Chime then replies, letting us go. "Anyways, what's been up with you two? And… who's that third Pokémon with you? Is that who I think it is?"
I look behind me to see Grovyle still struggling to stand straight.
"Ugh… We… we are back, right?" He asks, still teetering. "Please… please excuse me… I still need some rest… For once, I'm actually tired… I'll be fine, just give me a second…"
Before Sparks and I could question him, Grovyle slumps over and falls on the sand, unconscious.
"Well, you heard him, whatever he said. Probably just needs some sleep," Chime comments. He then starts shaking his head. "You know what, I'm just going to calmly ask you for an explanation instead of immediately jumping to a panicked conclusion. So tell me you two, what happened?"
Sparks takes a quick second to look around the beach's night atmosphere.
"I don't think now would be a good time to go explaining everything…" He replies. He then yawns. "It… it looks like it's a bit late for us to be staying here… I know I'm tired as well…"
I can't help but yawn too.
I… I guess I need the sleep… Trying to survive in the future was difficult…
"But… with Grovyle here with us, we can't just go to the guild where everyone will immediately jump to conclusions and doubt us…" He continues. "So… where do we sleep, or even go to, now?"
An idea suddenly clicks in my head.
"I… wait… I think I might know a place…" I say, thinking.
"You… you do?" Sparks asks me.
"Hey, you two… er, three, including Grovyle," Chime cuts in. "I should mention that if you're thinking about leaving the beach right now, then you should know that you've scattered Seeds and Apples all over the sand."
"Seeds and Apples?" Sparks questions, starting to look around. I look around as well to see those items littered around us, just like Chime said. "Looks like they must've fallen out when we came through that time portal…"
"Time portal?" Chime asks.
"We'll get to that later," Sparks says, picking up a Perfect Apple from the ground and putting into the Treasure Bag. He then looks towards my direction. "Hey Violet, can you go pick up those two Blast Seeds behind you?"
I nod back, and head over to get the Blast Seeds and hand them to him one by one. That's when I realize.
"Wait… Sparks… you said Blast Seed, right?" I say, my expression lighting up. "You… you actually recognized what type of Seed it is!"
"I… I did?" Sparks asks, sounding slightly surprised. He then looks around at the littered items and smiles back. "I can! In some weird way, I can somehow recognize all these items now! That's a Blast Seed… that's a Heal Seed… Um… we only had Seeds and Perfect Apples, right?"
I nod, still smiling from Sparks' enthusiasm, and we all pick up the rest of the items on the sand.
"Okay, now that you're done cleaning up here, I'd like to know everything you've been through," Chime says. "Violet, you mentioned knowing a place where we could go besides the guild… and I'd like to take you three there so you can get to explaining what happened, so…"
"Oh, right," I say. I then start thinking for a second. "Well, remember when I said I ran away to Treasure Town from my mom? Well, you see, since I wasn't part of the guild there's this place past all the shops in Treasure Town, it's a little cave built into the side of the cliff above the beach."
"Oh, that cliff? The one that looks like a Sharpedo's face built?" Chime questions. "Isn't that cliff called Sharpedo Bluff?"
I nod. "There's a little hidden staircase covered by bushes near the edge of the cliff which leads to a little cave in the cliff's side. By the time I was in Treasure Town, it was still years before I met Sparks, so I didn't have any house or guild shelter to resort to, which was when I discovered the little staircase leading into Sharpedo Bluff's cave. It has always been secluded for the few years I've slept there, so it should still be there for us to rest awhile."
"Sounds good." Sparks responds.
"So it's settled then," Chime speaks up. "Near the edge of Sharpedo Bluff, right? Well, as a welcome back gift from me to you… three… Grovyle is with you, right?"
"Yes." Sparks and I answer in unison.
"As a welcome back gift from me to you three, to Sharpedo Bluff we go! I've been around Treasure Town long enough to know it like the back of my rope, so I'm able teleport you there in a flash!" Chime continues enthusiastically.
As the familiar glow of Chime's teleportation surrounds Sparks and I, we can't help but smile at the feeling of Chime teleporting us again.
We really are back home now.
Sharpedo's Bluff, Chime's POV
As the light of my teleportation fades away, I look around to see that we're on some sort of rocky cliff area, the path to Treasure Town's plaza to my right and the edge of the cliff to my left. I see Sparks, Violet, and a still-unconscious Grovyle be teleported next to me.
Hm… strange. Something felt a bit… off about that teleportation.
Shaking that sudden thought away, I look around to see Sparks and Violet head over to a bush close to the cliff's edge and push it aside, revealing a rock staircase heading downwards. Sparks looks down the path the staircase heads to.
"There's a little cave mouth down there that looks like it leads into a room." He points out.
Violet's expression lights up. "Yes! That's the one!" She then starts to head down the staircase while Sparks follows her.
I levitate Grovyle behind me as I head down the staircase as well, making sure to cover it back up with the bushes.
"We should be able to stay here for a while… at least, long enough to prepare how to explain everything to everyone… we have to head back to the guild eventually, right?" Violet speaks up as we head down the staircase.
"Right," Sparks answers. "Um… just a question. There is enough space in this Sharpedo Bluff cave for all of us to sleep in, right? Grovyle is still with us, after all."
The mention of Grovyle prompts to to take a glance back at him, still in the grasp of my teleportation and unconscious.
Sparks and Violet must have gone through quite a lot in the future if Grovyle is somehow on our side… Guess that makes it even more of a story to look forward to.
"Of course," Violet answers Sparks' question, leading us into a room. "I remember finding a lot of the spare straw material used to make the beds at the guild and using them to sleep here, so we should be oka-"
Violet cuts herself off in surprise when she sees what's in the room in front of us. The room is a surprisingly open space for being in a secluded room that's supposed to be part of a secret entranceway, and its rock surface is surprisingly neat and cleaned up. The glow from the moonlight is even let into the room by triangular gaps in the rock well at the end of the room, these gaps resembling the open space of a Sharpedo's jaw. However, that isn't what surprised Violet. From what it looks like in front of us, apparently what made her cut herself off was seeing that the room wasn't empty like she expected, and instead the three of us see, on a large straw bed, Ninetales asleep with some brown spiky Pokémon curled up in a ball sleeping next to her.
"M-Mom?!" Violet exclaims, making Ninetales and the brown Pokémon wake up with a jump. I see the curled up brown Pokémon roll over to left end of the room.
Well, there goes this place being completely unknown to everyone but Violet. Like mother, like daughter.
Ninetales quickly turns up and eyes the three of us, looking both surprised and bewildered.
"V-Violet?!" Ninetales asks. I notice tears start to fill her eyes, presumably joy.
"Mom! I missed you!" Violet cries out. She then runs towards her and they both enter a mother-daughter embrace, the both of them letting out tears of joy.
"I can't help but smile whenever I see Violet happy like that…" Sparks remarks, grinning at the scene before him.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" I push Sparks closer to Violet and Ninetales using my hands for once. "You're Violet's boyfriend, after all! You should go join that embrace as well!"
My insistence convinces Sparks to go join Violet and Ninetales, leaving me back at the entranceway alone, but I still can't help but smile.
Boy, I can't wait for when Sparks and Violet actually get married… or become mates… one or the other…
But when I see Violet and Ninetales… I wish I had parents to hug me like that… Too bad I still have no idea who they are or if I even have any…
I sigh.
I then hear the sound of Grovyle groaning behind me, catching my attention.
"Uh… guys? I think Grovyle's starting to wake up…" I point out, making Sparks, Violet, and Ninetales separate. "I think now would be a good time for that explanation I've been waiting for…"
"Explanation?" Ninetales asks. "Wait, did you say Grovyle?"
"It's a long explanation, but it makes complete sense, don't worry," Sparks replies. "We were just about to get to that part…"
I then notice the brown spiky Pokémon uncurl itself and walk towards us, yawning and revealing itself to be a blue-eyed Sandslash.
"Ninetales… what happened?" The Sandslash asks.
"Oh, I believe I should introduce you all," Ninetales says. "These four here are Sparks, Violet, Chime, and… uh… Grovyle, apparently. I believe I've already told you about them," Ninetales then turns to face us. "Now, I met this Sandslash here as a Sandshrew a few days ago since a vision told me that she'd be invaluable help to you, and since you managed to come back here from the future, she must have… she used to be quiet, but ever since I followed her to this place called Mystifying Forest she's evolved into a Sandslash and has started talking much more often now. Oh, and I believe I should mention that her name is-"
"Sammy!" Sparks and Violet cry out, excitedly running towards Sammy.
"Oh, come on!" I exclaim, slightly irritated. "And you somehow know this Sandslash too! Can't we just get right to the explanation so I can finally understand everything that's going on?!"
"Oh, alright, fine, fine." Sparks replies.
One really long explanation later, Author's POV
Throughout the lengthy explanation that went out late at night, Sammy got bored and decided to go to sleep. Curled up in a spiky brown ball, she rests in a straw bed set nearby the one where Chime left Grovyle on.
"Do you know what happened to Celebi after that? Dead, or not dead?" Chime asks after the explanation.
"I… I don't know. Violet and I went through the time portal before we could see if anything happened and Celebi still needed to stay there concentrating to keep the portal open long enough," Sparks replies. "We don't know whether Celebi managed to escape after we left, or if she actually did die to Primal Dialga…"
"Wait, so not only did you almost die, but you also came face to face with Primal Dialga?!" Ninetales exclaims, shocked.
"Y-Yes… but we're fine now! Don't worry!" Violet replies hastily. "You… you get used to these types of situations when you're in an exploration team… Not the dying part, but the escaping death by powerful Pokémon part…" She quickly adds in the last sentence.
"So… Sparks is apparently a human from the future who came who through time travel, but how he ended up in the future in the first place is completely unknown other than it wasn't from time travel?" Chime questions. "Well that's something you don't hear everyday. So now that you're back in the… past? Present? Now that you're back here, what's your plan of action now?"
"Well…I don't think we should be heading back to the guild just yet since it'd be too much of an explanation to deal with at this time of night… especially the whole Grovyle part…" Sparks replies. "As for getting the rest of the Time Gears themselves, I thought that we left the plan to get those up to Grovyle since he knows where exactly to get them."
Something from before pops up in Chime's mind. "Yeah… about Grovyle, I felt something off…" He speaks up.
"Off? Didn't we already explain that he's the good guy and Dusknoir's the bad guy?" Violet responds.
"No, not that, I completely understand that part. It's just something else…" Chime replies. "When I teleported all four of us, including Grovyle, to Sharpedo Bluff, it didn't feel like I was teleporting four Pokémon… Instead, it felt like I was teleporting five."
"Wait… five?!" Vioparks exclaim.
"You didn't happen to teleport some random passerby Pokémon here with us, did you?!" Sparks asks, slightly panicking.
"No, no, I have more control over my teleportation than that!" Chime shouts back. "It's as if… someone was close to someone else when I teleported them! Like how I always teleport you and Violet at once since you're a pair! Except there was another close contact pair that I teleported other than you and Violet!"
Sparks and Violet quickly process the information and widen their eyes at the realization. They look over the sleeping Grovyle's body, recalling the detail that he seems to be clutching something close to his chest with his arms.
Then, as if on cue, Grovyle starts to groan and gets back up yawning, the open space of the open Sharpedo jaws behind shining moonlight onto him, slightly revealing something pink in his arms.
Grovyle looks down at the pink Pokémon in his arms.
"You… you okay?" Grovyle asks.
The pink Pokémon starts to regain consciousness and looks up at Grovyle.
"I… I'm exhausted… but… I'm okay… thank you…" She replies in a voice that makes Vioparks widen their eyes in shocked realization.
"C-Celebi?!" Vioparks exclaim. "But… but how, Grovyle?!"
Hearing their voices, Grovyle then looks at Sparks and Violet, looking partially surprised as well. He then notices Chime, Ninetales, and the sleeping Sammy and casts a disapproving stare at Vioparks.
"They do know that I'm no longer the bad guy, right?" Grovyle asks cautiously. "Right?!"
"Calm down, they know about our situation," Sparks quickly answers. "Don't worry."
"Hi. We're your friends." Chime greets awkwardly.
"Uh… hi." Grovyle replies, putting the now unconscious Celebi on the bed he just got up from.
"So… how did you get Celebi back here, Grovyle?" Violet asks.
"I grabbed her and brought her through the portal at the last second," Grovyle answers. "Lucky that I did so at that second and that second only… Had I hesitated a millisecond longer, Dialga's Roar of Time would've been able to reach the time portal and disrupt it… Had I been too hasty and grabbed Celebi a millisecond earlier, she wouldn't have had enough concentration to keep the portal open for both of us, also possibly causing a disruption…"
"Long explanation made simpler, you got extremely lucky for something that had a high likelihood of resulting in brutal disaster?" Chime blurts out.
"Yes…" Grovyle replies with a sigh. "But it's worth it. You'd do a similar thing if you don't want a close friend of yours to die, right?"
"Right." Sparks and Violet immediately reply in unison, agreeing.
"Well, while my own best friend and I haven't been into any near death situations, I'd do the same thing." Chime chimes in.
"Yes…" Ninetales answers Grovyle, sighing wistfully as she briefly reminisces about Absol.
"Now that you're finally conscious, what's our next plan? We have Time Gears to get, right?" Sparks asks.
"Indeed. That is correct…" Grovyle then looks around for a bit. "We… we still have time for one night… Alright. First plan… is for me to get some sleep and tell you more tomorrow… I'm still exhausted… it's really difficult to get sleep in the future if you've been there long enough…"
Grovyle starts to totter a bit.
"Wait… tomorrow?" Violet asks.
"Just let me get some sleep first…" Grovyle's exhaustion then does him in and makes him slump over, but Ninetales swiftly uses her Extrasensory and prepares a straw bed to catch Grovyle's fall.
"Thanks for doing that," Sparks says to Ninetales. "Grovyle looked like he needed that."
"It's no problem." Ninetales replies.
"Hey, I would've done the same thing if I paid more attention." Chime speaks up. He then yawns, with everyone else following. "Anyways, you heard Grovyle. We need sleep. I'll be sure to meet up back with you tomorrow early in the morning. See ya!"
"Wait, wait." Sparks says, stopping Chime from teleporting away. "You know… you don't have to go sleep alone, wherever you sleep."
"He's right," Ninetales adds. "I've even gathered plenty of straw to make more than enough beds for all of us."
"Really?" Chime asks, the thoughtfulness of the offer making him smile a bit. "Well… as much as I'd appreciate the company, I really, really, do, I think it'd be better if I just went back to sleep on my own."
"Are… are you sure, Chime?" Violet asks.
"Believe me, I'm fine. You get used to it after a few years," Chime adds. "Besides, this place is farther from Spinda's Cafe than where my shelter is, so I'm better off there since it'll be easier for me to teleport and get myself some Chesto Berry juice since I'll be waking up early in the morning. See ya for real!"
Chime proceeds to teleport away before Sparks, Violet, or Ninetales could intervene.
"Looks like he's gone again… and just shortly after meeting back up with him." Sparks comments.
"I don't think it can't be helped… It's really late, and we all need sleep," Ninetales says. "Though I can't help but wonder where that Chingling sleeps… it's just another mystery that I'll have to keep wondering about… And I thought the mystery of Chime's parents was enough, because I still have no idea who they could possibly be," Ninetales then yawns once more. She uses Extrasensory to prepare straw beds for Sparks and Violet. She then lays down on the bed where Sammy curled up. "As for you, Sparks and Violet, you'll have to get some sleep as well. You did just come back from a dangerous place, leaving me worried, so you deserve the rest Goodnight, you two."
"Thanks… thanks Mom," Violet replies, yawning mid-sentence. "Goodnight."
As Sparks puts his bow and Treasure Bag aside at one side of the large cave room, Violet adjusts her bed so that it's closer to Sparks', and the two find themselves sweetly cuddling again.
"It's… it's so good to be back home…" Violet whispers, snuggling her head against Sparks.
"It sure is… I'm glad we finally made it out of the future…" Sparks says back, wrapping a paw around Violet and pulling her closer. He gives her a comforting kiss on the cheek. "We even made it out together, which I always find to be the best part… Goodnight, Violet."
Violet kisses Sparks back on his cheek. "Goodnight, Sparks."
With the comforting feeling of being back in their time period reassuring them, Sparks and Violet slowly start to drift off into a peaceful sleep, the night bringing them the lullaby of its gentle breeze and the mild waves of the outstretched beach water below the height of the cliff. Nature's sounds help Sparks and Violet continue dozing off…
...until the sound of a snoring Sandslash echoes around the room.
Sparks and Violet immediately realize the the source of the snoring is from Sammy.
"Does… does she always snore like that?" Violet asks aloud.
"Yes," Ninetales replies from her side of the room, to Vioparks' surprise. "Don't worry. You get used to it after a few days. You two can continue sleeping now."
This time trying to ignore Sammy's soft but echoing snores, Sparks and Violet find themselves in the comfort of each other's embrace and try to fall asleep, this time finally succeeding.
NOTE: Salutations, reader! *ahem* Yes, I know. This chapter took a long while to get out, and that's because I've invested most of my time playing Pokémon Moon. Please bear with the time it took to get this chapter out, because the game is so good! The hype for that game is still alive inside me, who knows, one day I might write a story related to Sun and Moon if I come up with enough ideas. (Not that there's a second story here on my profile that's related to a specific Gen 7 Pokémon or anything, heh #totallynotsarcastic) But with that aside, I hope that this chapter's delay wasn't too bothersome. But please, do leave a review on your way out if you enjoyed this chapter, I appreciate it a ton. And of course, I thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read this, and I hope that you, kind reader, have a good day! :)
-flareon71
