Chapter 37: Truth or Dare

"So why are the boys and girls meeting separately today?" Paula asked as she and Laura settled down in the room that was shared by Chimecho and Sunflora. It was after dinner (which had tasted even better than usual to Paula, for some reason. She chalked it up to the fact that she had been denied the meal the night before), and usually this time would be spent in an apprentice meeting held in Loudred, Corphish, and Bidoof's room. Today, however, Sunflora had promptly grabbed ahold of the Team Rainbow girls and steered them towards her own room the instant they got up from the table.

Sunflora rolled her eyes. "It's because they've chosen today to play their silly little game," she explained.

Paula's ears perked up. "They're playing a game over there?" she asked. Then she turned to Laura. "Maybe we should go over and join in. It might make you feel better after what happened earlier…"

Laura winced at the reference to her flinching at Wigglytuff before dinner, but before she could comment, Sunflora interrupted with a shake of her head. "Oh my gosh! No! That would be the complete opposite of what Laura needs!" she exclaimed.

"R-really?" Paula asked in surprise. "But… why? What are they playing?"

"Okay, Bidoof! Your turn! Truth or dare?" Diglett asked.

"Golly, that's a tough one…" Bidoof muttered as he frowned in thought. "Um… Truth."

Diglett nodded and began to think of an embarrassing question. "Okay then… um… oh! I know! Bidoof, what's that pet-name your mom gave you that you're always claiming is 'the most embarrassing name in the world?'"

Bidoof immediately blushed crimson. "C-can I switch to dare?" he pleaded.

Loudred snickered, "NOPE! Rules are RULES! You've gotta answer the QUESTION!"

Bidoof's blush deepened, and he mumbled something.

"Meh heh heh… I'm sorry, what was that?" Croagunk asked gleefully.

"C-Cuddlekins McCutie-pie…" Bidoof repeated, cringing in embarrassment. Everyone burst out laughing, and it took a while before Bidoof recovered enough of his pride to stammer, "C-Corphish! T-truth or dare?"

"H-hey hey! Dare!" Corphish gasped out between giggles.

"Okay, uh… I dare you to…" Bidoof trailed off, trying to think of something good, "…to go out in the hall and ask Zubat why he's pacing in front of Team Rainbow's room!" he decided.

Corphish rolled his eyes as he got up. Sure, he wasn't a big fan of Team Skull, but Zubat was the weakest member. He was no threat, and it wasn't as if asking him a question like that would cause any embarrassment. He was almost disappointed with the ease of his task. Honestly, it was a waste of a turn, especially since he had already been considering going out and asking what was up, since Zubat's loud mutterings were becoming distracting.

Corphish didn't even bother going out fully into the hall. He just poked his head around the corner and called, "Hey, Zubat!"

Zubat, who had been lost in his own thoughts, was startled so badly that he momentarily lost his grip on the small bag he was holding and almost fell out of the air.

"Wh-what?!" he demanded, whipping around.

"Why are you pacing and muttering over there?"

"I… I, uh… It… it's none of your business!" he stammered out. "I'm not hurting anyone! I can pace anywhere I want!"

Corphish rolled his eyes again and said, "Well, hey, hey! At least keep your muttering down! It's really annoying!"

"You're not the boss of me!" Corphish heard Zubat call as he retreated back into his room now that the dare was complete. Nonetheless, he did quiet down.

"Hey, hey! So, Croagunk… Truth or dare?" Corphish asked.

"Meh heh heh… hm…" Croagunk said, stroking his chin in thought. "I'm going to go with… dare."

Corphish smirked evilly. This was going to be good… "Hey, hey! I dare you to go into the other room and… kiss one of the girls!"

There was a beat of shocked silence before everyone else took up the evil grin and looked in Croagunk's direction. This would be priceless…

Croagunk sat up from where he had been lounging on his side. He looked thoughtful. "Meh heh heh… Any of the girls?" he asked.

"Any of them but Laura, hey, hey!" Corphish answered quickly. "She's already under enough stress," he murmured, remembering how oddly she'd been behaving lately.

"Fine, then," Croagunk said with a shrug, swiftly getting up and heading towards the door with the others following eagerly behind him.

"…So then I said, 'Oh my gosh! Your leaves are as brown as mud, and you have the nerve to accuse me of wilting?!'" Sunflora finished her tale, causing the other three to laugh.

"Oh, wow, Sunflora! How do you have so many great stories?" Paula asked, wiping a tear from her eyes. "I lived in a forest too, but we didn't have nearly as much drama as you! Unless you count my brother's attempts at flirting…"

"Well, perhaps we were just special," Sunflora giggled. Then she turned to her roommate. "What about you, Chimecho? Did you get much drama in the swamp?"

"Oh, no. It was nothing like that," Chimecho assured, shaking her head. "Although, there was this one time when Cr—"

Chimecho cut off when she felt someone tap her back and she turned around…

…to come face to face with Croagunk, who, before she even had a chance to ask what he wanted, pulled her into a kiss.

The other girls stared at them, slack-jawed.

Chimecho was stunned as Croagunk pulled away, but he merely winked at her and jerked his head back in the direction of the boys, who were peeking around the doorframe as they tried—and failed—to be subtle.

Chimecho's stunned expression melted into understanding, and she shook her head in amusement, a sly smile on her face. "Really, Croagunk? Was that the best you could do?" she asked teasingly.

Croagunk raised a brow. "Oh? Meh heh heh… You think you could do better?"

"Yes. See?" Chimecho said as she hauled him into a kiss of her own.

This caused the boys to go slack-jawed as well.

There were several long moments of awkward silence before the two broke apart. Chimecho gave a subtle wink of her own before turning back to the girls and continuing with the conversation they'd been having before being so "rudely" interrupted. "So as I was saying…"

Croagunk nonchalantly exited the girls' room and called back to the males, who were instinctively following him as they tried to get their brains back online, "Meh heh heh… So, Loudred… Truth or dare?"

"Uh… D-DARE…" Loudred stammered, too stunned to really think about what he was saying. He immediately gulped in regret over that fact when he caught Croagunk's smirk.

"Really…? Well, okay then…" Croagunk trailed off ominously as he slipped a rancid-looking piece of food out of the treasure bag that he had left in the other room. "I dare you to…"

Everyone winced as the horrific sound of Loudred's retching once more echoed out into the hall. Sunflora was barely suppressing a gag of her own while Chimecho was sighing and shaking her head at Croagunk's snickering. Paula and Laura looked disgusted while Bidoof and Diglett looked sympathetic. Dugtrio and Corphish were having trouble holding back hearty laughter, but Skuntank and Koffing didn't even bother to hold it back and were laughing hysterically. Zubat, however, appeared to be sulking for some reason…

There was a pause in the noise and a rather harried-looking Chatot poked his head out into the hall. "All right, which one of you gave him the Grimy Food?" he demanded angrily (causing Laura to flinch and shrink behind Paula).

Croagunk proudly raised his hand, ignoring Chatot's glare. Chatot opened his mouth to give a reprimand… but was interrupted when Loudred began retching again. With a groan, Chatot pulled his head back into the room, muttering, "I'll deal with you later…"

Oh, yeah. Croagunk was so getting in trouble for this.

"Meh heh heh... But it was totally worth it," he decided.

It was just too bad that from now on they would probably be banned from playing Truth or Dare…