Chapter 2

Reaching for the Sky

A few days after Team Poképals' graduation from Wigglytuff's Guild, and becoming a fully recognized exploration team, Leon and Blaze, along with Team Go-Getters, saw an octillery and mr. mime converging with each other near the entrance to Spinda's Café. They were talking about an announcement being made in there, so they went in, along with the two teams to find out what it was. A crowd already gathered there to listen to what Spinda, the owner of the café, would announce to them. He revealed a new location called Sky Peak, and had asked the mr. mime there for an explanation of the place. The mime pokémon said that it was a very tall mountain located to the east of Treasure Town that almost reached beyond the sky itself. It was, however, surrounded by an impassable mountain range, meaning the route there had been lost, and leaving the peak to not be fully explored as of yet.

Spinda then announced that thanks to Project P, they had successfully reclaimed the path to Sky Peak just two days ago. Not only that, another discovery had been made of the base of the mountain, as a small hidden village was also found. That village was said to hold very rare pokémon named shaymin living there. Spinda could not know much about the pokémon living there however, but as far as he knew, they were said to be incredible adorable. He also told the crowd that on the outskirts of the recently named Shaymin Village, Project P also found a mountain path leading to the summit of the Sky Peak, which held an incredible treasure that would await adventurers upon their arrival. Feeling excited about the news made today at the café, both Team Poképals and Team Go-Getters went to town first to prepare for the exploration, before they went to the Shaymin Village near Sky Peak.

When the two teams arrived, they saw a handful of pokémon already there, including the several shaymin that were mentioned within the announcement back at the café. The shaymin were a hedgehog-like gratitude pokémon that had grass-like fur on top of them, white bodies, and two fuchsia-colored flowers on their heads, with one on each side. One shaymin approached the teams and greeted them.

"Welcome to the Shaymin Village! It's so nice to meet you here! My name is Shaymin, and I live here in this village." He laughed a little bit before he continued on. "Then again...all the residents here are shaymin, which makes it hard to tell us apart, doesn't it?"

The two teams couldn't help but laugh at his last sentence.

"Nice to meet you too, Shaymin!" replied Leon. "We're Team Poképals!"

"And we're Team Go-Getters!" Ian said next.

"Did both of you teams come here to climb Sky Peak too?" questioned Shaymin.

"Yeah!" the five pokémon exclaimed.

"I take it that you know this mountain well, right?" questioned Leon.

"That's right," answered Shaymin. "We've lived here for a very long time, and we're here to guide travelers up the mountain. We haven't actually done that however in a long time, because of the earthquake that happened here some time ago that destroyed the mountain path that led to here. That prevented the explorers from outside getting here very easily, and thus, they stopped coming. We were very surprised when the survey team walked into our little village."

"I see, then," replied Blaze. "That must explain why this place has only been talked about in legends, and that nobody had come to visit."

"Speaking of legends," Leon inserted, "is it true that there's an incredible treasure hidden here, rivaling all other treasures?"

Shaymin laughed in agreement.

"What do you think?" he said. "Our job here is not limited to simply act as your guides, but in the end, those climbing the mountain must discover some things for themselves. We are merely assigned to assist in those discoveries."

"I'm not sure I fully understand this," Ian replied, "but I would have to think that there's a little more to it than that."

"That's right!" answered Shaymin. "By the way, now that we've discussed all this...I could be your guide if you're interested. What do you think? For some reason, while talking to both of you teams, I've begun to really want to climb the mountain with you."

"Wow! That's a nice offer!" replied an excited Blaze. "I was thinking the same thing!"

Team Poképals and Team Go-Getters turned to each other.

"Since you guys only have one more pokémon available for your exploration here," Ian suggested, "we'll let Shaymin be your guide."

"That's a great idea!" said Leon. "We'll let him join our team for now so that he can guide us!"

The two teams turned back to the gratitude pokémon.

"Shaymin, you're welcome to join us, Team Poképals, on our trek up the mountain!" the piplup proclaimed.

"Yay!" Shaymin excitedly replied. "All right, then! Let's all start making our way to the summit, then! We'll have many station clearings up ahead along the way that we can rest on, so don't be afraid to take a break when you need to! Let's get going!"

Team Poképals, along with Shaymin, were the first group of pokémon to enter Sky Peak's dungeon leading to the summit itself. Team Go-Getters later followed.

The dungeon of Sky Peak would hold several floors of various type pokémon that both of the teams would have to deal with. All kinds of type match-ups would have to be considered and memorized in order to get through each floor without too much trouble.

When the six pokémon got to the 2nd station clearing, they were amazed that various supplies were set up within the area itself. A driftblim, which was a blimp pokémon, rested nearby. Meanwhile, a breloom, a mushroom grass/fighting-type pokémon, introduced himself and his accomplices, a mawile and machoke, to the group.

"Hey there! We're Team Frontier, the survey team from Project P! As you can see, this huge, tall mountain prevents any rescue missions from being performed, so we've built a base here at the 2nd station clearing for that matter. Not only is a Kangaskhan Rock here to resupply your teams for further exploration of the mountain, but just in case you're looking for a quick way up or down, a Drifblim Gondola Service is just the thing you're looking for here! All of these services are operating for free thanks in large part of Project P's Recycle Shop efforts and contributions! Please don't be afraid to use 'em!"

Breloom and his team moved aside, while Shaymin turned back to Leon, Ian, and the others behind him.

"That's wonderful!" the gratitude pokémon exclaimed. "That's the spirit of cooperation at its very best! This mountain just got more beautiful to explore! Go ahead and restock your item supply if you'd like!"

Team Poképals and Team Go-Getters went to the Kangaskhan Rock to resupply their inventories before they continued up toward Sky Peak.

For the next few floors of the mountain's dungeon, the two teams found and picked up unique boxes that had textures of the clouds and blue skies on them. When they got to the 3rd station clearing, Shaymin explained that those boxes were called Sky Gifts. A Sky Gift was a special kind of treasure that could only be found within Sky Peak, and that it could only function properly when it was given to other pokémon. The contents within that Sky Gift were unknown, but those that found one and tried to open it themselves would not receive anything. The two teams understood this, and they knew that they had to be aware of how to use the Sky Gift properly. They all went on ahead after the explanation.

When everyone got to the fourth station clearing, Team Frontier had set up another base for their resupplying and transportation services. When they tried to rest up, Octillery came towards them shouting for help. She came to a stop in front of everybody, and attempted to catch her breath, as Mawile went towards her.

"What's wrong?" questioned Mawile.

"A sneasel explorer's getting picked on by this strange group near the fifth station clearing!" answered a worried Octillery. "I'm not much help by myself, so please, someone go and help that poor guy!"

Machoke turned to his team.

"All right, guys! Let's move out!"

Team Frontier followed him out of the clearing and up towards the mountain. Team Poképals and Team Go-Getters then turned to each other in concern.

"That doesn't sound good..." Leon said.

"Yeah!" Ian replied. "We should resupply ourselves quickly and then we'll go and save that sneasel!"

They all agreed and went to the Kangaskhan Rock nearby to restock their item supply, before heading further up the mountain.

When the three teams got to the fifth station clearing, they saw a group of five carnivine, which were bug catcher grass-type pokémon, surrounding a sneasel, a sharp claw dark/ice-type pokémon. Shaymin went up front to access the situation.

"Aha! I knew it!" he exclaimed.

"Did you come here to help us?" one carnivine assumed.

"No way!" announced Mawile. "Only cowards like you would gang up on one pokémon like Sneasel! We're Team Frontier, and we'll be your opponents!"

The carnivine then went toward the group, as Sneasel ran away up towards the mountain to safety. Team Poképals and Team Go-Getters also stepped forward to join beside Team Frontier.

"We'll also be the ones you'll need to beat!" the other members announced. "Prepare yourselves!"

Everybody got into their battle stances and got ready to battle! It was nine against five!

Thanks to the combined efforts of the three teams, they were able to wear down the outnumbered carnivine in under two minutes.

Just as they were about to take their enemies down, Shaymin suddenly stepped into the middle to stop their battle!

"Everyone, stop!" he announced.

"WHAT?!" they said.

Shaymin turned to the carnivine, as one of them recognized him.

"Oh, it's a shaymin from the village! It's been a while!"

"We owe you..." Shaymin replied, as he suddenly got angry. "You haven't changed a bit, guys! We've asked you before to stop bothering the explorers, haven't we?!"

"Yeah, but that Sneasel started it! We found some treasure earlier, and he snatched it right out from under our noses!"

Another carnivine searched for Sneasel, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Hey! Where did he go?!"

"That rotten little…! He ran off in the confusion!"

Everyone was shocked that Sneasel had been bad all this time!

"We all thought you carnivine were the bad guys!" Mawile exclaimed.

Shaymin turned back to the teams behind him.

"Well, you can't exactly say they're the good guys, either..." he said.

"Hey!" exclaimed one carnivine. "We haven't seen you in so long, Shaymin, and this is how you treat us?!"

The gratitude pokémon turned back to the carnivine, as one more spoke up.

"Meh, it's fine. Since it is Shaymin, we'll let it go. The decision to climb the mountain is your own, but I don't like to let pokémon just do as they please. See ya!"

The five carnivine left the area, as Shaymin turned back to the teams once more.

"Man, what was that about?" questioned a confused Leon.

"The carnivine have marked this as their territory," Shaymin explained, "so despite them being very nice, they can be a little rough when they speak..."

"We're also to blame here," said Mawile with a look of regret. "Rather than listening to 'em, we just jumped straight into a fight..."

"That's why you shouldn't just judge by appearances," suggested Breloom.

"...Sorry!" Machoke said.

"It's okay!" Shaymin replied. "Let's just put all of this craziness behind us and get back to climbing!"

"YEAH!" everybody cheered.

They finally went further up Sky Peak.

After a few more floors of exploration, the teams made it to the sixth station clearing, where Team Frontier managed to set up one more base there. They told Team Poképals and Team Go-Getters that from there on out, the rest of the mountain upwards would be covered in snow, meaning that no more bases could be set up afterwards. Heeding this warning, the two teams went to the nearby Kangaskhan Rock to resupply their items, while Team Frontier went on ahead. Later, the two teams made their way out of the clearing and once more up the peak.

When Team Poképals and Team Go-Getters, along with their guide Shaymin, arrived at the seventh station clearing, they saw Team Frontier surrounding Sneasel who was unconscious. They went over to them to see what was wrong…

"What happened to Sneasel here?!" questioned a worried Shaymin.

"I don't know," insisted Breloom. "But what we do know, was that he lost consciousness before we got here. We're not sure if it's because of the cold or if he ran out of items, but this is a dangerous situation he's got himself in right now."

"This isn't good at all!" Shaymin had a determined look on his face now. "I'll have to go and get help!"

"Where can you find it, though?" questioned Mawile. "This mountain is filled with wild pokémon defending their territory here! Nobody else!"

"I've been up this mountain before," Shaymin insisted, "and I found a rescue expert at the eighth station clearing. We don't call him for the little things, but emergencies are different. Me and the two teams that I'm guiding here will go forward, while you, Team Frontier, will keep an eye on Sneasel for us. Is that understood?"

The three pokémon nodded.

"Got it!" Mawile responded. "We're counting on you!"

Leon and Ian, leaders of their own teams, turned to each other.

"Let's hurry and find that rescue expert!" the piplup said to the squirtle.

"Yeah, let's go!"

Shaymin and the two teams made their way ahead to the eighth station clearing.

After a few more floors of the mountain path's dungeon, everybody arrived at the eighth station clearing. The room of the clearing itself had a grassy surface, with a natural spring water, supplies, a hay bed, and a campfire lit up to keep the room warm. It was where an ampharos, a yellow sheep-like electric-type pokémon saw them coming quickly. He noticed that they were out of breath and started talking to them.

"Whoa! What seems to be the rush here?" The ampharos noticed Shaymin, and spoke to him. "Oh, it's you, Shaymin! You're from the village below! It's been such a long time since we talked to each other! How have you been?"

"No time for talking, Ampharos!" responded the gratitude pokémon. "We're in a hurry!"

"Did something happen?"

"Yes! Someone's down at the seventh station clearing!"

"Ah...I see. I thought I would get the opportunity to chat with my first guests in a long time, but that'll have to wait, I suppose. Okay then, I'll get to the seventh station clearing at once! Wait for me here!"

"We're counting on you!"

Ampharos made his way to the seventh station clearing below his home to go and get Sneasel.

After a few moments, Ampharos, Sneasel, and Team Frontier had all arrived at the eighth station clearing, Everyone surrounded Sneasel, as he woke up and grunted in pain.

"Hey!" Leon exclaimed. "He's awake now!"

"Sneasel! It's good to see that you're back with us!" Shaymin said.

"Uh...where am I?" questioned the sharp claw pokémon.

"You had collapsed at the seventh station clearing," Mawile replied.

"If Ampharos here hadn't carried you to his bed right here," Breloom said, "things would seriously have not gone well for you."

Sneasel turned to the yellow electric-type pokémon.

"You...did that for me?"

"It wasn't just me," Ampharos insisted, "everyone else here came to your rescue."

"I see..."

Sneasel tried to get up off the bed, but he lay back down once he felt pain.

"Don't push yourself, Sneasel!" demanded Shaymin. "You must take it easy for now and rest."

"...Fine."

Ampharos turned to the three teams.

"All of you may go on ahead through the rest of the mountain pass. I'll take care of Sneasel myself. The summit shouldn't be far from here, so go on and experience the breathtaking view for yourselves when you get there!"

"B-but..." Mawile began, but she was cut off by Ampharos.

"Don't worry!" he insisted. "Besides, there isn't anything more to accomplish here by staying put. I can handle this on my own. Please, go on ahead."

"Are you sure?" questioned Breloom.

Ampharos gave him and the others a look of reassurance.

"Yeah, he's right, guys." Leon said, as he turned to everybody else. "We'll just have to leave Sneasel in his care for now."

"We still have a sight to see today!" insisted Ian. "Let's go to the summit! We're almost there!"

Team Frontier went ahead of Team Poképals, Team Go-Getters, and Shaymin, before they too followed shortly afterwards.

When everyone arrived at the summit of Sky Peak after around ten more floors of the dungeon, they could hardly believe at how the area looked. It was supposed to be beautiful, but instead, it was littered with purple muck, gas, and slime all around the summit.

"What the...isn't this the summit?" Leon commented.

"I think it is," Ian replied, "but it isn't supposed to look like this!"

"Phew...what's that smell?" Blaze said.

"It's coming from that purple stuff right there!" answered Charmander.

"Ewww...gross!" said Chikorita.

"This is terrible..." said Shaymin. "All of this happened while I was away for so long..."

A voice suddenly came from within the area!

"Icky, sticky...grimy, slimy… We loooove dirt and slime…"

All of a sudden, several grimer and muk, who were purple slimy poison-type pokémon, surrounded the three teams!

"Ahhh!" shrieked Blaze. "Who are those pokémon?!"

"It's a group of grimer and muk!" answered Shaymin. He directed his attention to the purple pokémon. "All of you should know that this isn't your home… Please, go back to where you belong!"

"No, noooo," replied a grimer.

"Lies," said another.

"We drive away cleanliness!" a muk bellowed.

The teams got into their battle stances as they got ready to face the defiant slimy pokémon.

"Looks like we've got no choice but to make 'em come to their senses!" suggested Leon.

"Okay, guys!" said Ian. "Let's get it on!"

"YEAH!" everybody cheered.

And just like that, the battle to reclaim the summit began!

It was nine exploring pokémon versus eight purple slimy pokémon. The teams would need a handful of Pecha Berries in their bags for times when one team member would get poisoned by a grimer or muk's moves or stench. Team Go-Getters, however, needed none of those berries thanks to themselves wearing Pecha Scarfs, so they had a few spare Pecha Berries in their bag, giving them to Team Poképals, Team Frontier, and Shaymin, when they were in trouble.

After a few minutes, the teams managed to defeat the grimer and muk, as they staggered backwards, groaning in pain.

"You're soooo strong!" one grimer said.

"Have all of you come to your senses yet?" questioned Shaymin.

The poison-type pokémon stood up straight, as they were confused by the question. Later, they realized who the gratitude pokémon was.

"Oh, it's you, Shaymin!" exclaimed a grimer.

"What happened while I was away for so long? You know that this isn't your home, right?"

The grimer and muk were alarmed.

"Huh?! This is soooo our home..." one of them said. "See? It's all dirty and grimy..."

"Dirty and grimy, huh?" replied Shaymin. He then realized something, as he smiled sympathetically. "I see… Nobody's come here for so long...so I have to say sorry to all of you, grimer and muk. Like I said before, this is the mountain summit that you're on right now."

"Huh?! The summit?! It can't be!"

"I think it fell into disrepair because nobody visited here for a long time...but we know we can't leave the summit in this condition. Will all of you please return to your rightful homes? I'm begging you!"

"Wh-what? Is this the summit? I didn't notice! Sorry for the trouble, Shaymin. We'll go home now."

"Thanks for understanding! I'll come visit all of you with a token of thanks later! Bye!"

"Bye-byyyye!"

The grimer and muk slithered their way out of the summit. Shaymin looked around the area.

"Now where were we..." he said. "We have to clean this place up now and restore it."

"Restore it?" said Mawile. "How could we possibly-"

"We shaymin have a special power to clean up the land by absorbing dirt and things, yet cleaning up this mess is no small task..." Shaymin turned to the teams, then he bent down and energy began to emit from his green fur. "Okay, guys! Get down quickly!"

The teams all ducked for cover as Shaymin absorbed the purple mess around the summit. His green fur turned purple from the absorption, then after a few moments, a blinding light emanated from his fur!

Seconds later, they opened their eyes as they got up to see a majestic sight of fuchsia-colored flowers laying on the now green grass. The sky was also visible, with the sun shining down on them. Needless to say, they were all amazed by the sight.

"This...is...awesome!" Leon exclaimed. "It's absolutely breathtaking!"

"What an amazing place!" Blaze said.

"Now this is the summit!" Ian said. "It's a major overhaul from what we were looking at before!"

"It's so beautiful!" commented Chikorita.

"I've never seen such a beauty like this before," said Charmander.

"Congrats on reach the summit, everyone!" announced Shaymin. "This is indeed the summit of Sky Peak!"

"We really did it!" Machoke said.

"We've reached the summit at last!" Breloom said.

Mawile went over to the cliff of the summit. She was amazed by the view.

"Hey, guys! Come over here, the view here is even more fantastic!"

Everybody else went to where she was, as they took in the view of the mountains below them, and a view of the sky, where they caught a glimpse of a shooting star. They were even more amazed by this incredible sight.

"Oh man, what a view!" commented Leon.

"This must be the treasure of Sky Peak!" exclaimed Blaze.

"We've opened it up, all right!" said Ian.

"You can see those mountains down below and a part of space from above!" Charmander said.

"It's so incredible!" Chikorita said.

"Are we ever glad that we've climbed this mountain," said Leon.

"Me too!" Mawile replied. "I'm just speechless by this amazing view! This must be the fabled treasure that is superior to all other treasure..."

The teams turned over to Shaymin, while he approached them.

"Shaymin," Leon began, "thank you so much for guiding all of us here."

"The pleasure is mine!" the gratitude pokémon replied. "I had fun climbing the mountain with all of you! I have to thank you for that, too! Let's hope we do this again sometime!"

"YEAH!" everyone cheered.

"With that said...shall we head back to the base of the mountain now?"

"Of course!" replied Mawile.

The teams suddenly stopped smiling, as they were now puzzled as to how to get all the way back down from the summit!

"Just one question, though," Leon began, "how the heck do we get back down from here?"

"That's right!" exclaimed an alarmed Blaze. "We haven't even thought of that yet!"

"Man, this is a brain twister!" Ian said. "That's for sure!"

Shaymin simply let out a cute laugh.

"Calm down, guys!" he assured. "I've got an idea to take all of you back down."

"You do?" questioned Mawile.

"Of course." Shaymin directed the company to one of the fuchsia flowers. "There's a special flower here called the Gracidea, one that is special for us shaymin. You may be asking how it's special right now, so I'll show it to you."

He touched the Gracidea, then suddenly, he glowed white and transformed from his Land Forme into his Sky Forme!

"Whoa! Your appearance changed!" exclaimed Leon. "It's almost as if you've evolved!"

"Yup!" Shaymin replied with a deeper voice. "It's only temporary, though. I will go back to my Land Forme after a while."

"Man, Shaymin!" Ian said. "I thought you were adorable, but now you're all spectacular!"

The gratitude pokémon had a little laugh.

"When I'm in my Sky Forme like I am now, I can fly."

"Then that must mean..." Mawile began.

"That's right! I can take all of you back down to the base of the mountain right now!" answered Shaymin. He then went to the face of the cliff, with everybody watching him. "Consider this a gift from me to you! Now hang on tight, everyone! We're about to soar down to the base of the mountain!"

He made his way down the mountain, with everyone else gaining the magical ability to fly down with him!

Once the three teams got back down after successfully climbing to the summit of Sky Peak, they thank Shaymin graciously and went back to Treasure Town. The sun was beginning to fall by the time they arrived, and proceeded to have a huge party at Spinda's Café in honor of their tremendous achievement. Everybody stayed up until dawn, discussing about the exploration, and had a great time as well. Eventually, Team Poképals and Team Go-Getters both headed home to Sharpedo Bluff to get some much needed rest.

By the time the next day had arrived, it was already afternoon, as the five pokémon woke up, yawned, and turned to each other for a conversation with big wide smiles on their faces.

"Man, what a party last night!" Leon began.

"That one was even bigger than your grad party, Leon and Blaze!" insisted Ian.

"Yeah!" Blaze replied as he laughed. "I'm still kinda tired from last night."

"We won't soon be forgetting everyone's smiling faces!" Charmander said.

"What an exciting night it was!" Chikorita said.

"It's like my pal Blaze said once before," Leon said, "exploring can be so much fun! Who's with me?"

"Me!" everyone else agreed.

"I'm very happy to hear that, guys! Let's continue exploring today!"

"YEAH!"

The two teams went up and out of Sharpedo Bluff to start what was left of today.