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Chapter 6:

"What is all of this?"

"Ah!" Fée suddenly stopped in her tracks. Turning around, she looked at Blue with excitement sparkling in her eyes, "Look! I see the exit ahead!"

"Really?" Blue replied casually, "I just see more trees ahead, are you sure?"

"Positive!" Fée replied. She faced the other way and began to run ahead, leaving Blue behind as she kicked up clouds of dust in her wake.

"Hold on Fée!" Blue shouted back, coughing a little from the dust, "What's the rush?"

Blue shook the dust off his face and rubbed his eyes. However, by the time he managed to recover from her sudden sand attack, all he could see was Fée's little brown tail wagging happily in the distance.

Shaking his head and smirking bemusedly to himself, Blue decided that trying to catch up was pointless now, and decided to plod along at his own pace. He grimaced slightly as he felt a dull pain shoot up his left leg as he walked. Blue glanced down at his leg. The red scars from yesterday still glowered angrily at him. Subconsciously, he rubbed his arms, feeling the welts that Zubat gave him. A sudden image of Fée's worried expression flashed inside his mind.

"I can't let her be worried about something like this," He whispered to himself, sighing, "Just gotta grin and bear with it for now."

He slapped the sides of his face to shake off any lingering doubt and continued his leisurely pace after his friend.

My entire body was quivering with excitement as I ran through the woods at full speed. I couldn't put a finger on why I was feeling so exhilarated. Maybe I was just really looking forward to showing Blue around my beloved town. My thoughts were filled with ideas and plans about what I should take him to see, about what I can tell him, and other silly stuff like that.

Maybe I could take him to Miltank's Milk Parlor and get some nice frothy jugs of cream, that sounded pretty good. Or maybe we could go visit Mr. Mime's library, oh, but does he like to read? I don't know... Oh, how about visiting the bazaar? There's usually something interesting on display there, maybe he'll like that!

Just thinking about those plans made me run even faster. I looked around and saw that the trees around me were thinning out, meaning that I was nearing the exit of the forest. Once we're out of the trees, we'll reach the main road that leads to the entrance of Treasure Town. Feeling eager, I quickly glanced backwards to see if Blue was following along. For a split second, I thought I saw him in the distance, running far behind me.

But then, my vision was suddenly covered in stars.

"Ouch!" I was suddenly sent flying backwards as I hit something hard in front of me. I gave a small yelp out of shock as I hit the ground hard. Dizzy from the fall, I sat up and rubbed my head gingerly.

"Hey! What's the big deal?" An angry shout from in front of me quickly snapped me out of my daze. Scared, I slowly looked up to see who was yelling at me.

A large, scary looking dragon loomed over me. Its entire body was covered with rough, blue – colored scales. Furthermore, the dragon had two sharp, menacing claws at the ends of his arms. Both of which were pointed at my face.

"I – I'm sorry," Terrified, I quickly apologized, trying my best not to burst into tears. It's often said that dragon Pokémon had the shortest tempers of all kinds of Pokémon out there, and I didn't want to be the one to confirm that belief, "I – I didn't mean to run into you! I wasn't looking at where I was going while I was running!"

"You better be sorry," he growled threateningly, "If you were planning on cutting in front of me, then you better prepare for trouble."

Terrified, I shook my head wildly. The dragon didn't look like he believed me though, and kept pointing his talons at me. I wanted to turn tail and run away, frightened by the scary Pokémon in front of me. But, right as I was about to scream and escape, a sharp, female voice suddenly rang out between us.

"Gabite! You cut that out, now!"

Surprised, both me and the dragon – Gabite – looked down at the source of the voice. Standing between us was a small, orange – shelled Pokémon. She had a large, oval shaped head and two beady eyes. Both of which were now glaring angrily at Gabite. As I looked up at the dragon, I was shocked to find that his expression had completely changed.

The little Pokémon opened her mouth, revealing a set of jagged teeth inside as she spoke to the dragon, "What do you think you're doing? Are you planning on ruining an entire month's worth of preparation before we even entered the town?"

"T – Trapinch..." Gabite looked almost frightened at the little Pokémon that was barely a quarter of his size, "I – I just thought she was trying to cut in front of us, like those Mankey from befo – ack!"

He was suddenly interrupted by a forceful glare from Trapinch. I watched, amazed, as Gabite physically recoiled and withered under Trapinch's gaze. After deciding that the dragon was suitably cowed, Trapinch turned around and addressed me.

"You ran into this big lug by accident, right?" She said in a kindly voice. I quickly nodded, wanting to clear up the misunderstanding as fast as possible. Trapinch gave me a toothy smile before turning around and glaring at Gabite again.

"Then it's not a big problem, is it Gabite?" Trapinch commanded, "She even apologized when she hit you, didn't she?"

Gabite, now thoroughly defeated, could only nod silently at the tiny Pokémon. Satisfied, Trapinch turned off her deadly gaze and faced me again.

"I'm so sorry about how rude my partner was," she apologized, bowing, "He's sorry too, right?"

"Mmrgh..." The large dragon grumbled and bowed his head for only a fraction of an inch. Another glare from Trapinch however, quickly made him bow down low enough that his snout touched the dirt.

"N – no, it's nothing," I stammered, a little embarrassed by the scene, "It was my fault, after all. I'm sorry for running into you, Gabite."

Trapinch raised her head and gave me another toothy smile, "You're a nice Pokémon, Eevee," She said, "Almost everyone else we've met just gets really mad at Gabite for being such a rude jerk, right?"

Gabite flinched as he rose from the ground. He crossed his arms and turned away from us in a huff. Trapinch sighed and shook her head before addressing me again.

"Don't worry about him," she said apologetically, "He's just really anxious about today, that's all."

"Today?" I asked, a little curious, "Is there something going on today?"

Trapinch gave me a surprised look, "You mean you're here, and you don't even know what's going on?"

I responded by giving her a puzzled look. Trapinch and Gabite both shared a confused glance at each other before addressing me again.

"Eevee," Trapinch waved her stubby little arms around, trying to gesture something, "Maybe you should take a good look around you first."

I followed the direction her little arms were pointing, and was immediately taken aback by what I saw.

It was a crowd – no, actually it was more than a crowd, much more. An unbelievably massive horde of Pokémon was gathered here on the field. I gaped in astonishment as the crowd of Pokémon stretched from the entrance of Treasure Town all the way to the horizon.

Standing at the forefront of the group were herds of Tauros and Boufallant. The strong, bull – like Pokémon were lugging large wooden caravans on wheels, while a group of Mankey and Primape energetically jogged along the caravans, carrying huge piles of wood and lumber with their strong arms. Furthermore, flocks of strong flying Pokémon also carried what looked like building materials overhead.

But what was behind the caravans was what really stunned me. Multitudes of different Pokémon lined up together as they slowly marched toward Treasure Town. I watched in amusement as a group of Surskit skated ahead of their Turtwig companion, who was struggling to keep up with the speedy little bugs. Then, I saw a pair consisting of a Numel and a Poliwhirl riding on top of a massive Onix as the three of them laughed at the many, many more Pokémon glaring at them from below.

There were so many different Pokémon congregated here that I felt my jaw drop. I've never seen this many Pokémon in one place before, let alone this many different types and species! I quickly turned to Trapinch, who was smiling at my astonishment.

"What is all of this?" I said in a hurried voice, watching several Pidgey fly overhead, "Why are there so many Pokémon here?"

"You really don't know?" Trapinch said, her voice filled with genuine surprise, "Well, where do I start?"

"How about you start walking before the group leaves us behind?" Gabite snapped in irritation as he watched several Aipom sprint past him. One cheeky Aipom stopped to stick out his tongue at Gabite, who growled back in response.

"Don't be rude, Gabite." Trapinch snapped back, "The least we can do is catch this Eevee up to speed."

Gabite opened his mouth to protest, but a quick look at the expression on Trapinch's face made him reconsider. Trapinch sighed and turned back to me.

"So!" She said, cheerfully, "Now that the big baby's done crying, let me see how well I can explain this..."

"You're aware of that big storm yesterday, right?" Trapinch asked. I nodded, thinking back to when I had to run through Treasure Town during the worst of the storm yesterday.

"Well, apparently when the storm hit, it wrecked a lot of Treasure Town in the process," She pointed at the town's gate, which, upon further inspection, looked like it had a huge chunk torn out its side, "So a lot of Pokémon from neighboring towns are coming to help with rebuilding."

She gestured toward the front of the line, where all the caravans stood, "Since Treasure Town's such an important place, pretty much every settlement, village and city pitched in to help."

"I see..." I knew Treasure Town was a popular town amongst explorers, but I never really thought about how important it was to other cities and villages. Treasure Town was located in the center of a great frontier, right next to locales that held plenty of resources and valuables. I guess keeping good relations with Treasure Town was important to other villages and towns because of trade and other economic stuff...

"But that doesn't explain why there's so many Pokémon moving here though," I said, staring at the densely packed crowd behind Trapinch, "Unless they're all to here to help rebuild...?"

Trapinch gave a little dry chuckle, "No, if I think if they all came to help rebuild, Treasure Town would be destroyed in a fortnight!"

"No, Eevee, you see..." Trapinch stood on her hind legs and made a dramatic sweeping gesture, "Each and every Pokémon here are explorers!"

"What?!" I shouted in surprise.

"It's true," Trapinch said with an air of pride, "Me and Gabite here are also explorers. Team Sands, we've called ourselves."

"...I wanted to call us Team Claws..." Gabite mumbled when he heard that. Trapinch just gave him a bemused look and ignored him.

"You two are full fledged explorers already?" I said incredulously, glancing over at Gabite and back. Trapinch shook her head and gave me a sheepish grin.

"Well, no," She said while Gabite shrugged behind her, "We call ourselves Team Sands, but we're not actually explorers yet."

Trapinch pointed over to the entrance gate of Treasure Town, "That's why we're here. We want to become apprentices to a guild and learn how to become real explorers, and I'm willing to bet that that's why everyone else is here too."

"But...why are there so many Pokémon here?" I wondered. It's true that Treasure Town gets immigrants a lot, mostly newbie explorers who want to become apprentices, but it's never gotten this many Pokémon coming in at once before.

"Well, it relates to that storm yesterday again," Trapinch explained, "After the storm blew over, apparently it revealed a lot of new and hidden places to explore around Treasure Town."

"What?!" This was all news to me. How could all of this have happened while I was gone yesterday?

"Mmhm." Trapinch nodded, "Cliffs collapsed, caves exposed, forests parted, fogs defogged... stuff like that"

"Wow..." I was stunned. I never imagined that the storm would be able to bring so many new faces into town.

"Once news of all those new and unknown places broke out, everyone wanted to move to Treasure Town immediately," Trapinch said, "We both got super excited when we heard the news too, didn't we Gabite?"

"I didn't get that excited..." Gabite mumbled, shaking his head. Trapinch laughed and whispered to me.

"He's lying," She said, winking at me, "When he heard about the news, he woke me up in the middle of the night and demanded that we prepare to leave as soon as possible."

We both glanced over at Gabite, why was trying his best to look tough and uncaring, but the effect was ruined by the small blush on his face. Trapinch and I shared a knowing giggle, making Gabite blush even harder.

"So everyone here's looking to become apprentices?" I confirmed, looking around at all the Pokémon around us.

"That's what I'm assuming," Trapinch said, nodding, "There's a few experienced – looking faces strewn around here and there, but I'm willing to bet most of them are like Gabite and I: total novices looking to join a guild."

Trapinch grinned and leaned against Gabite's leg, who frowned and mumbled something about not being a novice. Trapinch responded by lightly nipping his ankle, making him yelp in surprise.

"So anyway, that's our story," Trapinch said in a muffled voice, "What about you, Eevee?"

"Oh, um..." Now that I think about it, where was Blue? It's been a while now, and I haven't seen him at all. Worried, I turned around and searched for the forest path behind me, only to discover that the path behind me had suddenly been taken over by a horde of Ponyta and Blitzle.

"Wha?" I gaped in disbelief. Where was the road? When did I get surrounded by all these Pokémon? Where was Blue?!

"It looks like line's moving again, Trapinch," Gabite growled, plucking Trapinch off his ankle and depositing her on his shoulder, "We'd best get moving now or else we'll be left behind."

"Hrm...you're right," Trapinch said, staring out over the crowd from her new vantage point, "I'm sorry Eevee. I'd love to keep chatting with you, but this oaf's got a point. If we don't get moving, it'll probably take all day to get in town at this rate."

"Oh, it's not a problem," I replied quickly, glancing over to the crowd of Pontya again, "Thanks for telling me about everything, Trapinch."

"Well, hm..." Trapinch pondered for a second, making Gabite grumble impatiently, "I have an idea! Why don't you come with us, Eevee?"

"Huh?" I said, confused. Trapinch pointed to the entrance of Treasure Town, which was nearly invisible due to all the Pokémon crowding around it.

"Like I said, it's gonna take all day to get into town if you take too long, and you're definitely going to take longer if you start from the back of the line," Trapinch reasoned, "So why don't you come with us for now? You can be an temporary member of Team Sands!"

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Gabite interrupted, glaring at her, "Who said you could just invite her into our team like that?"

"I said it was just temporary, Gabite," Trapinch retorted, glaring back at him, "And don't you take that tone with me. It's because of your short temper we're waiting here like this anyway."

Gabite opened his mouth to protest, but a quick look at Trapinch's face made him reconsider and grumble angrily to himself instead. Trapinch smiled victoriously and turned back to me.

"So what do you say?" She offered, holding out a stubby arm, "If you come with us, you'll get in quicker."

"Um..." I replied, a little taken aback by her offer. It was a generous offer, and she had a good reason for me to accept, but...

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline," I said, bowing my head down. Trapinch looked a little saddened at that, Gabite just sighed and shook his head. I quickly added, "It's not because of you two. It's because I've lost a friend around in the crowd somewhere, and I want to find him."

"Oh well," Trapinch said, sighing in disappointment, "I guess it's just gonna be me and Gabite then."

"I'm really sorry."

"Nah, it's not a big deal," Trapinch said reassuringly at me while waving a little arm, "I hope you find your friend, Eevee."

"Oh, my name isn't just Eevee," I quickly said, "It's Fée. That's my name."

Trapinch smiled at me, "It's a good name, Fée. I like it." She pointed at Gabite and then to herself, "His name's Lazur, and my name's Feldie."

"Trapinch..." Lazur growled menacingly at her. Feldie responded by nibbling his head, making him wince in pain.

"That makes us friends now, Fée," Feldie said, her mouth full of dragon scales, "I hope we meet again someday!"

"I hope so too! Goodbye, Feldie, Lazur!" I shouted at them as they walked away with the crowd. Then, I turned around and looked around nervously. I didn't know where Blue was, and now I'm severely regretting running off and leaving him alone in the forest earlier.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to look through the horde of Pokémon around me, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of his blue fur through the massive crowd. It simply wasn't possible. Between the amount of different Pokémon around, and all the dust being kicked up by said amount of Pokémon walking, I just couldn't see a thing.

"Blue..." I mumbled worriedly, "Where are you?"

"Where am I?"

Blue was lost. After walking through the forest for what felt like ages, he finally came out into a large field. Unfortunately though, it seemed like every single acre on the field was covered by Pokémon, making it incredibly difficult to figure out where he was and where he should be going.

Blue grumbled and crossed his arms in frustration. He watched as a crowd made up of Meditite and Bronzor slowly floated by, followed by several eel – like Tynamo and Eeletrik. Every once in a while, he spotted something brown waltz by, but every time it just ended up being something other than an Eevee. He sighed as a pale Vulpix walked by him, eying him curiously.

He figured that something big was definitely happening right now, and that everything was congregating at one place. Blue glanced over at the massive mesa in the distance. At the top of the great plateau, he could just barely make out the outline of what looked like buildings. Added on to the fact that he spotted a few Mankey carrying lumber and building materials, he deduced that at the top of the mesa must be where Treasure Town was.

Sighing, Blue shrugged at his own thoughts. Even if he had turned on all his deductive instincts, it still doesn't really help his current situation. He thought about cutting into the long line of Pokémon that stretched out before him, but a quick glance at some of the Pokémon, particularly the ones that were twice his size, made him reconsider that idea.

"Hey," he pulled aside a Geodude that was bouncing down the road, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Hands off, bud!" The talking rock snarled, pulling his arm out of Blue's grasp, "If you've got time to beg 'fer questions, then you'd be better off just waiting in line!"

With that said, he bounced back into the fold and vanished into the crowd. Blue sighed and shrugged.

Glancing over to the town again, he mused to himself about the possibility of climbing the cliff face to get into the town without waiting in line. He assumed that Fée must've already be in there, being that she was already a resident beforehand. But as he was entertaining the notion of climbing the sheer rock wall, a loud clattering noise behind him jarred him out of his thoughts.

"Make way! Make way!" A Tauros came stampeding down the road, dragging a rickety caravan behind him, "Heavy load coming through here! If you don't wanna be stomped on, get out of the way!"

Blue glanced over at the Tauros, then at the caravan it was dragging wildly behind it. It was covered with a thick, white cloth, making whatever was inside completely invisible to the casual observer. Then, he watched as the Pokémon in front of the Tauros quickly jumped aside as it charged down the road.

As he watched the Tauros charged ever closer to him, a nasty plot hatched inside Blue's mind...

After parting with Feldie and Lazur, I quickly moved away from the great horde of Pokémon and sneaked into the surrounding forestry around the town. Once I made sure no one was around, I dived into the copse again. I snaked through the trees, keeping an eye out for stray Pokémon who might've wandered in by accident. After a while, I reached the cliff below Treasure Town.

Looking up, I couldn't see the town through the canopy of leaves, but I could still faintly hear the sounds of Pokémon far, far above me.

"Hm...I haven't used this in a while..." I mumbled, scanning around the bottom of the cliff for what I was looking for, "I hope it's still here."

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I found it. A little inconspicuous bush lying against the rock wall. I ran over and inspected it. It looked undisturbed and intact. Sighing in relief, I gently pushed the bush aside with my paws and revealed a little hole in the corner where the wall and ground met.

"It's still here, thank goodness..."

It was a secret tunnel, obviously. I grinned to myself as I squeezed myself into the small hole. It's been so long since I've had to use this secret passage, that it felt almost nostalgic in a way.

I don't know who built this tunnel, or why, but it's been here for as long as I've lived in Treasure Town. Smiling mischievously, I thought back to all the times I sneaked in and out of town using this secret passage. It was like a little secret that only I knew.

I wasn't as small as I used to be anymore. Going through the passage wasn't as easy as it used to be, but thankfully, I wasn't large enough that it would've gotten me stuck. I thought about my size for a second, and sighed. Personally, I would've liked to grow a bit bigger, but my body stubbornly refused to grow no matter how much I tried.

Sighing again, I pushed that thought out of my mind and continued to crawl through the tunnel. Slowly, the path began to curve upward. I slowed down my ascent, cautious of slipping and then accidentally sliding all the way down to the bottom. Soon, after a few minutes of crawling around in the darkness, I began to hear the sounds of activity above me.

Eager to get out of the tunnel and back to the sunlight, I began to crawl faster. The sounds of Pokémon talking and walking got louder and louder as I neared the surface.

"Aha!" I cheered when I saw the exit. A tiny sliver of light was shining down from the ceiling of the tunnel. I scampered over to the light and flipped over on to my back. Then, I poked my head through the hole the light was coming from.

Leaves scattered all around me as I emerged from the tunnel. Looking around at all the bushes and flowers around me, I quickly recognized the place. It was the small, grassy garden that was in the shopping plaza! As I glanced through the bushes that surrounded me, I saw Pokémon walk around, chatting happily and checking out the stores.

"I'm in!" I whispered cheerfully as I pulled myself out of the hole. I replaced the pile of leaves that was covering the entrance to the tunnel and smiled to myself. It was a little strange to be cheerful about this, but I was back home!

I adjusted my bag around my neck and dusted any remaining dirt off my fur. Then, as quietly and inconspicuously as possible, I sneaked out of the garden and blended into the crowd of Pokémon.

"Come one, come all! We've got a big sale for y'all today here at Kecleon and Kecleon's wares! Berries! Orbs! TMs! You name it, we've got it!"

"Feeling parched from your long journey? Want to rest your legs after waiting in line? Come and take a seat here at Miltank's Milk Parlor! We have the best food around for miles, and probably the only place you can get food for miles!"

"Need a place to stay? Haven't quite decided on which guild to join yet? Don't fret! You can stay for as long as you want here at Kangaskhan's!"

I looked around in amazement as I heard store owners and shopkeepers shout out advertisements at the Pokémon visiting the markets. I giggled when I saw the two Kecleon brothers try to peddle their wares at a group of confused Pokémon, and smiled when I saw Kangaskhan and her child warmly welcoming several tired – looking travelers into her house. It was amazing for me to see all these new faces around in a place I've lived all my life in.

"Hey, isn't that Fée?" I turned around when I heard my voice be called by someone behind me. Suddenly, something small and blue jumped into my face, "It is! Fée! Hello Fée!"

"Aah!" I fell backwards as the strange blue thing began to nuzzle itself against my cheek energetically.

"Azurill!" I said happily as I pulled my young friend off my face. It was a small, blue – colored Pokémon with a smile that almost seemed too big for her face. Azurill wrapped her springy black tail around my paw and bopped me playfully over the head with the ball – like tip of her tail.

"Fée!" Azurill said, giving me a great big grin, "How have you been? Wasn't the storm scary yesterday? Where were you? Were you at home? Did you get wet?"

An overwhelming torrent of questions came flooding out of the little Pokèmon. I untangled her tail from my paw and gently placed her on the ground. She continued to giddily pile on more and more questions as she sat on her bouncy tail.

"Do you know why there's so many Pokémon here today? It's almost like a festival!" Azurill said, leaping up and down like a spring, "I was so surprised when I woke up today and saw a Steelix rumble by my window! A Steelix!"

"I bet that was pretty surprising, huh?" I smiled at the little Pokémon. Her eyes were practically glittering with excitement as she nodded happily.

"Yeah! Marill almost fainted when he saw it go by, but I wasn't afraid!" She said pridefully, "Then when I told Marill that I wanted to ride the Steelix, he fainted! Hee hee!"

"Poor Marill," I thought about Azurill's brother. He was constantly worried about Azurill's well – being to the point that he always looked like he was on the verge of tears.

Well, I guess I can't really say anything about that, after how much I cried yesterday.

"Azurill, where's your brother right now?" I asked, curious as to why Azurill was out alone, "It's not safe to walk around outside when there's so many Pokémon wandering around."

"Oh, we got split up a while ago," Azurill said, sounding a little worried, "I saw this big, big balloon floating up in the air and I wanted to go get it. Marill said that it wasn't a balloon, but it was so big and round and floaty, so it had to be one! So I bounced up and grabbed on to it with my tail, like this!"

Azurill demonstrated by bouncing up into the air with her tail. Surprised at how high she went, I quickly dove underneath her as she fell, catching her before she hit the ground.

"Oof!" While she wasn't heavy, catching Azurill still made me collapse on to the ground. Coughing from the dust, I stood up while she was still riding on my back.

"And then, when I grabbed on to the balloon, it turned around and looked at me!" Azurill continued her tale, while still happily bouncing on my back, "It said 'hey kid, this ain't a free ride!' in a scary voice and tossed me away!"

"What?" I turned around and stared at her incredulously, "You were thrown away?"

"Yep!" She said in a strangely glee voice, "It was so fun, flying in the air like a Pidgey!"

"I really feel bad for Marill now..." I shook my head in astonishment at her blitheness. I imagined Marill standing in the middle of the plaza, watching in horror as his sister was sent flying away. "He definitely fainted."

"Hee hee!" Azurill giggled as I said that, "Poor Marill!"

"Poor Marill," I repeated, sighing, "I guess we'd better go find him and see if he's alright."

"Aw, can't we play together for a bit before that?" Azurill whined, wagging her tail around like a big squishy flail. I shook my head, no.

"Not now, Azurill," I said, trying to reason with her, "We'll find your brother, and then we can play later, okay?"

Azurill made a pouting face, but reluctantly nodded anyway. Sighing to myself, I made sure Azurill was comfortable on my back before setting off towards the main plaza.

I guess I now have to find two missing Pokémon. I looked up into the cloudless sky, wondering where in the world Blue could be.