Here's chapter 2! Thank you for reviewing GoldenEye! Hopefully I'll get more than 1 review for this chapter, haha...

Noah tossed and turned in his sleep. He mumbled and groaned incoherently as his legs swung back and forth, kicking the blankets from his bed. His face, arms and back were moist with sweat and his gritted teeth and furrowed brow showed his frustration.

His movements woke up Shadow. The Umbreon stretched and yawned before lighting his golden rings, providing a dim, glowing light for the dark room. He saw his friend's condition and knew he was having a nightmare.

"Duuude...who turned on the lights?" Crusty mumbled sleepily, eyes still shut as he attempted to stand.

Shadow turned his ruby eyes to gaze at the orange lobster. "Noah's having a nightmare," he said, nodding his head toward the still sleeping boy.

"Oh," Crusty responded, now open and alert eyes filled with concern. "Should we wake him up or something?"

Shadow turned his gaze back to Noah, who was obviously still suffering from the nightmare. The black and yellow fox jumped up onto the bed and gently nosed the boy's arm. Noah moaned again and rolled over. Shadow nosed his arm again, this time a little harder.

Noah's eyes snapped open. He quickly sat up and wildly looked around the room. After he remembered where he was, he realized it was just a bad dream and relaxed a bit. He turned his head to look at Shadow, his saphire eyes meeting the night fox's ruby ones.

"Was it that nightmare again?" Shadow asked, his bright red eyes filled with sympathy and concern.

Noah nodded. He had been having the same nightmare about once or twice a month ever since he was eight years old. He didn't know why he had these nightmares and neither did Shadow.

"What was the dream about?" asked Crusty, now fully awake and worried for his new friend.

Noah's bright blue eyes grew a bit dark and he looked down, his jet black bangs falling to cover a part of his face. Shadow gave him a compassionate look before turning to Crusty. "He doesn't like to talk about it," he explained.

"Oh," replied Crusty. "Well, that's understandable. I don't like talking about my nightmares either." Crusty paused before adding, "Especially this one I had once involving President Bush. I won't go into the gruesome details, but I will tell you that it was scarier than a 98 year old man at the beach, playing volleyball in a speedo."

Crusty and Shadow both shuddered from the mental image. Then the two pokemon turned back to Noah, who was now rubbing his temples with his eyes shut and his brows furrowed.

"Headache?" asked Crusty.

"Yeah. I got it last night after that argument with Mom and Dad over whether or not you could live here. It went away for awhile, but it came back," Noah mumbled through his gritted teeth.

"Sorry I got ya in trouble with the rents. At least they decided I could stay as long as I earn my keep. I don't mind doing a couple of chores in return for a good home," Crusty said, sounding a bit guilty, yet at the same time happy at the thought of being able to stay.

"Hey, no need to feel guilty," Noah said quickly, trying to reassure the Corphish. "It's not like you had any say on whether or not to be possibly sold as somebody's dinner."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Crusty said brightly as he rubbed the back of his head with one of his large claws.

"Noah gave a small half-smile before turning to look at the clock. It showed 6:43 a.m. in glowing, blood-red digits. Noah sighed. "Well, you guys can go back to sleep, but I might as well get up."

"Hey, we're wide awake now too so we might as well get up early too," replied Shadow, shrugging his shoulder blades as Crusty nodded his orange, spiked head in agreement.

"Okay, suit yourself," Noah shrugged as he climbed out of bed. He noticed groggily that he was still sticky with sweat. "I'm gonna take a quick shower," he added as he grabbed some clothes and headed for his bathroom.

When he got in, he shut and locked the door before turning the water on. He kept in on a colder setting. He needed to briskness of the cold water to wake him up, besides, he kind of liked cold showers. He quickly removed his boxers and stepped into the stream of chilly water drops, goosebumps spreading across his pale skin from the coldness of the drops.

After soaping up his body with body wash and rinsing the lather off, he reached for his shampoo. He squirted some into his hand and worked it into his his jet black hair, messaging it into his scalp with his fingers. The lilac aroma of his shampoo combined with the messaging motion of his fingers, providing relaxation for his still tense nerves. He had always liked the scent of lilacs, and their aroma helped calm him.

After rinsing the bubbly, white clouds of lather away, he turned off the water and grabbed his towel. Once he was dry, he pulled on his clothes (a navy blue t-shirt and a slightly baggy pair of jeans) and brushed his hair and teeth.

When he was finished, he walked back to his room to find Shadow and Crusty playing a game of checkers. By the look on Crusty's face, Noah could tell he was losing. The teen gave a small smile. He and Shadow were pretty good at checkers and often got into really competitive games with each other.

"King me," Shadow said arrogantly as he landed yet another of his pieces on Crusty's side of the board.

"DANG! I give up, you're too good!" Crusty wailed as he shoved the game board away. Just then, the Corphish noticed Noah and waved a claw in greeting. "Hey! You're done! Were you aware of the fact that your Umbreon is a checkers master?"

Noah smirked at Crusty. "Yeah, in fact, I'M the one who taught him. He's just as good as me now."

"I feel sorry for the fool who challenges you guys to a checker-off," Crusty muttered sarcastically as Shadow finished picking up the pieces of the game and putting them back where they belonged. After finishing his task, the Umbreon turned to Crusty with a smirk on his face.

"Jealous much?" the night fox asked teasingly. The lobster-like pokemon responded by sticking his tong out at Shadow, who just rolled his eyes before turning to Noah. "Sooo... what now?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "Well... I might as well get my chores done. As long as they're done, Mom and Dad won't care if I leave the house for a while. The pokemon pair nodded and the trio headed down the stairs to the kitchen.

After washing the dishes, taking out the trash, folding the laundry, running the vacuum cleaner and dusting, Noah fixed the pokemon and himself something to eat. He had an orange, Crusty had cereal and Shadow had oatmeal.

Once they were finished eating, Noah wrote a quick note explaining that his chores were done and he went out. Then the trio left the house, heading nowhere in particular. For a while they just walked around, enjoying the early morning beauty and the crispness of the morning air.

"So, are we just gonna walk around aimlessly all day or are we gonna go somewhere?" Crusty asked, looking a bit bored.

"I don't know..." Noah responded shrugging his shoulders.

"Why don't we go to Brooke's house? She should be up by now..." Shadow suggested.

"Who's Brooke?" Crusty inquired curiously. Then he got a devious smile on his face, looked at Noah, and added, "You're giiiiirrrrllllfriieeend??"

Noah stopped on a dime, face red with embarrassment and anger. "NO!!" he shouted, looking a bit disgusted.

Shadow only chuckled at his friends outburst before turning to Crusty to answer his first question. "Most of the kids left town when they were 10 years old and received their Eevees from Professor Bill. Noah's mom and dad wanted him to stay home so that he could provide them free labor by doing his chores. Meanwhile Brooke's parents are overprotective, snobby, control freaks who didn't want her travelling around and picking up bad influences. Being practically the only teens left in town, Noah and Brooke became friends despite the fact that they have really different personalities."

"Ooooohhh," Crusty responded. Then he turned to Noah. "Eh, sorry about the girlfriend crack. I have a pretty whacked out sense of humour," he apologized with a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head with one of his claws.

"You're forgiven," Noah replied dryly. He looked up at the light blue sky with streaks of purplish color still lingering from the dawn. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Well, we might as well go over since we have nothing else to do. Besides, I'm sure she'd love to meet you, Crusty. You guys have a similar, whacked up sense of humour."

"Cool, I'm sure I'll like her then!" Crusty said excitedly with a big, goofy grin on his face as the trio began heading in the direction of Brooke's house.

Well, I hope you liked it. I realized I didn't have enough to actually include Brooke in this chapter, so she'll come in next chapter. Now, please review! (Pretty please?)