I don't have any chapter names, so there isn't one! Whoop! Heh... I must seem strange to all but my usual readers, and I'm pretty sure my usual readers find me strange too. ^^; Well, here we go! Plot twists should start soon... I hope. Maybe in this chapter, maybe not. :) And to 'me' as the anon. Reviewer called him/herself, well as far as I have seen Hero/Partner is called Friendshipping, not Beachshipping. And I have looked through almost every PMD2/3 story that caught my interest on here... and they all called it Friendshipping. So, I'll go with that.
~X~X~X~
"HEY! HEY THERE! RISE AND SHINE!" A familiar loud voice boomed the next morning, Gemma almost crushed her ears she forced them down so hard, and Blaze – not having enough time to cover his ears – was all swirly eyed.
What a ridiculously loud voice! Gemma thought, groaning as the Pokémon continued his ear assault.
"WHY ARE YOU STILL ASLEEP? WAKE UP!" the purple creature yelled.
I might just consider waking up if you shut up! Gemma thought, pressing her ears even tighter to her skull.
"Ugh... my ears..." Blaze groaned aloud, whoever the Pokémon was didn't seem to acknowledge him.
"C'MON! SNAP OUT OF IT! I'M LOUDRED, AND I'M A FELLOW APPRENTICE!" the Pokémon, now identified as Loudred, 'said'. "IF YOU'RE LATE FOR MORNING BREIFING YOU'RE GONNA REGRET IT LATER! HURRY! GUILDMASTER HAS A HUUUUUGE TEMPER, YOU DON'T WANNA MAKE HIM LOSE IT!" They heard him 'mutter' something about not wanting to be in trouble because of late rookies before he left.
"Ugh... my ears..." Gemma groaned, prying them from her skull. "I think I'm deaf, and I think my ears are now permanently disfigured from trying to block the sound..."
"They look fine, don't worry... he sure was loud though, owy..." Blaze said. Gemma shook her head to get rid of her tiredness, only making her headache grow bigger and causing her to sneeze. "You may wanna think about making that fur shorter..."
"I know, I know. What did he say, anyway?" Gemma said, rubbing her ears with one of her paws.
"Uh... something about getting ready or something... Oh yeah!" Blaze said, jumping up. Gemma followed his lead, almost collapsing again when her head began to spin from the sudden movement. Blaze caught her just in time. "Whoops."
"Thanks..." Gemma said, standing back on her four paws again, blushing slightly. She tried to convince herself it was from the extra warmth the fire type's body radiated naturally. "Better go for this 'briefing' then."
"Yeah, from the way both Chatot and that Loudred seemed to be worried about Wigglytuff's temper I don't wanna see what it's like." Blaze said. Gemma nodded again, making her head protest, before shakily walking out of the room with Blaze not far behind. "Are you alright?" The chimp asked with a chuckle.
"Fine thanks, just very uncoordinated on four paws." Gemma replied, promptly stumbling over her own feet and catching herself just in time. Blaze chuckled again. The two then arrived in the main area, where everyone was gathered.
On the front row they could see A Crogunk, Chimecho, Bidoof, and a Sunflora. On the second row there was a Dugtrio, Corphish and Loudred. On a third row was a strange part normal part shiny Vulpix, a Shinx, another Eevee, a Riolu with very dark fur and another Eevee with deep red fur, making the line longer than the front two. Blaze and Gemma shrugged, taking their places on the end of each of the shorter lines.
"YOU'RE LATE, ROOKIES!" Loudred yelled. Corphish, Sunflora, Blaze and the Riolu groaned, being closest to the noise.
"Hush now! You're voice is preposterously loud!" Chatot shushed. Loudred just made a 'Hmph' sound.
"He's right, Loudred." The Riolu said.
"You hush too, Hero!" Chatot said. The Riolu rolled his eyes at the colourful bird, making the strangely coloured Eevee next to him giggle silently. "Well, it seems everyone is here, so let's begin our morning address." Chatot then turned to the Guildmaster's door. "Guildmaster! The guild is in full attendance!"
The strangely patterned door opened and the pink rabbit like Pokémon walked out, standing in front of the guild members.
"Thank you, Guildmaster. Please address the crew." Chatot continued.
Wigglytuff, eyes wide open might I add, then replied with this: "Zzzz... Zzzz... Snorfle... Zzzz..."
Whispers starting to go round the guild members, commenting on this strange Pokémon who was sleeping with his eyes wide open in front of them, and how he had just opened a door and walked out to 'address' them. Blaze sweatdropped at this and Gemma just raised an eyebrow.
"Thank you sir, for your... words of wisdom!" Chatot said, sounding slightly creeped out by this himself. No one could blame him there. "Well, Pokémon, take his words of wisdom to heart! Now, let's not forget our morning cheers!"
Everyone, minus the two rookies, then began shouting. Hero, Corphish, Blaze and Sunflora winced as Loudred yelled. "A ONE, A TWO, A ONE-TWO-THREE! ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK! TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY! THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!"
"Alright Pokémon, get to work!" Chatot said. Everyone cheered and all scurried off to do their own things. The only normal looking Eevee there walked with the Shinx and Strange Vulpix for a moment before they wandered up one of the ladders and the Eevee stopped, talking to the Bidoof from the front row. Hero and the red Eevee nodded at each other and then ran up the ladder as well. Chatot turned to the newly formed Team Star. "Ah, you two. Follow me."
He started to hop off toward the ladder, Blaze and Gemma shrugged at each other before following the second in command of the guild, Blaze easily climbing up the ladder but as with climbing down them Gemma was having difficulties.
"Uff!" Gemma said as she fell to the ground again.
"Hurry up!" Chatot's voice called. Blaze looked down from the hole above the ladder at her.
"Are you alright?" He called. Gemma nodded, then feeling someone help her to her paws, turning she saw the normal Eevee, now closer you could also see she had pink bows on her ears and a white ribbon around her tail.
"Uh, thanks." Gemma said, the Eevee just nodded and ran up the ladder, making Blaze jump away from the hole and land on his ass. The other Eevee looked up the ladder, stunned slightly from the quick dash of her fellow guild member.
"What's with her?" Blaze said, looking back down again. Gemma shrugged at him, slowly putting one of her paws on the ladder rung and then pushing up. "C'mon!" Blaze teased. Gemma glared at her Chimchar partner. A minute or two later Gemma finally managed to climb up through the hole, being pulled the last few rungs by Blaze. "You need to work on that."
"I know, I know. As I said, me and four paws? Not a good combo." The ex-human replied. Blaze laughed slightly.
"Team Star, over here!" Chatot called again. Gemma sweatdropped.
"Is he for real?" She muttered to Blaze.
"Hurry up!" Team Star ran over to Chatot who was stand by a board on a wall. "Finally, please do be quicker!"
"I-..." Gemma began before she was cut off by Chatot again.
"Since you're just beginners, we'll start you off with this assignment." He said, Gemma snarled under her breath at the rude bird but he didn't hear her. He turned to the board behind him, it was littered with pieces of paper with writing on, barely any of the actual board showing. "This is the Job Bulletin Board, Pokémon from various regions post here." Chatot then turned back to them. "You are aware that more and more bad Pokémon are appearing, right?"
"Yup. Because the flow of time is messed up, it's causing mayhem, right?" Blaze said, Gemma looked from him to Chatot and back, she didn't know why but somewhere deep down she felt like she knew what they were talking about. Even though she didn't.
"Precisely. Time is getting out of whack which has caused an outbreak of bad Pokémon. And due to that we have also seen an increase in jobs. And, though its unknown if it is because of time's influence, there has been an outbreak of Mystery Dungeons."
"Wait... like that place we were in yesterday?" Gemma asked, glad to be able to speak without been interrupted. Blaze nodded.
"Mystery Dungeons change every time you go in, a different layout and different items every time you enter! When you faint in one you lose all your money, and can even lose half your items or more. Plus you get kicked out... they're strange places." Blaze explained. "But every time you go inside, there's new things to discover!"
"Well, you're very informed aren't you!" Chatot said, bringing their attention back to the annoying Pokémon. "That makes things much easier for me to explain..." Gemma zoned out for a second before she saw Chatot hand a piece of paper to Blaze, she peered over his shoulder.
'Hello! My name is Spoink. An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession, my precious Pearl! That Pearl is life itself... to me! I just can't seem to settle down if that Pearl isn't sat its proper place atop my head! But I've heard my Pearl has been sighted! It's said to be on a rocky bluff, but it is reported to be extremely unsafe. I could never go somewhere so frightening! Please, oh friendly readers! Would you be so kind as to go to the bluff and get my Pearl? I beg your help, Exploration Team members! Signed, Spoink.'
"Wait as second... we're only supposed to find an item someone dropped?" Blaze exclaimed, Gemma nudged his arm with her nose to stop him yelling at Chatot. Too much anyway. Blaze calmed. "I'd rather do something that's more of an adventure."
"Hush!" Chatot said. Gemma groaned again as the Pokémon became rude once more. She zoned out as he explained everything Blaze had said only moments ago, until she felt Blaze tap her.
"We gotta go, now! C'mon!" He said. Gemma groaned. "Ladder?"
"Yep." She said, making her partner smile at her.
"Should I carry you up or something?" He suggested. Gemma raised an eyebrow. "Just a suggestion."
"I think I'll live, thanks anyway." Gemma said, Blaze just shrugged. "Well, c'mon!"
~X~X~X~
After several failed attempts at climbing the ladder, a long fall down the stairs that lead to the crossroads and a very angry Corphish, Team Star finally made it to the exit that lead you to the countless dungeons.
"Wonder Map?" Gemma asked as she tried to find somewhere to put her badge, eventually finding nowhere and clipping it to the treasure bag. Blaze nodded, pulling the map out and opening it. "We gotta find Drenched Bluff."
"I don't like the sound of the 'Drenched' part of that." Blaze said as he scanned the map. "Uh, where is it?"
"Don't ask me!" Gemma said, looking over the map too. "I don't see it anywhere... then again I am half blind."
"Having trouble?" A male voice asked, the two looked up and saw a Zangoose.
"Yeah, we can't find a location on here." Gemma said. The Zangoose looked at the map. "We're looking for Drenched Bluff."
"Drenched Bluff? There it is." The Zangoose said, pointing with one of his claws to the right place on the map.
"Thanks!" Blaze said.
"No problem, are you new at the guild?" Zangoose said. "I'm Zack of Team Medican by the way."
"Yeah, we're new." Blaze said. "I'm Blaze, and we're Team Star."
"The name's Gemma." Gemma greeted.
"Nice to meet you, I bet Bidoof will be happy he's no longer newest. Anyway, first day on the job?" Zack said. Gemma nodded.
"Blaze isn't too happy about the Dungeon, of course." She said, making Blaze laugh nervously. "I guess we'll manage... Chatot annoys the hell out of me though."
"Oh, you're not the only one." The older Pokémon laughed. "I think he annoys everyone at the guild, except maybe Wigglytuff, then again no one is annoying to him. Well, I better let you get on with your job! Good luck."
"Thanks!" Blaze said, and Zack walked off. "He was helpful."
"Yeah, he was. Well, c'mon Blaze!" Gemma said, folding the map up and then running off. Blaze followed shortly afterwards.
~X~X~X~
Drenched Bluff...
"I cannot do this." Blaze said, ready to run straight back out of the dungeon when he saw how much water there was and how many Shellos there were. Gemma pulled him back.
"Yes, you can." She said. "C'mon, there is only one actual species of water type here, and I can try and help with that. You'll be fine!"
"This coming from the Eevee who doesn't even know how to use Tackle properly yet." Blaze said, giving a side-glare to her. Gemma rolled her eye(s) and then started to walk further into the Dungeon. "Wah! W-Wait up!"
When Blaze caught up with her Gemma had just managed to bring down a Lileep with just basic attacks.
"I really could do with knowing how to use Tackle." Gemma said, shaking some of the water from a nearby miniature lake off. Blaze jumped out of the way of the droplets of water. "Basic attack is boring me."
"It'll come to you." Blaze said. "Eventually."
"Oh gee, thanks. For a partner you aren't helping much. Well, c'mon then, we better get this mission over with." Gemma said. Blaze nodded, turning and using Ember on an Anorith.
B6F
"We're one floor from the Pearl, Gemma." Blaze said, fighting off another Chingling. Gemma, having finally figured out how to use Tackle, took down another Shellos and nodded at him.
"Now we just gotta find the stairs. This floor is bloomin' big compared to the other floors." She replied, shaking water off again. Blaze yelped and jumped back, then landing in a puddle.
"WAH!" He exclaimed. Gemma sighed at him, he'd had this reaction every time he fell into the mini lakes/huge puddles. She ran over and used her front paws to pull him out of the puddle, they did manage to get him out but Gemma then found herself on her back.
"Ow..." she groaned. Blaze chuckled and pulled her to her paws. "I am never pulling you out of a puddle again."
"Let's just hurry, Gemma. I agree with you, this floor is huge and we've found so many dead ends I'm almost ready to give up. But we do have to finish this, I'm pretty sure we won't be in Chatot's good books if we fail our first job." The chimp said. Gemma nodded, purposely shaking water on him before running off down a corridor they hadn't looked down yet. Blaze sighed at her and then followed.
"I found the stairs!" Gemma called as he ran down the passage, he picked up a Geo Pebble that was on the floor and then ran to join her. The quirky Eevee was standing by a pair of slippy stairs, drenched with water which made them a pretty hazardous thing to climb. Well, it was called Drenched Bluff after all. "Down we go."
"Any more water and I'm gonna faint." The Chimchar replied. Gemma nudged him and then started to walk down the stairs the best she could without falling... that didn't work very well though and she soon found herself landing flat on her face on the floor below. "Gee, you must have been really clumsy as a human."
"That would make sense I guess... ow." Gemma said. Blaze stifled a laugh and the pulled her so she landed on her butt. "How many times is it that I've fallen now?"
"Um... today you fell down the ladder three times... the steps once... the stairs here three times and just tripped more times than I can count." Blaze said, grin plastered on his face. Gemma was about to retort when she saw something pink out of the corner of her eye.
"Look!" She said, pointing at it with one of her currently available paws. "The Pearl!" The Eevee jumped back onto her four paws and ran over to the pink object. It was sat on the floor in front of a rock formation that had a miniature water feature flowing in it. She attempted to pick the item up, but failed. "Uh, can you get it?"
"Sure." Blaze said, walking over and grabbing the pink sphere shaped Pearl. "Ready to head back?"
"Sure am, I'm tired and wet and bruised. I wanna sleep." Gemma replied, grabbing her badge off the treasure bag with her mouth. Blaze grabbed his own badge and the two teleported out of the dungeon.
~X~X~X~
"Thank you! That Pearl must be propped on my head, you see. I missed it so much!" Spoink said as Gemma, Blaze, Spoink and even Chatot stood in front of the Job Bulletin Board. "I just couldn't settle down without it up there, so I was boinging and sproinging everywhere! That's why I'm covered in bruises and bumps." Gemma seemed to mutter something like 'that makes two of us'. "So thank you very, very much!"
Spoink hopped over to them and handed them three items, a Protein, a Calcium and an Iron. But what they were given next shocked them the most.
"2000 Poké?" Blaze exclaimed. Spoink nodded.
"That is what my Pearl is worth to me, now farewell!" the Pokémon said, hopping off.
"Wow, Gemma!" Blaze said, Gemma just nodded, lost for words for once in her so far short Pokémon life. Then Chatot came over, asking Gemma to hand him the money. "Huh, why?"
"Well, most of the money from jobs goes to the Guildmaster you see. And your teams share of the money comes to... this much." The colourful bird said, handing over only 200.
"Huh? We keep only 200?" Gemma exclaimed.
"That's awful!" Blaze added. Chatot shrugged.
"Well, that's the guild's rule. You simply have to accept it." Chatot said, Gemma silently fumed at the Pokémon, tempted to just snarl at him but deciding against it.
~X~X~X~
"Yum! That dinner was great." Blaze said. He and Gemma walked back down the corridor toward their room, everyone else all heading to their respective rooms as well.
"Sure was, I have to say, Chimecho did well with that." Gemma agreed, yawning afterwards. "I wish we'd all been allowed to leave the second we finished though... not having to wait for the people who took ages."
"I just watched Wigglytuff dancing with that apple to pass the time." Blaze said. "It was funny, actually."
"Wigglytuff is strange." Gemma said. "How he can sleep with his eyes o-... Uff!" Gemma then tumbled onto her back after colliding with someone. She pushed herself to her feet and then looked at who she collided with. The normal Eevee from earlier was rubbing her head, then looking up at Gemma before dashing off. "Gee, no sorry. Thanks."
"Sorry about Eva." A voice said, the two looked up and saw the Shinx and the strange Vulpix. The Shinx with a red scarf and the Vulpix a blue ribbon. "She's not always as friendly to strangers as others."
"Don't worry." Blaze said.
"You two are the new apprentices, right?" The Vulpix said.
"Yep, we are." Gemma replied. "I'm Gemma, this is Blaze' Blaze gave a small wave 'and you are?"
"I'm Ricardo." The Shinx greeted. "Team New Sunshine."
"And I'm Alessandra, or Alex." The strangely coloured Vulpix replied. "Again, sorry about Eva."
"No worries, she helped me earlier actually. I kinda fell down the, er, ladder and she helped me back onto my paws." Gemma said, blushing slightly in embarrassment. Alex laughed light-heartedly.
"Those ladders aren't easy to use when you have four paws, right? I envy Pokémon like Blaze here with their ability to climb them." Alex smiled. Gemma was still embarrassed.
"She falls down more than the ladders." Blaze said, making Gemma flick him with her tail again. "Ow! Gemma!"
"Well, we better be off to bed. Nice meeting you!" Ricardo said as the members of Team New Sunshine walked off. Team Star then entered their room, climbing onto their beds and slowly drifting off.
"Night Gemma."
"Night Blaze, remember ear plugs for the morning." Gemma said, making the Chimchar laugh. "Night." The partners fell asleep quickly after that.
Gemma's Dream...
It was all a blur, nothing was clear, the image she could see was moving all the time. Slashes were heard, screams piercing her ears, the flashes of image and colour made lights appear behind her eyes.
"Help! No! Stop! Ow! Ow! Eee! Help! S-Stop it!" More screams echoed after it, and she was sure the sound of slashing and scratching flesh could be heard. "My eye! Ow! HELP! HELP!"
"Leave her alone! Quick Attack!" Another voice yelled. The image still wasn't clear, nothing detailed, nothing focused on for longer than a millisecond. But a moment later, when she thought the attack was finally over and she would wake up she heard a yelp from the second voice and then more screaming from the first.
End Dream...
"WAH!" Gemma screamed, eyes opening and her legs automatically pushing up so she was standing on all fours again. Blaze woke up, looking over at her.
"Gemma...?" He said, rubbing his eyes and then seeing a teary eyed and scared Gemma looking at him. "What's wrong?" He sat up and the next thing he knew Gemma had tackled him over, crying. "What happened, Gemma?" He asked, blushing.
"A-A dream... I-I don't even k-know exactly w-what happened... b-but I think it s-stirred something... m-making me react like this..." Gemma replied through sobs. "I don't cry like this... I know that m-much..." Blaze patted her back gently. "T-Thanks..."
"That's what friends are for... are you gonna be Okay?" Blaze said, sitting up as Gemma moved back a few steps. Gemma nodded, using a shaky paw to wipe away tears. "You sure?"
"Yeah... I'll tell you if I have another dream." Gemma assured, but when she went the short distance back to her bed Blaze saw her kick it closer to his, making him smile. Gemma then lay down and hid her face in her paws, Blaze could hear her quiet snores a few seconds later.
"She's a deep sleeper when she isn't having nightmares..." He said to himself, chuckling slightly. Cautiously he found himself patting her back soothingly as she slept, making himself blush ever so slightly.
~X~X~X~
Tut, tut Blaze! You've only known her two days! *giggle* Gotta love Hero/Partner, it's so sweet. And it gives me a chance to pair myself with someone other than that idiot who hasn't contacted me for months now, Walter. He's such a jerk for not contacting me... a dream-... OK! Too much info! ^^; Anyway, R&R!