I just realised I made a mistake last chapter! Team PokéFriend aren't the youngest, its Team ShockBurn that are the youngest! Eep! I changed it now but... I'm an idiot... I really am...
Scarlet: We know you are.
Get out! Wrong story, Scarlet! Go! And ya know what this site has also started erasing in stories? I looked through the first chapter of this the other day, and on the site every time I'd put a '?' and a '!' together it had only the one I'd put first! GAH! This site is annoying sometimes.
~X~X~X~
"Gemma?" Blaze said, Gemma lifted her head off her paws and looked at him. "Earlier, in Treeshroud Forest, you did find something didn't you?"
Gemma sighed. "I've only known you a week and you can already tell when I'm lying." She said, smiling slightly afterwards. "Yeah, I did. But, not find exactly... more like saw."
"A vision?" Blaze asked. Gemma nodded. "What of?"
"I don't know, exactly. But, I think it was of the thief... a dark figure grabbed a snowflake shaped thing from the clear area we found." Gemma said.
"But wasn't your last vision of the future, Gemma? The thief took the Time Gear two days ago!" Blaze said. Gemma shrugged.
"I don't know... I guess I can see the future or the past." The quirky Eevee replied. "I dunno."
"What happened before you saw the vision?" The Chimp asked. Gemma thought back.
"I think I tripped but steadied myself on a tree trunk." Gemma said. "Stupid clumsy me." Blaze laughed.
"Yeah, it's been a week and you still can't walk properly on four paws." The Chimchar said, Gemma flicked him with her tail again. "Owie..."
"Oh c'mon, I didn't hit you that hard." Gemma giggled. Blaze grinned at her, before his smile softened and he looked a little embarrassed. "What's up now?"
"You know... when we got to Treeshroud Forest, I was actually scared seeing what had happened..." He said.
"You didn't look it, Blaze." Gemma said.
"Well, I felt it... but, this is gonna sound so cliché but knowing you were with me... I felt like I could do it." Blaze said, blushing slightly.
"You're right, it does sound cliché." Gemma giggled, before looking back at him with a gentle smile. "I'm glad that I help you like that, Blaze. Even if I don't notice it." Blaze's blush grew and he hid his face in his arms, and once he was sure it was almost gone he looked out of the window at the moon.
"You know, Gemma, I think I noticed something about your dizzy spells." Blaze said. Gemma looked at him, confused. "You always seem to be touching something when they begin."
"Huh? Yeah, you have a point there... I was handing the apple over to Azurill the first time... then I was bumped into by Drowzee... and I was leaning on the tree trunk with my paw today... you're right, yeah, I am always touching something." Gemma said, nodding. Blaze was about to continue but then the annoying bird, or Chatot, hopped into the room.
"Hey, you two!" Chatot said. "They Guildmaster wants to see you right away."
~X~X~X~
"Oh great... what have we done now?" Gemma mumbled as she and Blaze followed Chatot to the Guildmaster's room. The bird lead them inside and told them to stand where they had when they first registered.
"Guildmaster, I've brought you Team Star." Chatot said. No response. "Guildmaster... Guildmaster?" After a moment of silence Wigglytuff jumped around to face them.
"Hiya!" He said cheerily. Blaze and Gemma both jumped slightly when they hyper rabbit did so. "Your team did well today, Treeshroud Forest isn't easy! Now I should tell you why I brought you here! We're planning to mount a full expedition soon!"
"An expedition?" Blaze said curiously.
"Yes, the guild will go and explore somewhere far away! It's much harder than exploring our nearby area. That's why we need to prepare for the trip properly." Chatot said. "We carefully choose which members of the guild should go on the expedition."
"Really? !"
"Usually we would never ever consider rookies to be expedition team members, but you two are working so hard we've decided to make a special exception this time!" Wigglytuff continued. "We decided to include you in the list of candidates for this expedition!"
"R-Really?" Blaze said happily, Gemma giggled at him.
"Now, now! You haven't been chosen as expedition members yet! There is still time before we head out on the expedition, if you fail to do good work before then, then you cannot expect to be chosen for the expedition." Chatot said.
"I'm sure you two can do it! Try hard!" Wigglytuff cheered. Gemma couldn't help but giggle at Wigglytuff's almost permanent happy nature. Team Star had yet to face his anger or upset, and they should be glad they haven't.
"Yes! An expedition, isn't it fantastic Gemma?" Blaze said.
"Sounds it, yeah." Gemma replied with a slight nod. "Looks like we better try hard to get picked then!"
"Yep!" Blaze said. He held out his fist and Gemma giggled, bumping her nose against it.
~X~X~X~
"UP AND AT 'EM! IT'S MORNING!" This time Gemma had braced herself, not having fallen back to sleep the night before after her nightmare. Blaze didn't know though, she hadn't woken him this time. And she wasn't planning on telling him, they did need to be focused now. Getting onto the expedition wouldn't be easy.
The two did their usual, woke up, said good morning, and went out for the cheers. Though today Chatot began to explain about the upcoming expedition.
"Ahem! As I was explaining, there is a lake to the far east. There are many aspects of that lake that remain a mystery. We hope to unravel those mysteries. And so, our guild is planning to mount an expedition for the first time in a while!" Chatot explained.
"An expedition you say? Yup-Yup, yes please!" Bidoof said.
"It has been a while since we went on an expedition!" Hero said, Karina nodded next to him.
"A while? It's been forever!" Leni laughed.
"BUT... THAT MEANS YOU'RE GOING TO BE PICKING MEMBERS FOR THE EXPEDITION FROM ALL OF US AGAIN, RIGHT?" Loudred yelled.
"Oh my gosh, Loudred! Quiet down!" Sunflora said, the three other poor Pokémon who had to stand near him nodded in agreement.
"Exactly! We will be leaving in several days, over these next few days we will chose the most worthy apprentices." Chatot said. "The Chosen members will form the expedition party. Everyone, work hard to get onto the expedition!"
"Oh my gosh this is so exciting!"
"Yup-Yup, I've yet to go on an expedition I'd sure love to go this time!"
"Same here! We've never got chosen for one, it would be great to go this time around!" Saffron giggled. Max just nodded with a small smile.
"Alright everyone, it's back to work as usual!" Chatot said. Everyone made their usual cheer and ran off to do their jobs. Gemma and Blaze once more managed to run off before Chatot decided to tell them to do what he always did. That was another annoying thing, he was very repetitive.
"Why does he feel the need to tell us the same thing every day?" Gemma said, Team Star was walking with Team Kingdom and part Team New Sunshine, currently the two teams they talked to most.
"I don't have a clue, he did it when we joined as well. He'll stop after a while, I think." Hero laughed. Karina giggled slightly and playfully flicked him with her tail. "You got that off Gemma, didn't you?" Gemma just laughed at this.
"At least when Karina does that she doesn't hurt ya!" Blaze said, earning another flick off Gemma. "That's my point!" Gemma giggled.
"You guys..." Alex said before laughing. "Well, we're gonna go pick a job now, after we drag Eva away from Bidoof."
"So we just walked all up here only to have to go back down again to grab Eva?" Ricardo said. Alex rolled her eyes and walked off.
"See you guys later!" She called. Ricardo followed after her.
"They have the right idea, we'll be seeing you two later!" Hero said, he and Karina then ran over to the Outlaw Board.
"We should try and do as many jobs as we can today." Blaze said. "We do need to work extra hard to get on this expedition."
"I know, I know. You've only reminded me a million times." Gemma smiled. The two then turned to go to the Job Bulletin Board, only to see two familiar Pokémon looking at it.
"Look! Those Pokémon..." Blaze said, seeing the two familiar Poison types hovering in front of the board full of countless pieces of paper.
Then, the Zubat turned around and saw the two. "Hey!" He said, and both he and his partner in crime, Koffing, turned around and stood in front of Team Star.
"You two? !" Koffing exclaimed.
"Huh? That duo... wait, haven't we seen them before?" Blaze said.
"Yeah! It's those damn crooks who took your Relic Fragment, Blaze!" Gemma said, glaring at the two a moment later. Blaze was glad he wasn't on the receiving end of her intense glare, he was sure he saw the two crooks shudder a little bit. "What are you two doing here? !"
"Whoa-ho-ho! I'll have you know we're an Exploration Team too!" Koffing said.
"Heh-heh-heh. What's so funny about an Exploration Team checking out the Job Bulletin Board?" Zubat added.
"What? !" Blaze exclaimed. "You're an Exploration Team? !"
"That's right. Though the way we operate isn't always... by the book." Koffing said.
"Whoever let you make an Exploration Team isn't right in the head..." Gemma mumbled. If it were Wigglytuff, I'd get it because he isn't right in the head...
If Koffing or Zubat heard her, they didn't acknowledge her.
"But what a surprise! Why would you be here?" Koffing asked.
"We wanted to become Exploration Team members." Blaze said. "That's why we're training at the guild."
"Whaaaat? !" Koffing exclaimed.
"You want to become a real-deal Exploration Team member? !" Zubat added. The two Poison types looked at each other and then nodded, going over to Blaze and hovering on either side of him.
"You! Come with us for a moment!" Koffing said, and then they pushed Blaze until they were all near the window, shoving him and then hovering in front of him. Gemma's eyes widened at them, then glaring. "Don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way... but you should just give up on being an Exploration Team."
"What? ! Why? !" Blaze exclaimed. Gemma's glare got harder, even though the two Pokémon couldn't see it.
"Well, you're timid. You scare easy." Zubat said. "A Scaredy-cat like you can't cut it in an Exploration Team."
"B-But-..." Blaze started before he jumped as Zubat was tackled. The bat hit the wall behind them, and Gemma was revealed growling slightly at him.
"Oi! You leave him alone!" She yelled.
"Gemma..." Blaze said, he just stood there for a moment until he saw Gemma ready to tackle Zubat again. He then quickly ran to her and pulled her back a little. "Calm down, Gemma."
Gemma sighed but did so, still glaring at Zubat and Koffing. "Stop picking on him! Blaze is trying to overcome his cowardliness! We're working hard now to get on the guild's expedition!"
"Oh? An expedition you say?" Koffing said.
"Heh-Heh, well effort only gets you so far. You won't get picked for the expedition party if you don't have talent, right?" Zubat added. "It all comes down to pure talent."
"B-big talk! You talk a lot about talent, but what skills do you have?" Blaze shouted.
"Yeah, you're weak! Even us, the so called wimps, beat you!" Gemma added.
"Whoa-ho-ho! Well, we didn't have the chief with us." Koffing said.
"Ch-Chief?" Blaze asked.
"Heh-Heh. That's right." Zubat replied.
"Team Skull, our Team, has three members." Koffing added.
"The Chief is awesomely talented."
"To put it bluntly, he's brutally tough."
"If the Chief was around we'd have snapped you like a twig." Zubat finished.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Gemma said, rolling her eye(s). Blaze chuckled inwardly at her.
"Whoa-ho-ho! Speaking of the Chief I can smell him coming now!"
"Smell?" Both Gemma and Blaze said, completely confused. Gemma sniffed a little, and her sensitive nose wrinkled a moment later.
Yuck. She thought.
"Here he comes!" Koffing said. Gemma and Blaze looked over to the ladder, seeing a Skuntank climbing down it. Gemma's nose wrinkled more as the smell grew stronger. Blaze began to look a little disgusted too, but his nose was not as sensitive as Gemma's.
Skuntank stopped in front of Gemma. "Move." He demanded.
"Why should I?" Gemma said simply.
"This is why." Skuntank replied, suddenly spraying gas at her from his tail. The stench was horrific; Gemma was thrown back out of Skuntank's way.
"Gemma!" Blaze gasped, immediately regretting it when he got a breath of the stink. "Oh that's just nasty... yuck!"
The stench cloud drifted across the whole of the floor, making everyone completely and utterly disgusted.
"Yuck! That reeks!" Hero coughed.
"It stinks like rotten cheese! Oh my gosh!" Sunflora said.
"It's making my eyes sting! Hey, hey!" Corphish said.
"Ew!" Alex coughed as she and her Team came back up. "Ew, ew, ew!"
"That is foul!" Ricardo complained.
Skuntank then walked up to Blaze. "Move, or do you want to end up like the freak over there?" Blaze gulped and moved out of his way.
"You sure showed them, chief!" Zubat praised.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Skuntank said. "Did you two find any jobs that'll bring in cash?"
"Nah, the jobs on the boards are all cheap." Koffing said.
"But there's something else. Something that has the potential to go big..." Zubat's voice trailed off as he whispered into the 'Chief's' ear.
"An expedition you say? That sure sounds tasty. Alright boys, let's go. We have some plotting to do." Skuntank said once he finished. And then the three Poison Types left.
"Gemma!" Blaze exclaimed again, running over to his Eevee partner. Gemma groaned, nose still wrinkled up from the stench, and shakily stood up. "Are you alright? !"
"I'm fine, Blaze. Just a little grossed out." Gemma replied, sniffing and relaxing as she noticed the air was now clear. "Bleh." Blaze chuckled a little, but then looked a little sad. "Hey, what's up?"
"I couldn't stand up to them... even when they hurt you... I'm ashamed of myself... I really am a chicken." He said glumly. Gemma gave him a sympathetic smile.
"No, Leni is the chicken." She said.
"HEY! I HEARD THAT!" Leni called, her voice drifting down the ladders. Gemma sweatdropped.
"I MEAN LITERALLY, LENI!" Gemma yelled back. Blaze chuckled a little again. "You're not a wimp, or a chicken, or anything like that, Blaze."
"I am, Gemma... thanks for trying to comfort me, but I am a wuss, and I know it." Blaze sighed. "But... I'm gonna overcome that."
"That's the spirit, Blaze! That's the Chimchar I know! Now c'mon, let's do these jobs already." Gemma smiled. Blaze nodded.
~X~X~X~
(I got this next idea inspired by the Special Episode 'Today's Oh My Gosh', from the ending)
"Crogunk, are you trying to give us all nightmares?" Alex laughed, still looking a little scared from the scary story Crogunk had just told. Blaze looked terrified, Gemma giggling a little at him and patting his shoulder with her tail.
Practically the whole guild was gathered in Team Star's room, telling scary stories and jokes, tales from the past, stuff like that. Of course, Crogunk's story had now creeped them all out, and they had to shove an apple in Loudred's mouth to keep him from yelling and alerting the Guildmaster – and more importantly Chatot – to the gathering.
"Meh-Heh, maybe." Crogunk said. Bidoof shuddered a little.
"Alright, who wants to play truth or dare?" Katie suggested.
"Oh my gosh! Yes, let's play!" Sunflora said. Gemma shook her head, sneezing a little afterwards making everyone laugh.
"Nuh-uh! Truth or dare, is pure evil in my opinion! No way!" Gemma said.
"Just for that you're getting a dare, Gemma." Hero chuckled. Gemma glared at him. "Alright, I dare you to-"
Safe to say, whatever the dare was ended with Hero almost flying out of the window, and a very red faced Gemma and Blaze.
"Hero? You alive?" Karina said, shaking her Riolu partner whilst still trying not to laugh. Hero groaned a little but nodded, sitting back up.
"Ow, Gemma. Did you have to keep the Power Band on?" He said. Gemma giggled. "Anyway... well, your turn to dare someone."
"Alright, I dare Loudred to yell 'Chatot is a bossy-boots' and then everyone legs it back to their rooms." Gemma said. Ricardo rolled his eyes.
"You just want the game to stop don't you?" He said. Gemma shrugged, Blaze laughing a little at her. But the Apple was removed from Loudred's mouth, ready for the dare.
"3, 2, 1... go!" Katie said.
"CHATOT IS A BOSSY BOOTS!" Loudred yelled. The second he finished everyone dashed out of the room, back toward their own. Gemma burst into laughs, Blaze shortly following her.
"Oh my god Chatot is going to kill us in the morning!" Gemma laughed. Blaze laughed for a while more and then calmed down, laying back. "Tired, 'ey?"
"Sure am! Today was a busy day!" Blaze replied. "Hey, did the nightmare stop? I didn't hear you wake up last night." Gemma sighed.
"It didn't stop... I just wanted to keep it to myself, I didn't want to wake you up." She said. Blaze smiled a little at her.
"You should have, Gemma. I wouldn't have minded, I am worried about you and these dreams." The chimp said, patting the Eevee's back reassuringly as she lay down too. Gemma smiled back at him.
"I still didn't want to wake you, and besides, it kept me awake long enough to brace myself for Loudred's yell." Blaze grinned at that comment.
"Wake me up if I don't wake up from your scream next time, 'kay?" Gemma nodded at him.
"Promise I will." She said. Blaze patted her back again as she lay her head on her paws and slowly fell into a deep sleep. Blaze found his hand rubbing her back much like he had before, but he stopped and moved his arm back so he could lay his head on both arms, also drifting off to sleep.
~X~X~X~
Somewhere... not in the present...
"Wah!" A young girl, only around ten, exclaimed. It was hard to pick out her features in the dark of where she had been sleeping, but her dark green eyes managed to stand out.
"What is it?" A feminine, childish voice said. Its tone was so childish that the serious undertones were strange in comparison. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Cel... just my usual nightmare... I miss sis..." The girl's voice said, breaking a little. "I miss Gemma, Cel..."
"And I miss her too, and dear Grovyle. But our friends are strong, maybe if you didn't call her 'sis' anymore it would help." 'Cel' said.
"I-I know... I... I just miss her. I know we're not related... but, you know she's like a sister to me... and I have a really bad feeling about their journey to the past..." The girl said. "Gemma always used to be able to help me calm down after my nightmares, too, because she has the same problem... but... now I feel alone..."
"Hey! I'm here!" 'Cel' said, voice now a full child-like sound. The other voice couldn't help but laugh at this.
"I know you are! You never let me forget it!" Both laughed.
"Go back to sleep. You have at least four more 'hours' needed."
"Stuff you and your ability to sense time even when it doesn't move." The girl said, but she sounded more teasing than mean. "Alright, alright... I'll sleep! Just stop glaring at me!" Shuffling was heard, the sound of material against something. Quiet snores were heard a moment later.
"Sleep well, Mei..."
~X~X~X~
I love this chapter for no apparent reason! Maybe it's because of who is at the end. If you haven't guessed who 'Cel' is, then... well, you really obviously haven't played the games at all. So! A similarity between the two humans, and the nightmares is not where the similarities end! Mei has an interesting condition, not medical, nothing like that. But, well, you'll see later on. Meanwhile R&R!