Bullet POV

Ah, the sea was so dazzling! The harsh light from the sun directly overhead sparkled like a million diamonds across the water's surface. The foam of the waves beating against the shore tickled between my toes, and the cool sea breeze danced across my fur. I couldn't help but smile and laugh at the moment of peace that the scene had settled upon my mind. I looked up at B.B., wanting to share the moment of happiness with him, and my heart jumped into my throat.

B.B. stood with his eyes closed and a gentle smile on his face, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his skin. The breeze picked up, causing the long leaf on his head to whip like a flag in the wind. B.B. opened his eyes slightly and stared out into the vast expanse of blue that stretched before us. He sighed and rolled his shoulders back, before reaching into the treasure bag and beginning to speak.

"Well, standing here on this beach won't get us any closer to our goal. We better keep moving," B.B. looked back and forth between Blade and I, "Who wants to do the honors?"

I suddenly realized... that I had no idea how we were supposed to use the Dive HM to reach Stormy Sea! In all my excitement, that one extremely important detail had completely slipped my mind! I could feel my face heating up, and I could tell from the way B.B. quirked his eyebrow when he looked at me that my blushing was giving away my foolish mistake. I expected him to laugh at me and make fun of my carelessness, but instead, he simply turned back to Blade.

"Shall I handle it, then?"

Blade nodded in agreement, and stepped back, gesturing for B.B. to proceed. My curiosity piqued, I watched closely as B.B. waded waist-deep into the ocean water, clutching the HM disc in his paw. He placed the disc atop the water's surface, and spoke in a loud, clear voice.

"Dive."

At B.B.'s command, the disc began to shine, and the water began to tremble and shift, bending back against the natural waves. I watched in wide-eyed amazement as the water solidified beneath B.B.'s feet, stretching up to form walls around him. It wasn't like ice, though. It looked like a giant bubble, but it felt rubbery to the touch, kind of like poking an angry jigglypuff... not that I would know what that felt like...

Once Blade and I had climbed inside the strange Jigglypuff Dive Bubble and stood beside B.B., who was kneeling down on one knee, with his paw still on the disc, the waves behind us changed direction and we were swiftly pushed out to sea. We quickly sank beneath the waves, moving swiftly through the murky waters. For several minutes, all I could do was stare wide-eyed at the thin walls that separated us from the angry, twisting currents that propelled our little submarine along. What would happen if the bubble were to burst? Would you run out of air before you could find your way back up to the surface? Would you even survive being tossed about in those wild currents? Apparently, my nervousness didn't go unnoticed by the other two.

"You don't have to worry so much. This vessel is sturdier than it looks. We are in no danger."

Blade wore such an expression of complete certainty, that I really couldn't question him. Besides, his instincts were always spot-on, so if something bad was gonna happen, surely Blade would be able to feel it coming. Feeling reassured and just a bit sheepish at my senseless worrying, I nodded and flashed Blade a small appreciative smile.

"Just don't go burning your way out. The last thing we need to be wasting sunlight doing is fishing you out of the ocean before you drown."

I was startled by the hint of bitterness I heard behind B.B.'s teasing tone. I looked up at his face, only to see a blank, serious expression as he paid no mind to either me or Blade, instead focusing his attention on directing us through the waters in the direction of the spot that Lombre had marked on our map as being the entrance to the Stormy Sea. That face gave nothing away, had I just imagined that spark of hurt in his voice? I didn't think so, but now was clearly not the time or place to start interrogating B.B., so I just added it to the ever growing list of answers that I was going to have to get out of him before this mission was over.

Eventually, after a few hours, that felt more like days, we pulled up at the entrance to a cave that was worn into a massive iceberg. As we were approaching, we had seen that the ocean currents were holding this figure steadily in place, even as the walls of it shifted and creaked as the waves beat against it. Blade and I quickly dismounted our Jigglypuff, taking careful steps onto the slippery ice of the underwater cave floor. B.B. followed close behind us, plucking the HM disc from its place embedded in the wall of the bubble as he stepped out on the ice. Once the disc was removed, the Jigglypuff Bubble quivered and dissolved back into the water it was made from, and the twisting currents that had propelled us faded away into the natural flow of the sea. After a brief moment of staring back into the dark blue depths, I turned to see B.B. and Blade gazing intently into the depths of the ice cave.

"This is it," B.B. was all business as he stepped forward into the cave, "No turning back now. Let's see how far down Stormy Sea really goes."

"Right," Blade followed with a nod.

Feeling all the adrenaline and excitement of exploration swelling up inside of me, I charged forward to walk beside B.B., "Yeah! Let's do it! I can't wait to see how much treasure we can find in this place!"

"If the legends are to be believed, then we should find plenty."

I gave B.B. a playful shove as we began descending down a tunnel into the dungeon, "I bet you I can find something good before you do!"

B.B. looked at me with a smirk and scoffed, "You're on, wet rat. Let's see you try."

I charged forward down the path, grinning from ear to ear with just how B.B. that comment had been. No matter how weird B.B. was acting, at the end of the day, he was still my best friend, and I would always be able to bring him back to himself, one way or another. …I was just going to have to believe that would be enough.

B.B. POV

My day had already started off bad enough, with my rude awakening with Bullet at my bedside. The last thing that I needed today was for Blade to suddenly act out of character and decide to be all chatty. Bullet was following behind us a little farther back down the road to the ocean, just barely out of earshot, and apparently, that was all the invitation that Blade needed to start on a conversation that was anything but innocent.

"So, what exactly happened with you and Bullet, this morning?"

"What?!" I proceeded to trip over my own feet and almost choke on my own tongue at the same time.

Blade shook my reaction off, seemingly undisturbed, "It's just that you two seemed really tense when we met up this morning. Plus, I don't really believe Bullet's whole story about randomly slipping on some wet grass and winding up in a pond. So… what happened?"

Honestly! Why did this guy have to be so damn observant all the time?! "Look nothing happened, Blade, okay? I just haven't been sleeping well lately, and Bullet woke me up when he came in at the crack of dawn this morning. So any tension you were sensing, that was all it was."

Blade stared blankly at me, "You know, you're a pretty good liar. I almost believed that story for a second, but you're just trying a little too hard to act natural."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I can keep a secret, and as a teammate, you should trust me a little more… Even if you asked me to keep it from Bullet."

My mouth just gaped like a magikarp, no words coming out. How could this guy always hit the nail on the head out of nowhere? Thank goodness, Bullet's convenient sense of timing kicked in, and he came bounding up next to us, with that adorable signature smile on his face.

"Whatcha talking about, guys?"

I still hadn't regained the ability of speech, and so was very relieved when Blade responded to Bullet's question, "We were just discussing if the weather would pose any difficulty for us, once we reach the ocean. It shouldn't."

"Oh, okay!" Bullet sniffed the air and laughed happily, before charging forward, "I can smell the ocean, guys! Come on!"

I glanced sideways at Blade, "Thanks for that."

"Like I said, you can trust me to keep a secret."

I watched as Blade trotted off behind Bullet, feeling a major headache forming. Now both Bullet and Blade were getting far too close to finding out my secret. It's not like I didn't trust the two of them! I just… couldn't take the chance. Of losing my team, of losing my friends… of losing Bullet. It just wasn't a risk I could afford to take.

After we had made it out into the water, I noticed Bullet in my peripheral vision, looking distinctly uncomfortable and a bit green beneath his fur. Before I could say anything to soothe my friend's frazzled nerves, Blade jumped in to do it for me.

"You don't have to worry so much. This vessel is sturdier than it looks. We are in no danger."

Damn that Blade for getting Bullet to look at him like that! With that bashful little smile that was so innocent and a blush that was as bright as his eyes. …Damn! Why was I getting so jealous of Blade?! Just because he was being a good teammate? Shit! I was being ridiculous, but I couldn't seem to help myself, no matter how hard I tried.

"Just don't go burning your way out. The last thing we need to be wasting sunlight doing is fishing you out of the ocean before you drown."

Great! I caught sight of Bullet's surprised and slightly hurt face at the edge of my vision, and wanted to kick myself. Now, he thinks I'm mad at him. What is wrong with me today?! Why can't I just act normal? I guess the close calls of the morning had really taken a toll on my self control. Well, in that case, I would just have to stay focused on the mission. I could deal with everything else once we were all safely home, when things had had a chance to cool off some.

As we began our descent into the Stormy Sea, Bullet at the head of the pack, running into the darkness, laughing with a huge, excited grin on his face, I was hit again with the sickening sense of fear for the quilava's safety. I began running to keep up with him, barely noticing the clicking of Blade's claws behind me on the ice, as he kept pace with the both of us.

As we exited the tunnel into the first open chamber, standing in the shallow sea water that covered the floor, we were immediately dive-bombed by a flock of furious wingull. As we began shooting them down, I caught sight of the flashing red lights of a school of tentacool heading in our direction. Even as we finished the last of them off and started moving deeper into the dungeon, I couldn't help the sinking feeling in my stomach that this was gonna be a lot tougher than we had initially thought. I couldn't stop myself from glancing at Bullet, as he lit the way down a dark hallway. I would protect him, no matter what. As we moved out into the next dank, heavily shadowed chamber, we were met by the hissing cries of several furious omanyte. Ugh, I could tell this day was only gonna get worse.