"Urp...ladies...I'm SO sorry! Please don't stay mad at me..."
May and Serena shrugged and ignored the sleazy pile of sludge. The girls were feeling far too morose over what happened earlier to even tell off the pervert whose lechery had contributed to what had happened the previous night. They now stood in front of the Outlaw Notice Board and contemplated their next move. Grimer had come to the guild by himself when May and Serena failed to meet him at the Crossroads but both girls gave him a sour look and the Poison type could tell that his usual antics would NOT be tolerated today, considering what the girls had gone through because of him.
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"Whaaaat? You failed?! Are you serious? Oh no! What am I going to do?! Seriously! What am I to do?!" Team CrimsonVelvet had failed a mission for the first time, and to say the repercussions were unpleasant would have been an understatement. Chatot flew around in a panic in the guild's Bulletin Board Level. "There was nothing we could do. You see, Skuntank and his..."
"QUIET! I don't want to hear any excuses!" Serena flinched in response. The usually reasonable musical bird was completely unwilling to listen.
"You leave me no choice. For the time being, you'll go without dinner tonight!" I knew I shouldn't have given humans this task...
"What?! B-but..." May tried to offer an explanation, but Chatot gave her no chance.
"You failed to complete an important job. Your punishment could be much more severe! I don't want to hear anything from either of you! You've saddled me with this terrible task. I've got to report this to the Guildmaster now! Upon hearing my report, the Guildmaster is sure to... Waaaaaaaah!" Chatot flew around in a panic again. "You two will come with me when I do so. If I had to face the Guildmaster's wrath all by myself, well, that would hardly be fair. Therefore, you two will come with me! That's an order!" Serena looked down at her feet while May looked on with barely suppressed fury. That is so not scapegoating. The Hoennian thought.
A few hours later, May and Serena looked on in shame and frustration as they stood at the far end of the mess hall. Chatot forced the two girls to watch as everyone ate. And on top of that he had to make us do so while standing behind Skuntank... May glared daggers at the odorous Poison type, who turned around and smirked at the girls. Koffing and Zubat also periodically turned to the girls while commenting on how delicious the food was. The girls also noticed that Wigglytuff was absent. No doubt he's upset...
After dinner, Chatot marched the girls to the guildmaster's chambers.
"Hiya! You brought me some Perfect Apples, didn't you? Thank you!" The big pink Fairy type was oblivious to the real situation, much to Chatot's dismay.
"Uh... There's, uh, a slight... Uh... It's awfully hard to say this, but..." "Huh? What's wrong?" "You see, uh, truth be told... These apprentices... Well, they failed in their mission to bring back any Perfect Apples, and... So, uh, to put it another way..."
Wigglytuff still didn't get the hint. "It's OK. I understand. Nobody wins all the time. Don't feel blue, don't feel blue. " Chatot was getting more and more nervous, and neither May nor Serena could see why. "Where are the other Perfect Apples?"
The musical bird had had enough of his boss' obliviousness. "As I'd explained... Um... They failed to get them, so, uh... In other words, uh... the Perfect Apples... The number of Perfect Apples harvested... would be, uh... zero. Therefore... not even one Perfect Apple was obtained... That means, Guildmaster... You will have to make do without Perfect Apples for a little bit. Yep, that's what it means!" Chatot tried to explain in a forced cheerful tone. Wigglytuff responded with a quiet "Oh..." The room was quiet save for laughter forced out by Chatot. "Hee-heeee! Hee-heeee! Hee-heeee... Hee..."
Suddenly the room started to shake.
"Um, Guildmaster? Guildmaster? Waaaah! N-no!" Wigglytuff's expression was that of great sadness, a far cry from his usual disposition. He started to cry.
"Cover your ears!" Chatot shouted to the girls, who quickly complied, as Wigglytuff's bawling reached ear-destroying levels. So this is what Chatot was dreading all along.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"Sorry to disturb you! We've come to deliver a Perfect Apple!" Everyone turned around in shock to see Team Skull. Zubat and Koffing rushed forward to push Serena and May out of the way as Skuntank presented the fruit. "Here you go. A genuine Perfect Apple. Please accept it as our token of friendship."
Wigglytuff was ecstatic. "Oh, wow! You went and got it just for me?! Yay! Thank you! Friends! Friends!"
Chatot was even more grateful. "Th-thank you so very kindly! Thanks to you, we've all been spared a catastrophe!" He turned to the girls. "Hey! You two! Quit dozing and show your respect and appreciation!" May and Serena could only stare with their jaws dropped as they processed the whole thing.
No way...
This was their plan the whole time?
"Chaw-haw-haw. No, no, it's quite all right. After all, your guild has been very generous and hospitable to us. It's only right that we try to repay that favor in our own way."
Chatot swallowed the flattery. "Ah! I see that you're the most admirable of Pokémon. To be able to embark on an expedition with someone so noble as you... It will be truly inspiring!"
"Chaw-haw-haw. No, no! You will be the ones who inspire us. Truly, we look forward to our expedition. It's late now, so we'll be off to bed. Until tomorrow then. Chaw-haw-haw!"
Wigglytuff called after the poisonous trio as they left. "Thank you! Good night! Friends! Friends!"
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It was never easy to accept failure. It was made even worse that Chatot had made the two go without dinner due to their mistake last night. Though still being relatively new to the guild, they just had to accept their punishment. And to add insult to injury, Team Skull had used the opportunity to humiliate them.
"I can't believe the guildmaster even cried..." Serena murmured when she woke up, still feeling blue.
"Yeah, when he started crying, I thought the whole place was going to explode or something!" May said, as the two sat up from their beds, greeting the day. In the end, things had calmed down, as at least Team Skull ended up taking a Perfect Apple to Wigglytuff after all. Naturally, they took all the credit though, which was the annoying part. The trio only furthered their plans to infiltrate the guild and claim any treasures found in the expedition just for themselves
"And I still feel bad that we couldn't complete such a simple task." Serena was still feeling glum, so much so that she could barely focus on the jobs available on the Outlaw Notice Board in front of her. May was also finding it difficult to focus.
Suddenly, the girls heard a familiar fluttering of wings and saw Chatot flying up from the lower level. The musical bird made a beeline for Team CrimsonVelvet. "Ah, you two. I see you're taking care of listed jobs today as I said you should. We're counting on you. " The bird was about to fly away when he suddenly folded his wings and turned around. "There's one other thing. About the expedition... You should give up on being chosen as expedition members."
The girls were shocked. "Huh?! Wh-why?!" Exclaimed Serena. "Your failure yesterday weighs heavily. As you know, it is difficult to tell what our Guildmaster is thinking from his demeanor... But there's no doubt that he must be seething with anger inside. It's unlikely that he would bother to choose you for the expedition. So when the time comes to announce the members, don't get your hopes up. That's all." Chatot flew away. Serena looked like she would cry and May's face turned red with indignation. Last I checked, you're not a Psychic type you projecting jerk! The Hoennian's angry thoughts were interrupted by whimpering next to her. "I was already weak from hunger... And then to be told something like that... there's no way I can get motivated now..." May sighed and hugged Serena. Grimer looked on and felt genuine guilt for the first time, realizing that his perversion had contributed to the girls' failure.
May and Serena should've known that being despondent in public wouldn't go unnoticed. Fortunately for them, their despair was noticed by someone benign. "Psst! Over here!" The girls looked around and saw Bidoof, Sunflora, and Chimecho emerging from the hole leading downstairs. "Oh, hi Bidoof." Serena greeted him, but the beaver shushed her. "Shhh! By golly, not so loud! Come this way!" Figuring there was nothing else to do, the girls followed Bidoof down. Grimer thought about following them but decided to stay behind. I guess I should treat my ladies with more respect. They aren't solely around for my pleasure. He thought as he watched them go downstairs. Eventually the girls were in their room. "Whew! No one saw anything, except maybe Croagunk..."
Serena decided to break the ice as Chimecho looked back to make sure no one had followed them and Sunflora produced two burlap bags. "What's going on? Why did you call us back to our rooms?"
"Well... here you go." The plant opened a bag in front of each girl, revealing each one contained an apple, some corn, a banana, and a small container with lukewarm soup. "Oh!" Exclaimed Serena, while May's eyes widened. "You must be very hungry." Noted Chimecho. "We all set aside a little bit of our dinners last night for you. Yup-yup." Added Bidoof. "Now, eat up!" The girls were speechless for a few seconds. "Th-thanks everyone!" May jovially screamed, while Serena looked like she would cry. "I'm so grateful..." The two girls wolfed down the impromptu meal in minutes. "I feel so refreshed!" May once again expressed her gratitude as Serena beamed. Sunflora spoke up. "We can all use help when we're down." "Every one of us needs to be able to work hard in order to be picked for the expedition. Yup yup!"
"Sunflora, Bidoof, Chimecho, Serena and I are so grateful for what you did." Said May. "But about the expedition... Chatot just came and told us... We're probably not going to be chosen..." The Kalosian blonde noted with sadness, though Bidoof disagreed. "How could you say that?! There's no telling what might happen! No sirree!" Sunflora agreed. "Bidoof's right, the members haven't been picked yet!" May and Serena smiled but the former frowned as she realized something. "Everyone... Thanks for trying to cheer us up, but... Doesn't everybody want to go on the expedition? What if we were chosen to go? If that happens, someone here might not get to go. Would you all be OK with that, especially with two humans going instead of Pokémon?"
"Well of course, if someone is chosen... Then someone else can't go. That's just the way it is!" "If you don't get picked for the expedition, you should cheer for those who did." Added Chimecho. "Yup yup! And everyone wants to go on the expedition with you, Serena and May. No one thinks less of you for being human. Not even Chatot I bet, even if he's strict." Serena was touched. "Sniffle... Everyone, honestly, thank you." The blonde perked up. "OK! Then we'll keep trying our best to get picked for the expedition." She stood up, as did her partner, who declared: "We'll keep on trying to the end!"
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May and Serena emerged from the hall leading to the bedrooms. "Let's keep working hard, May. We can still be picked for the expedition!" The Hoennian brunette nodded in agreement. Suddenly, someone called out to the girls. "Meh-heh-heh! Hey, you two over there..." The girls looked around and saw a frog beckoning them. "Oh, it's Croagunk!" They quickly walked over to the amphibian's usual spot. "Meh-heh-heh. What are you up to with Bidoof and the others? It all looks so sneaky. I suppose it's got nothing to do with me, but... Meh-heh-heh." Croagunk, of course, is too cool to snitch on us. Thought May. "Anyway, that's not why I called you here. Meh-heh-heh! The waiting's over! It's about my shop. Meh-heh-heh! The Croagunk Swap Shop is back in business!" Neither girl understand what he meant. "Croagunk...Swap Shop?" Serena tentaively asked. "Meh-heh-heh! You heard right. I finally finished repairing my Swap Cauldron, which means that I'm finally back in business again! Meh-heh-heh! You put certain kinds of items in this here Swap Cauldron... And those items get swapped for an item offered up by another Pokemon somewhere around Treasure Town. There are some Pokemon around that have pretty rare items for swapping. So you could end up with a stupendously great swap. Get it? Meh-heh-heh! So if you two feel like swapping items, you bring them to me, all right? Meh-heh-heh!"
"Hmm." May took out two jars. "You mean something like this?" Croagunk examined the jars. "Poison Dust? Well yeah, if you can get Pink Silk you can trade it and one of these jars and I'll give you a Poison Gem, meh-heh-heh." May put the jars away. Maybe if Grimer makes up for what he did we can go find one of those. The girls walked past Croagunk to the mess hall where they saw a trio of putrid Poison types in the far end of the room. They all glared at the girls upon seeing them come closer.
"Oh? What are we doing here? Nothing! Nothing at all! Heh-heh-heh!" Zubat chortled but May and Serena couldn't help but notice that he seemed to have what resembled burn marks and silk residue on his wings. Koffing also interjected. "Whoa-ho! Gonna whine again? You gonna say that you don't want us around? Whoa-ho-ho!" The gaseous floating orb looked like he had something like a black eye, but May wasn't sure and didn't know why she felt any concern. Their leader was also equally snarky. "Oh, come on! You're suspicious about us guests? Chaw-haw-haw! You're not suggesting that we raided your stock, are you? Chaw-haw-haw!" Skuntank didn't seem as hurt compared to his lackeys but he also looked like he just had a scuffle, with multiple bite and scratch marks on parts of his body. May and Serena returned Team Skull's glare and left, heading back up to the Bulletin Board Level, where the Hoennian girl was immediately grabbed and held up by her midriff by an affectionate and lecherous pile of sludge whose amorous behavior had returned but didn't invite the usual reaction.
"PUT ME DOWN, NOW!" May's face instantly turned crimson, fueled by rage on top of the usual embarrassment she felt. For the first time since he joined the team, Grimer felt fear as he quickly released her. "Haven't you considered anything about the way you behave?! I'm the leader of this team and you're not supposed to constantly molest me every day! Serena and I aren't just toys for your pleasure!" Grimer sulked in response, unable to talk back. May was about to continue her diatribe when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "May, I don't think we need to yell at him here in front of everyone. Besides, I think he's genuinely remorseful." The Hoennian sighed, seeing multiple exploration teams in the room staring at her. "Let's just go to Spinda's Café. I need a smoothie." She climbed up the ladder to the entrance, followed by Serena and a mortified Grimer as many of the other Pokémon present looked on.
"Grimer wasn't exaggerating, the humans really ARE mad at him! But I guess it'll be all the more TASTY when they find out what he did to make it up to them, and how he did so with help from us, right Wurmple?" The grub for once didn't get triggered by a certain word Swellow used and nodded. The Bug type hated being pushed around by others and after hearing that Team CrimsonVelvet were being harassed by Team Skull, he decided to do something about it. Though he was disappointed in the pile of sludge after hearing his side of the story and how his obsession with the girls' bodies played a role in getting them punished. Nevertheless, he felt that he managed to do something right.
"Well guys, it seems Grimer really did mess up. But what was he thinking? He gets to be on the same team as a couple of hotties like them and he decides to let his libido dominate his mind and gropes and harasses them every day instead of actually helping them. He's lucky he's still even allowed on their team." Ponyta and Camerupt nodded in agreement. Bellsprout didn't take kindly to Team Skull's presence as it gave Poison type Pokemon like him a bad name and hearing that they made the human girls he recently befriended lose dinner over a failure that they caused made him feel that the trio needed to be taken down a peg. Thus he and Team Tasty had joined hands with Grimer and cornered the trio just outside the guild and gave them a piece of their minds. And there was also another exploration team who took part in this scheme.
"Arbok, Drapion, this whole incident never happened. If the human girls ask either of you if Team AWD was involved, deny it."
"Yes, Lady Weavile!"
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Team CrimsonVelvet sat down in front of Spinda's Juice Bar. The girls were appreciative of such a place that could help them raise their spirits, even by a bit. The two had produced some gummis and got some smoothies for themselves but not for Grimer, who was lucky he was even allowed to share a table with them.
"Everyone in the guild was shockingly nice. I didn't expect them to actually give us food." May thought out loud. The smoothie did wonders to lighten her mood. Serena agreed, while Grimer wisely kept quiet. Suddenly, the noticed that more Pokémon flooded in to the Café. Spinda had apparently called in a crowd and the ursine Pokemon stood in the center. Team CrimsonVelvet remained at their table and watched.
"May I have everyone's attention please?! First of all, I'd like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules! Today I would like to give you some wonderful news of hopes and dreams! Thanks to your kind patronage, this cafe has been quite popular... We've been fortunate to have so many wonderful customers! This shop's pride and joy, the Recycle Shop, is fully operational and has collected many items. We would like to thank you for your kind patronage... By opening a new service! It will be called Project P!" Everyone in the crowd seemed confused, so Spinda continued. "This project aims to use the items gathered at the Reccyle Shop in order to explore unexplored places. Right now at the Recycle Shop, you can trade several items in exchange for one of the shop's items. Thanks to everyone's continued recycling efforts, we have gathered a lot of items here at the shop. The service will continue to operate in the same manner... And now with Project P established... We'll use the accumulated items to explore unexplored areas! There are still so many places around the world that are waiting to be found and explored. So many secret treasures and challenging puzzles waiting to be discovered... So let's go out and find them! That's what Project P is about! And if you bring your discoveries back to the cafe... You'll get a special deal at the Recycle Shop! This should keep items circulating through the Recycle Shop. The items at the Recycle Shop will become more and more amazing! What do you think? Do you understand? We've already sent out an exploration team to find unexplored areas! There should be new discoveries before long! So, everyone! Please keep recycling, more and more every day! Let's all work together and find unexplored areas!"
"HOORAY!"
Serena was also eager. "Wahoo! I'm so excited! We should recycle more!" Seeing the Kalosian in such good spirits made May's disposition improve as well. The music in the cafe also helped. Grimer kept quiet but even though he was able to keep his more lecherous inclinations in check, still made the mistake of taking the girls' improved mood as an opportunity to slither in between their legs and around their feet under the table, making himself comfortable there with a smug, lecherous smile on his face that said it all. Serena was at this point optimistic enough to not let this ruin her good mood but May still felt a lingering sense of anger towards her Poison type team member.
"Ugh, I can't sit here when he's like this! I can't even enjoy my smoothie, even though it's really good!" May grimaced and slipped out of her seat, moving a few steps away from the table where she could just stand.
Serena sighed. She stayed at the table as Grimer audibly complained. "Whaat? Where are you going my lovely leader?"
"Away from you." Was Serena's calm yet exasperated response. "Grimer, don't you think you should reflect on how your perverted attitude isn't having the best effect on May? It's just like she said, we're not your toys. Just because we're human girls and attractive to you, it doesn't mean you can touch us all the time. And besides, when we were knocked out in Apple Woods, you could have easily captured Zubat so we'd have had proof that Team Skull took all the Perfect Apples and set us up to fail. But instead you considered it more important to fondle our unconscious bodies. Can't you understand why May would be upset about it?"
The Poison type reconstituted himself and considered Serena's words as she continued. "I get it, May's beautiful and I also like touching and kissing her as I please, but I know when not to do so and I can control myself. And right now she needs space from you. If you're really a part of Team CrimsonVelvet you should start acting like it." Grimer nodded in agreement. I made sure to give those other Poison types a taste of their own medicine this morning though...
May meanwhile stood in the middle of the cafe, and found herself enjoying the music Spinda had playing in the venue. She suddenly found her body subconsciously beginning to sway in rhythm. She eventually found herself performing an improvised belly dance and any feelings of woe and anger in her seemed to melt away as she moved her body, any assets she had bouncing and jiggling in the skimpy confines of her green bikini. Noticing her enjoyment, Spinda made sure to turn up the volume a bit, and the Hoennian brunette shook her hips all the more, much to the amusement of the crowd in the cafe, most of all a certain blonde Kalosian and a living pile of sludge sitting together at a table who were both eagerly enjoying the sight. "I guess it's a good thing she stood up after all..." Murmured Grimer, and Serena agreed. "Like I said, I can't blame you for wanting to 'have fun' with May. And this is one of the best ways to do just that without upsetting her..."
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"Pssst... Yeah I'd say you two lucked out, getting us to share those Apples...I was worried about you two... Anyway, here's to all of us! Let's work on being picked for the expedition..."
Even Loudred cares. May thought as she and Serena headed to their room. The girls had decided to call it a day after cooling off at the cafe and returned to the guild for dinner. Luckily, Chatot accepted the excuse that the girls had decided to go through a dungeon they had previously cleared for more experience, and no one in the guild doubted their explanation. Grimer had seemingly learned from his errors and left the girls alone after their stint at the cafe. However, he insisted on coming to the guild though he promised to leave soon after the girls finished dinner and he did just that, as the girls didn't see him around. That being said, why does Wigglytuff smell a bit like Grimer? Or am I just imagining it? May eventually found herself in her room with Serena, both of them getting ready to sleep.
"Yaaaaawn... I'm getting drowsy. Let's get some sleep. I'm looking forward to getting something done tomorrow. OK, good night, May." The Kalosian blonde went to sleep. May however, still had a lot on her mind. Maybe I was too harsh on Grimer. But I'm honestly getting sick of being groped all the time! Though that being said, would I have been that bad if Serena was the one groping me? Speaking of Serena, she's trying so hard... I hope she gets to go on the expedition. I hope we both get chosen. My special ability may be useful then...Come to think of it, I haven't had any of those dizzy spells recently. I think it's a useful ability. But not being able to see those visions when I want to is frustrating. Thinking about everything too much will keep me from sleeping. I'd better get to sleep now too. Good night, Serena.
