Sorry that it's been SOOOOOOOOO long since I posted a chapter. I've been very busy lately, what with vacation and readjustment back to everyday life. I should be able to post more often again now.
Chapter 12
I'M NOT NAGGY!!!
"Rock!"
"I-I-Ice!"
"St-Steel!"
The three golems went down without a fight. Machamp and Abomasnow stood triumphantly over them. "Heh, that was easier than it should have been," Machamp mused.
"They were weakened from battle, though," Abomasnow pointed out.
"True. Not only were they weakened, those surface world strangers actually knocked them out."
"They're not all strangers," the Boss muttered, already striding ahead down the tunnel.
Abomasnow hurried to catch up. "What was that?"
"Er, nothing."
Machamp looked over his shoulder uneasily at the unconscious Regis. "Those guys'll surely stay down for a while, won't they?"
"They are Legendary Pokemon," Abomasnow said. "We can only hope."
Crackle crackle!
"Ah, that feels good!"
"Man, I'm starving! Are they cooked yet?"
"Yep, they're just finished. Careful, they're hot!"
Piplup and Chimchar sat beside a roaring fire, happily nibbling away at roasted berries. The flickering flames made the large cavern and decrepit ruins seem a little more homely. Grovyle and Dusknoir sat beside them, with Lucario and Mew directly opposite. For a while, there was silence. Lucario was the first to speak.
"Alright, let's get to business. As I'm sure you've gathered, I'm Lucario. And this is-"
"I'm Mew," Mew cut in. "Thank you, Lucario, but I can introduce myself."
"Of course..." Lucario glowered at Mew.
"Go on, talk!"
"I'm talking, I'm talking!"
"Then go on!"
"I can't talk until you quit interrupting me!"
"I can't quit interrupting you until you start talking!"
"Quit naggin' me, woman!"
"What did you say?!?!?!"
"Oh crud."
Piplup and the others could only watch in amusement as Mew began to chase Lucario in circles, screaming at him the entire time. "I'm not naggy! I'M NOT NAGGY!"
"Dear Arceus, alright! I'm sorry! I'm SORRY!!!"
Finally, the two settled back into their seats, out of breath. Slowly at first, then more loudly, a laugh began to emanate from somewhere nearby. Chimchar looked around wildly before finally finding the source of the noise. "Dusknoir?"
Dusknoir looked up, grinning mischievously. He was still laughing. "Yep."
"What's so funny?" Lucario growled.
Dusknoir stopped laughing, then looked up at Lucario and Mew. "Well, it's just that if I didn't no any better, I'd say you two were sweet on each other."
"What!?!?" It was both Lucario and Mew. They glanced towards each other and quickly whirled away from each other. Neither one saw the other one blushing.
"Sorry for interrupting," Dusknoir apologised. "Just had to speak my mind."
Grovyle couldn't help but smile at the pair's antics. Ah, to be in love. His smile faded. He rose silently and turned away from the fire.
"I think I need to take a walk. You guys go on and talk without me."
Chimchar stared after Grovyle worriedly as he strolled off towards the entrance into the tunnels. "What's wrong with Grovyle?"
Piplup sighed. He knew. "He's missing Celebi."
"Well, duh. We all miss Celebi. That's why we're down here now."
Dusknoir sighed at Chimchar's ignorance. "Ah, young Chimchar, you fail to see the bond between your friends from the future."
"Well, I guess you're right. They've got to be pretty close, after all the time they'd been alone fighting against near impossible odds."
"No, Chimchar, there's something deeper between them."
"Deeper? Like in their stomach?"
"No, deeper."
"Intestines?"
Dusknoir was exasparated. "Er, uh...Piplup?"
Piplup put his arm on Chimchar's shoulder. "Chimchar, sometimes, when a man...er, when a Pokemon and a woman...er, female...Oh, now I'm all flustered!"
"Sorry," Chimchar shrank back. "Wait, what'd I do?"
"You'll understand when you're older," Piplup explained. "That's the best I can do."
"Alright, whatever you say."
Piplup pulled Dusknoir away for a moment. "What exactly did you think you were doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Trying to talk to Chimchar about the Birds and the Beedrills! Just what do you know about women?"
"Pah! That's the pot calling the kettle black!"
"Whatever! But what do you of all people know about..." he shuddered. "Females?"
Dusknoir grinned. "Pah, again! I'm hurt, Piplup, hurt! I've known plenty of women in my day, and some even liked me! Well, you know, slightly. Well, there were a couple who didn't hate my guts. There was...no, wait, I ended up arresting her...There was...no, I think the Sableye got to her..."
"I give up! Come on."
The two rejoined Chimchar by the fire. "Now, as I was attempting to say before," Lucario began. "I'm Lucario, and this is Mew. And before we tell you our story, we'd like to hear yours."
"Well, I'm a newt," Dusknoir introduced. "And these are my friends, the badger and the platypus." He gestured to Piplup and Chimchar, respectively.
Chimchar glared up at Dusknoir. "Why do I have to be the platypus?"
Piplup butted in, sighing. "Sorry about that. I'm Piplup, and these two bozos are Chimchar and Dusknoir."
"Bozos!" Chimchar and Dusknoir snarled simultaneously.
Piplup ignored them. "Yes, the Two Stooges. And our other friend is Grovyle. We're from the surface world, you see."
"The surface world!" Lucario gasped.
"Then it must be true!" Mew beamed. "You've come to stop Rayquaza?"
Piplup frowned. "No, we haven't heard of any Rayquaza. We're here to stop Darkrai. He's an evil Pokemon from the surface world, and he's almost succeeded in destroying it twice. Now, he's come down here to try to do it again."
"This Darkrai sounds like one bad fellow," Mew frowned. "So you came all the way down here into the Core chasing him?"
"Yep. He's a powerful foe, but we've stopped him before. We hope to do it again. He's stolen some Time Gears, so-"
Lucario and Mew both reeled back in horror. "He's stolen Time Gears and brought them down here?" Lucario yelled. "That can only mean one thing!"
"He's headed for the Wheel of Time," Piplup announced.
"Oh, I was afraid you'd say that," Mew groaned.
"What's so bad about the Wheel of Time?" Chimchar cut in. "Sure, Darkrai can use it to freeze the planet again and become the ultimate ruler of time, but we can stop him before he does it."
Mew shook her head. "Sadly, it won't be that simple."
"What do you mean?" Piplup inquired. "We're on the right track, aren't we?"
"Yes, you're going in the right direction," Lucario nodded. "But the Wheel of Time won't be easy to get to."
Mew nodded in agreement. "To get there, you have to go through the city, and, well..."
"Well what?" Dusknoir urged. "Out with it!"
"The city has been taken over," Lucario explained. "Rayquaza, an enormous monster, has overcome the city."
Piplup, Chimchar, and Dusknoir all gasped simultaneously. "The Monster of the Core!"
"Rayquaza's a monster, alright," Mew agreed. "And he has an entire army of Cranidos and Shieldon fighting for him."
"That explains that group that attacked us before!" Piplup exclaimed.
"Well, from the sound of things," Dusknoir grumbled. "The Core has suddenly become a much more dangerous place. How did we not see this coming?"
Hope you all like it!