A/N - I'm sorry about the hiatus on this! I wanted to finish The End - which I've now finished writing, but not uploading - and I also have deadlines due. I should have time now to work on this somewhat sporadically while I write a series of one-shots.

A heads-up there will be some grammar differences. I've recently read the words 'pokemon' and species names should be lower case unless used as a title or name. So that's going to be fixed from here on out.

This chapter adds a character requested by PrimalCam - Voltaic the Luxio. Since there was no character profile, I've had a lot of fun with him! Welcome to a two-part adventure. I'll try and get the next part up later this coming week =D

Disclaimer - I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its critters!

6 – Something Enigmatic Sounds Strange

Del stared up at the sheet of yellow cloth, the events of the night running through her mind like an embarrassing slideshow at a birthday party.

"I still don't know how you managed to find tents in the pokemon universe," came Jimmy's voice from outside the tent. "I mean... do they sew?"

"Apparently," she said. "Pika wears a little waistcoat and tie, and I happen to be wearing a scarf."

"Oh yeh. And Rexi wears an apron."

"Speaking of which, I really hope we don't get eaten by tyranitar."

Jimmy made a noise that sounded like he might have face-palmed. "We won't get eaten by tyranitar..."

"You don't know that," she said. "You've never met a hungry one."

"Neither have you."

"Huh. Good point." A harsh wind blew in through the entrance and she huddled into herself. "I'm really glad I have fur, because otherwise I'd be freezing to death out here." Jimmy was silent. She stared at the sheet of yellow and propped herself up on one paw. "Jimmy? You okay?"

"Yes. I'm just trying to give you an 'are you kidding me?' stare. But there are two sheets of cloth in the way."

"Oh." She chuckled and fell onto her back. "Yeh. I forgot. You're a lizard."

"I think I might use this tent as a blanket."

"You do that, you'll be exposed to the wind. Why not use razor leaf and cut yourself a chunk off instead?"
"I don't know razor leaf."

There was the sound of fabric falling, followed by a yell of surprise. Del stared at the cloth, watching what now seemed like a shadow puppet show as something moved frantically back and forth. She stood up and peered outside to find Jimmy running around like a comedic yellow blanket ghost in a bad movie.

"Jimmy?!"

He froze and turned to look in her direction... and failed as he address the tree instead. "Help! I'm stuck and scared!"
Del shook her head and sighed. She strolled over to him and whipped off the blanket. Jimmy rubbed his eyes and shook himself like a dog, the leaves on his tail rustling all too loudly.

The sound of tearing fabric ripped through the air as she used her scalchop to hack a chunk free.

"Here." She handed him the two sheets. "Cover yourself up and sleep."

Jimmy stared at the smaller sheet as he held it in both paws. "Okay." He looked up at her. "Sure you don't wanna tell each other funny stories all night and roast... marshmallows?"
"Do pokemon have marshmallows?"
He shrugged. "Could substitute berries I suppose." He looked up at the starry sky and scratched his chin. "But I don't know if they'd make good smores."

"We also don't have biscuits." She turned back to her tent. "Good night Jimmy."

"G'night."

She flopped back onto the grass and yawned widely. Despite how stressful the night had been, she was pretty tired.

"By the way," said Jimmy. "You cut this wonky."

Del glanced at him and smirked to herself, letting out a rather fake, overly loud snore.

"Are you asleep? I don't believe that for one minute."

Snore.

"And if you're gonna keep me up snoring all night, a little warning would be appreciated?"

Another snore.

Jimmy grunted. "Fine. I – Argh! The wind whipped up part of the tent! I can't pin it down!" The sound of fluttering fabric and the yells of Jimmy frantically trying to pin the sheet. "Oh! I got it. Nooo my blanket! Okay, I got that too."

Del chuckled.

"Hah! You're awake! Unless you sleep-laugh n'all."
"Nope. Just pulling your leg. You all right now?"

"Yes. And warmer, thanks. Good night, Del."

...

Daylight broke through the murky yellow fabric of the makeshift tents, waking up the two sleeping Pokemon. A weird, daunting shadow fell over Del and her eyes snapped open. She span to face two large, red eyes.

"Argh!" She leapt to her feet, smacking the tyranitar on the nose with her scalchop.

"Argh!" Jimmy leapt to his feet and his tent came down, covering his face and paws. "Argh! Where am I?!" He tripped and the sheet fell from his head. He looked up to find Del facing a tyranitar, currently nursing a bump on his nose.

"I found them!" Rexi called over his shoulder. He crouched back down to look inside the tent. "Sorry to spook you. Pika sent out a small search party."
"What?" Del peeked around his huge legs to see Kiki and Peg trotting over to them. "He did? Why?"
"Well, you went missing after the party," Rexi explained. "When you still hadn't come back this morning, we were instructed to find you."
"Oh..." Del shuffled her feet. "Sorry we worried you... and sorry I bonked you on the nose..."
"It's okay." Rexi beamed. "You're my little sis!"

"Wha...?!" Del took a step back.

"Little sis?" Jimmy asked, scratching his head. "Since when?"
"Since I decided so." Rexy spread his huge paws. "All oshawott are like family."
Del blushed and looked away.

Kiki and Peg finally came to a stop next to them.

"You had Rexi worried sick!" The eevee sat down and sighed. "What are you two doing camping out in the open in tents?"

"Uhm..." Del scratched her nose.

"I can explain," Jimmy said, taking a step forwards.

"You can? Oh good..."

"You see," Jimmy began, "I fell out with Shuu. Not wanting to go back to my nest, I stayed out here. Del stayed with me... safety in numbers 'n' all that jazz."
"Two isn't a very big number," Peg said, staring at Jimmy with such intensity you could practically hear it.

"Well... no..."

"Why didn't you ask any of us for help?" Peg went on, still staring.

Jimmy took a step back. "Uhm... I didn't want to go back inside..."

The stare shifted to Del, who also stepped back.

"I uhm... uh..." Del fiddled with her scalchop. "I... it was dark and..."

"What does it matter?" Rexi boomed. "We found them! And they're safe! That's all that counts."
"Rexi's right." Kiki stood up. "So long as you're both safe, that's all that matters. Whatever happened between you two and Shuu is between the three of you." The eevee turned to walk away.

"So he's not said anything?" Jimmy asked.

"No." Kiki looked back over her shoulder. "He's not said a thing. He came to breakfast then went off with Law like he normally does."
"He didn't even look remotely irked," Peg said over her paw. "In fact, he seemed to be more amused than usual."

"And rather too enthusiastic to get going." Rexi scratched his head. "I'm guessing he's taken on a big, well paid mission."
Jimmy threw his arms wide. "We get paid for these missions?!"

All four Pokemon turned to look at him.

Peg stared.

Del elbowed him.

"Ow! Oh," Jimmy laughed nervously. "Of course we do."

The teddiursa edged closer to him, looking him in the eye. "You ask some very strange questions..."

"I just woke up."
"Hmm..."

"Let's get back," Kiki said, giving Peg a nudge with her nose. "These two must be starving."

Jimmy's stomach growled. "Huh... what do you know, I am."

Rexi laughed. "Come on, I'll throw together some fried fish and mushrooms, berry salad and a nice huge pitcher of berry juice for you."

"Ooh! That sounds great!" Del laughed, trotting after them.

...

The door to the dining hall opened and Del and Jimmy strolled out into the hallway.

"Well, that was a good meal!" Del patted her stomach and sighed.

"Yeh. And I can't get enough of these things." Jimmy flicked a piece of candied oran peel into the air and caught it on his tongue.

"I don't think I could eat another bite." She stretched. "I think I might take an after-dinner walk."
"I hate to break it to you, but that was breakfast."

"It was actually brunch."

"Then call it an after-brunch walk."
Del threw the door open and strolled down the steps onto the grass... and stopped. A small luxio was staring up at the building, seemingly oblivious to the two pokemon.

"Erm." Jimmy cleared his throat causing the luxio's ears to twitch. "Can we help you?"

"I don't know. Is this Pika's Place?"

Jimmy and Del joined the luxio's side and looked up at the giant pikachu-shaped building, complete with massive smile.

"As far as we're aware," said Jimmy, "Pika's Place is known far and wide." He tossed another piece of peel into his mouth.

The luxio made a long thoughtful noise. He continued to stare at the building for an uncomfortably long time. During this time, a spearow landed on the pikachu's ear, stared at them for a little bit, then flew off again when it got bored.

The luxio turned his head sharply to the two pokemon, and Del let out a little squeal as she leapt back.

"I need some help," he said.

"From..." Jimmy nodded at Pika's Place. "From the building?"

"From an exploration team." He turned to face them and sat back down. "I'm looking for an enigmatic machine."
"Enigmatic?" Jimmy blinked and looked up at the sky. "I like the way that sounds. Enigmatic... Enigmatic..."

The luxio inclined his head on one side and stared at the snivy with a raised eyebrow.

"Ignore him," said Del. "He's eaten a lot of candied peel. It's sent him a bit hyper."
"Enigmatic."

"So..." Del turned back to the luxio. "Explain this machine. What is it? What does it do?"

"Are you an exploration team?" the luxio asked.

"Yes."

He nodded and looked up at the sky like Jimmy. "It's rather enigmatic."

Del face-palmed. "I'm not going to get anywhere fast with you two am I?"

Jimmy offered the bag to the luxio. "Candied peel?"

"Ooh." The luxio smiled and took one.

"Now can we focus?" Del clapped her paws together.

The luxio looked up at her. "Yes. I think so."

"Where is this machine?" she asked. "And what does it do?"

"Legend has it," said the luxio rather slowly, "it is in the Grand Gorge."

Jimmy swallowed his mouthful of peel. "Grand George?"

"Gorge," said the luxio.

"Oh." Jimmy nodded. "That makes more sense."
"As for what it does..."

The luxio closed his eyes and flicked his tail. He was silent for quite a long time. The same spearow came back, landed beside them, looked at each one in turn, then fluttered off again with haste.

"Well?" asked Jimmy. "What does it do?"

The luxio's eyes snapped open. "No one knows."

Del and Jimmy exchanged glances.

"You know what?" Jimmy gestured at the luxio with his bag of peel. "I think this guy's the enigmatic machine!"

The luxio stared at him for a moment, then chuckled as the joke sank in. "Hah! I like that one. You're funny."

Jimmy grinned. "Really?"

"Yeh." The luxio smiled at him. "Just the kind of partner I want on this mission."

"But..." Jimmy pointed to the oshawott. "What about Del?"

The luxio shrugged. "She'll do. Can deal with those annoying ground types."

"So can I."

Del blinked a few times. "Am I getting third wheeled? Or rejected? I can't tell."

"There are also fire types," said the luxio. "So no wheeling. Or rejecting. Or... whatever else you said."

Del blinked again.

"The name's Voltaic," said the luxio. "What about you?"

"Jimmy and Del," said Jimmy. "We're the Explorers of Stuff and Things."

"A working title," Del added.

Voltaic shook his head and stood up. "Keep it. Makes a lot of sense and stuff."
Jimmy looked at Del. "I like this guy. Can we keep him?"

Del grabbed Jimmy by the arm and steered him across the grass. "We'll see how this mission goes first."

...

"Here it is!" Voltaic sat down and stared out across a rocky valley. "The Grand George!"
"Gorge," Del corrected.

The valley lacked the typical river that one would expect to run though it. From the looks of things it had long since dried up, instead filled with stiff weeds and spindly trees.

"How do we get in?" asked Jimmy.

"Mud slide." Voltaic's expression remained stoic as he hopped a little to the left and vanished down the side of the gorge in a streak of dirt.

Del let out a little yell. "What on earth was that?!"
"Like he said," said Jimmy. "Mud slide."

Del watched the snivy move over to the precarious slope and sit down.

"I am not going anywhere near that!" she squeaked.

Jimmy looked at her and grinned. "Nah! Just think of it like a theme park ride. Do what I do." He shoved the ground with his paws and went streaking out of sight with a cry of, "Metaaaaaaaal!"

Del peered down into the gorge. She could just make out the tiny shapes of Voltaic and Jimmy moving around right at the bottom. Perfectly safe. She thought they both looked up at her for a moment, and one of them, she thought might have been Jimmy, shouted up, "Are you coming?"

She looked over at the mud slide. It didn't look safe, and was very steep, but the other two pokemon were perfectly fine. She swallowed drily and lowered herself into it. If she didn't do this now, she'd have to go back. Leave those two pokemon alone to fight against the fire and ground types without her. What if there were camerupt or numel? Neither of them would stand a chance. She screwed her eyes shut and shoved herself forwards, plummeting down the slope with the sensation of her stomach being left at the top of the gorge. As her bottom struck the base of the slope, she became aware she'd been screaming the whole way down.

She opened her eyes again to find Voltaic and Jimmy standing amongst a group of fallen, dazed gastrodon.

"Hey!" Jimmy nodded at the slug pokemon. "I took care of these guys while we were waiting for you. What took you so long?"
Del pushed herself to her feet and looked over the two pokemon. Jimmy appeared fine save for a streak of mud on his tail and back where he'd shot down the slide, but Voltaic was almost entirely covered in the stuff from his nose to his tail.

"Are you all right?" she asked him.

"Yes. Why?"

"Because you look like you got hit with a mud slap."
The luxio looked down at himself and his yellow eyes opened wide as he took in his fur. "Oh wow! I'm all covered in mud! When did that happen?!"
"Well..." Jimmy scratched his nose. "Now we're all here, I think we should get a move on. I don't really wanna be hanging around in case more of those gastrodon come back. They were rather... unimpressed to say the least."

"Yeh." Voltaic frowned. "They must be guarding the enigmatic machine! Or they're under it's influence."

Del and Jimmy stared at him.

"What does it do?" Del asked.

The luxio stood up and moved past them. "It does things. Let's go quick before it does more things."

Del exchanged glances with Jimmy.

"I think he knows more than he lets on," Jimmy whispered.

Del frowned. "I couldn't agree more."

They turned and trotted after the luxio.

...

Please R&R! =D