Sky's the limit

Chapter 9

Soren yawned, trying to force his eyes open the next morning. They received almost no sleep the previous night, and they only dozed off for a short while before Loudred came in and woke them up.

Looking over at Gina, he saw that even she looked utterly exhausted. "We should have just gone to bed, huh?" she asked with a smirk.

"No kidding."

With forced enthusiasm, they joined in with the guild's morning cheers. How can we be energized when we barely got any sleep last night? Gina wondered. It's impossible!

"Ah! You two!" Soren and Gina straightened up at the sound of Chatot's voice. Turning their attention to him, he continued, "Today, do jobs from one of the bulletin boards. That will do for today, and no shirking your work, okay?"

"Yes, sir," they mumbled in unison. Mustering as much energy as they could, the two climbed the ladder to the middle floor.

"Alright, we may be tired and unmotivated, but we still have to try to get picked for the expedition," Soren said. "So smile and pretend that you enjoy waking up this early."

Gina forced the corners of her mouth into a grin. "Okay, if you insist," she responded.

Soren turned to the Job Bulletin Board, when he stopped suddenly. "H-hey, Gina," he whispered. "Don't those Pokemon look familiar?"

She followed his gaze and spotted two Poison-type Pokemon hovering in front of the board. A gasp caught in her throat. Zubat and Koffing?!

Koffing glanced at them casually, before doing a double-take. "Wha-Hey, Zubat!" He nudged his partner. "It's them!"

Zubat turned around and gasped. "You two? What are you doing here?"

Gina glared, her energy returning rapidly. "We should be asked you the same question!" she hissed.

Koffing laughed. "I'll have you know we're also an exploration team," he said smugly.

"Heh heh! What's so funny 'bout an exploration team checking out the Job Bulletin Board, huh?" Zubat asked.

Soren still had a look of shock on his face. "You guys are actually an exploration team?"

"That's right," Koffing replied. "But the way we work isn't always...you know, by the book." He let out another hoarse laugh. "What a surprise, though! We didn't expect to see you chumps here!"

Soren refused to back down, even though he was slightly shaking. "We wanted to become an exploration team. So we joined Wigglytuff's Guild for training."

"What?!" Koffing yelled.

"You two want to be an exploration team?" Zubat gasped. He and Koffing turned to each other, nodded, and got behind Soren, shoving him to the wall beside the Job Bulletin Board.

Straining her ears, Gina tried to catch what they were saying to her partner. She was able to pick up Koffing's voice. "Listen, you. Don't take this the wrong way...but you should just forget being on an exploration team."

Soren's eyes widened. "What? Why do you say that?"

Zubat snorted. "Well, you're timid. You scare way too easily to be on an exploration team. A little scaredy-cat like you wouldn't cut it."

"W-well, it's true that I'm timid," Soren admitted. He shoved them out of the way to stand next to Gina. "Which is why I'm working on getting over my nervousness!"

"That's right!" Gina nodded in approval. "In fact, we're working hard to be on the guild's expedition!"

A glimmer of interest flashed in Koffing's eyes. "Oh? An expedition, you say?"