Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Arceus's Wish | (Rebooted on Youtube!)

N I N E

"Must we really go right trough the desert?" Josh's voice came out in slurs, and he took barely steady heavy steps.

"It is the shortest way, don't worry!" said Nila, nudging him onward. "Haven't you been to the outskirts of town before? On one side, it's all desert."

"I've only been... To the ocean side... I need... water..."

"You're an oshawott!"

"Oh, right..." tilting his head up to the sky, Josh let out a spout of water. It climbed up high before crashing back down on his face. "But it's all salty hot water now... I think that only made things worse..." He shook himself and kept trudging along.

"That was the ultimate demonstration of gross!" Fiona nearly retched. "I can't believe you just spat all over yourself!"

Josh replied with a tired yet mischievous smile, and kept on walking in the ever-heating sand.

*

The sun, despite being closer to the horizon rather than its zenith, refused to cut the desert and the pokémon therein any breaks.

"Did anybody get a mirage yet?" Josh used his scal-chop to fan himself and adjusted the bag on his back. "I think I just saw a plant, like, disappear." he squinted." Oh never mind, there it-- wait, no, it's gone again."

The ground was not sizzling, but hot nonetheless. Each pokémon walked or skipped along quickly, so as to avoid unpleasant burning of their paws and feet. Buzz and Belle grappled over a blue frilly-rimmed umbrella, Josh's tongue was hanging out farther than he himself had ever thought possible (while Dewey tried to walk such that his shadow would cover his brother up), Nila walked along determinedly... and Fiona looked at them all cynically.

As for Kyle, he tried to focus harder on the mission at hand once more: his objective here was, allegedly, to save all of the pokémon from a certain entity who threatened life as he... recently had come to know it. So far, six other pokémon accompanied him, on a hike to a canyon smack in the middle of nowhere --- having to go through the middle of nowhere to get there. Above all of that, as a cherry atop a hot, sandy dessert, he carried the uncomfortable role of "Hero" on the ever-growing invisible heap of responsibilities weighing his shoulders down.

'If this were a story,' thought he, 'I'd send a plea to the author to ple-e-ease get me home right now...'

.

Well, I'm really sorry, Kyle --- but that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

.

"Does anybody want food?" asked Nila, a smile slowly stretching across her pink muzzle.

In a perfect chorus, the other six cried "Yes! Please!"

"Well, then, it's unanimous!" she chuckled, "Everyone sit down, and take out your food. I hope you've packed enough, and that whatever you brought didn't become spoiled by the heat." she swiftly produced a picnic sheet from her bag with a firm yank, and neatly laid it on a shady spot of sand between two cactuses. "Let's eat!"

Immediately, the travelers fumbled for their shares of food. Buzz and his sister had some sort of berry jam-filled sandwich --- which strongly reminded Kyle of a bagel. His stomach growled.

Josh and Dewey grabbed some kind of mollusk from their bags and began to smack them with their shells. Fiona ate straight out of her bag so kyle was unsure what it was, and Nila merely ate raw berries.

When Kyle opened up his own bag, he took out a small white box. Upon opening it with his mouth, he found his favorite food: sushi.

"Wh-whoa! It's Sushi," the umbreon gasped, "Nila, how'd you know?" he joked.

"You told me." she pretended not to notice the sarcasm, yet smiled at it.

"Uwah!" Belle gasped and cooed, turning to Kyle, "Sushi... How come you have sushi? How did that not go bad under the sun?!"

Buzz rolled his eyes and wiped a jam smudge from his cheek. "Belle, stop eyeing the man's food. Not cool."

"Ah," the glint in her eyes vanished. "S-sorry, Kyle..."

"No, she's right," Kyle looked at Nila, "how come I get all of this?"

The others turned to look at the Espeon.

"What?" she protested, after a moment of awkward silence, "I never said you weren't allowed to bring sushi in your bags!"

"We figured that sort of stuff would only rot in them," Josh ventured. "I'm sure the box had some sort of special coating to keep it from overcooking in there."

"That's why I put it at the top, we've only been walking for a few hours."

"W-well, now I want some, too..." Josh's face suddenly looked like a hungry baby's.

"Oh man," Fiona groaned uncertainly, "All I packed were a bunch of energy pellets..."

"Nuh-uh." Buzz crossed his arms and shook his head, "Not me. I ain't takin' from nobody else's food."

"I just really love sushi." Bell waved dismissively so as to say she could do without, but Kyle could tell she really wanted some as well.

"U-uhh..." Kyle really, truly loved sushi, yet he wanted to make them all happy...

"Oh, what the heck." he gave in, "go ahead. There should be enough for everyone."

A chorus of Really-s and Yay-s erupted, and each of the three pokemon took some of the fish. Dewey ate Josh's piece straight out of his paw, an the two began to grapple over the next.

"Well," Nila chirped innocently, "It looks like out hero also has a heart of gold."

"A-aww, shucks." Kyle could feel his face heating up, "Let me just see what I'm really going to be eating..."

When Kyle opened up his bag, he took out a small white box. Upon opening it with his mouth, he tried to stifle a laugh, and Nila covered her reddening face with a forked tail.

"What do you know," Kyle chuckled, "more sushi."