Sky Peak (Part 1)

“Mick.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t put that in your mouth.”

The Shinx looks up from the slimy, grimy purple glob that could barely be considered food in his hands, his goggles just slanting down over the top of his eyes as he arches an eyebrow at his Quaxly friend, who appears to be gazing down at him with a rather judgmental, disapproving stare. He catches a brief glimpse of a Lucario and a Delcatty passing by behind his friend. Some local residents of Treasure Town, probably. “I didn’t say I was going to-“

“You don’t even have to say it.” The Quaxly interrupts. “I can tell you’re planning on it just from the way you’re looking at it.”

Mick waves his paw dismissively, rolling his eyes as this only encourages him to keep an even firmer grip on the grimy food, his paws sinking and squishing into it slightly and causing it to emit a faint wheezing sound as if air is escaping from it. “Ralph, c’mon. You mean to tell me that you’ve never wanted to eat grimy food before?”

Ralph visibly recoils in disgust, his beak scrunching up as he physically leans back away from Mick. “Wh- No! Mick, that’s disgusting! You and I both know the second that thing goes anywhere near your mouth, you’re gonna regret it.”

The Shinx scoffs in amusement, flashing Ralph a grin. “What’s life without a few regrets, anyway? You never know, Ralph, maybe this sticky, gooey shit might actually taste great! YOU’VE never been willing to shove sloppy, gooey shit into your mouth, have you? Then you don’t got any right to tell me why I should or shouldn’t eat it.”

Wing meets face as Ralph groans, eyes disappointingly closing shut for a few moments before he opens them back up, his gaze narrowed at Mick. “Mick. That’s Grimer residue. You know, Grimer, a poison type Pokemon, Mick. Do you seriously think you can eat that without suffering any sort of consequences? We were at the Secret Bazaar! You could’ve just had Lickitung-“

“I ain’t letting anyone lick my food clean, man!” Mick snaps back rather defensively, the purple sludgy ‘food;’ squishing in his paws. “That’s probably even worse than just eating it as is! You have any idea how many other foods that tongue has licked clean? That’s fucking gross, bro!”

Ralph leans forward a touch, raising an eyebrow and staring at his friend skeptically. “So you do admit it’s probably not a good idea for you to eat it.”

Mick blinks a few times, staring down at the purple sludge in his hands, some of which was starting to drip down onto the table he was sitting at. He then glances back up at Ralph again, staring back at him. Then glances back down to his food, then back up at Ralph a second time, pouting at him. “Shut up.” And that’s when he promptly shoves the whole glob of grimy food into his mouth.

Ralph, of course, is absolutely horrified, recoiling and covering his beak with his wings. “The whole fucking- Mick are you kidding me?!”

“Shmoo cfaan’t tblmmff mfbl hblowbl tbl lbivfbl mffy lffifbe.” Mick muffles out through his stuffed mouth as he slowly (and rather painstakingly) chews through the grimy food. His face is scrunched and furrowed with deep, intense focus as if he’s carefully analyzing every single little delicacy about the sludge he’s stuffed into his mouth. “Hmmmmmfffff… Ish gog a weerff tekshture… Ish lffike-“

Wait a minute.

Oh Arceus WHY IS THAT SO FUCKING HOT?!

Mick’s eyes widen and water as he spits the food right back out onto the ground, a wet mess of goop splattering into the grass, practically wiping his tongue with his hands as if to get the awful taste out of his mouth. Never mind the fact that he was just holding the thing with his hands in the first place, but hey, the placebo effect seems to be doing the trick well.

Mick gags one last time before shaking his head, panting heavily, broken out into a sweat from the amount of heat radiating through his mouth. Who knew that Grimer residue could even be spicy? Wait- No, not even spicy, that was just pure, unfiltered heat mixed with a tinge of something rot. He looks up and sees the Kecleon brothers nervously staring at him from their shop, the Shinx flashing them an uneasy smile.

Ralph lets out an unamused, tired sigh, leaning on his wing against the table as he stares blankly at Mick. “So. How was it?” He asks with a dull, tired tone in his voice.

“Y’know not too bad actually.” Mick says without missing a beat, quickly recomposing himself as he turns back to face Ralph. “REALLY fucking squishy, just kinda, melts in your mouth. Not in the good way mind you, it’s like you’re chowing down on a whole bowl full of gummis all at once, but those gummis are all Blast Seed flavored. Texture was nice, flavor leaves a lot to be desired. Four out of ten, I’d eat it if I had to.”

Ralph scoffs in response, rolling his eyes and shaking his head before his gaze lands back on his friend. “Alright. Now, if you’re done tasting our loot, can we finally get a move on and figure out where we’re gonna decide to go next? Please?“

“Yeah, yeah, our little break is done.” Mick closes up the wonderbag and slings it over his head so it’s resting comfortably on the side of his body. “Okay! Team Shockquatic moving out!” He hops off his little chair and eagerly gestures for Ralph to follow along with him down Treasure Town’s road.

Ralph, after readjusting his tie a little bit, stands up and stretches his wings out a little, making sure his hair is neat and orderly before resting his wings back down at his sides, following right beside his friend. “I still can’t believe you haven’t come up with anything else yet. How long have we been stuck with Shockquatic again? Like-“

“Hey, coming up with team names is really fucking hard, man.” Mick retorts with a shrug, lip pushed out in a pouty fashion. “Everything else I coulda gone with was already taken by someone else. It’s tough being original.”

The Quaxly lets out a single laugh, beak smirking. “Not saying it in a bad way or anything. It’s very you to come up with a lame name for something.”

Mick can’t help but snort, which is briefly interrupted by a Dratini slithering their way past them, Mick briefly watching them slither off before turning back to Ralph with a cheeky smile. “The hell is that supposed to mean, bro? You calling me creatively bankrupt or something?”

“Duh. But I’m calling you creatively bankrupt in an affectionate way.” Ralph chuckles, slowly moving out of the way as another Pokemon seems to run by. A Girafarig, whose tail seems to be giving both Mick and Ralph the death glare as it runs off into the distance.

“Pff, thanks for the vote of confidence, I gue- Agh!” Mick is nearly trampled by another set of Pokemon running past them, a Totodile and an Axew. “Hey! What the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..” Shit, they’re kids. Quick, course correct! “uuuuuddge is going on?!” Flawless. “Why’s everyone in such a hurry?!” He can hear Ralph stifling a laugh beside him. His muzzle scrunches up in annoyance.

The Axew turns around while their Totodile friend keeps running off. “Big news for explorers at Spinda’s Cafe! Nobody knows what it is yet and we’re all rushing there to find out! Can’t talk, see ya!” The Axew waves a few times and then quickly runs back off in pursuit of their Totodile friend.

“Nice save, bud. Real nice save.” Ralph snickers to himself, fighting back more laughter.

“Hmm…” Mick hums curiously, scratching at his head. “Big news at Spinda’s cafe, huh?” A smile slooooooooooowly starts curling up on his lips as he gradually turns his head to face Ralph. “I know where we’re goiiiiiiiiiing.~”

Mick and Ralph had made their way over to Spinda’s Cafe, standing just outside the stairway down to the entrance, ready to head down and- “Just gimme oooooone second.” Mick closes his eyes, arching his body back a little bit as if deep in focus. Bit of his body begin to glow through his blue fur, imprints of streaks of lightning shining all throughout his body, faintly pulsing and glowing. Mick smirks to himself as he checks himself out, looking rather boastful and proud. “There we go.~” To which he then promptly starts making his way down the steps.

Ralph scoffs, rolling his eyes as he starts descending down the steps along with Mick. “Are you seriously gonna turn on your light tattoos every single time we go somewhere? It’s just a cafe, not some big fancy meeting with the toughest of the tough or anything of the sort.”

Mick flashes a cheeky little smirk back at Ralph, his goggles sliding down his face as he slows down his descent down the steps, lest he tumble, fall, and make a total embarrassment of himself. “Ralph, Ralph, Ralph. We gotta let ’em know that we’re the shit! Let ’em know that we mean business, and nothing says meaning business like showing you got some serious tats. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re wearing a tie!”

“It’s a fashion choice, not a flex, you showoff.” Ralph respond with a shake of his head and a mildly annoyed sigh. “Come on, man, turn them off. You’re making yourself look like… I don’t know, like you’re my ornament decoration, like I’m wearing you as a prop or something. It’s embarrassing for both of us.”

Mick waves his tail back and forth dismissively as he shakes his head in response with a chuckle. “And that’s where you’re wrong, buddy. It’s not embarrassing, it’s intimidating. Lets everybody know we’re a serious team.”

“I’d argue we’re far from a serious team, but whatever, I suppose.” Ralph scoffs, a small smile tugging up at the corner of his beak. “Dweeb.”

“Dork.~” Mick retorts back as if it’s the hardest, most wild comeback in the universe, putting some strut in his step as the two eventually reach the bottom of the stairway, pushing through the door and opening to a massive crowd all gathered in the middle of the cafe, the many scents of flavored gummi drinks permeating the air of the cafe, a blend of sweet, sour, spicy and everything in-between.

Spinda stands at the back of the cafe, Wobbuffet and Wynaut standing at their sides. They clear their throat and speak up, making sure their voice is loud enough to be heard amongst the noise. “May I have everyone’s attention pleeeeeeease!” The chattering crowd goes quiet, every Pokemon in the cafe all focused on Spinda. “Thank you.~ And thank you all for taking time out of your schedules to be here today, because we’ve got some important news to share with everyone!”

“That’s right!” The Wobbuffet says firmly, doing her usual salute routine as she nods her head, waiting for Spinda to continue.

“Now then.” Spinda’s swirly eyes glance out across the crowd. “Has anyone here ever heard of a mountain called Sky Peak?”

Mick’s attention is very quickly caught. A place they hadn’t heard of before? This had ‘new expedition’ written all over it! “Sky Peak?”

“I’ve read plenty about it.” The crowd’s attention gathers to a voice on the far side of the cafe. It was the same Lucario and Delcatty that Mick had seen earlier, only now he’s able to get a much better look at them. The Lucario had very long black hair reaching all the way down to his shoulders, very messy looking, his body covered in what seemed like… What are those, clock-like symbols and markings? Mick squints to try and get a better look, but they do seem very, uh, time-like. Seems to fit the necklace he’s wearing too, a clock with blue highlights.

The Delcatty looked shiny, but seemed off-color, leaning towards a more sunset pallet rather than the typical orange and pink that a typical shiny would have. No such markings, but was wearing a necklace not too dissimilar to the Lucario’s, a simple heart in the same style of the clock.

“It’s a really, really tall mountain over to the east,” The Lucario continues. “In fact, it’s so tall that it’s said to reach as high as the sky! But because it’s surrounded by an impassable mountain range, any and all paths leading to Sky Peak have long since been lost to time. While there have been some reports from Pokemon who’ve supposedly managed to find their way to Sky Peak, they provide very little info and none of it has been officially documented.”

Spinda smiles and nods in the Lucario’s direction. “Wouldn’t expect any less of an answer from you, Rickety.” They turn their head back to the rest of the crowd as they continue on from where the Lucario left off. “Now, that sounds like enough to catch the attention of any explorer, doesn’t it? A mysterious mountain range which very few have explored before, so little known of it, said to reach the very sky itself! It almost makes you wanna go straight for it and see what it’s all about!”

“Didn’t Rickety just say that the path has been lost to time, though?” Ralph speaks up with a hint of skepticism in his voice, a wing resting against his hip. “Then we can’t get there, right?”

“I was just getting to that, actually!~” Spinda says enthusiastically, jumping a bit, stumbling around a little before regaining their footing. “Not too long ago, we discovered the entrance to a cave that we believe to be connected to Sky Peak. Only problem, it was blocked off by lots and LOTS of boulders! But thanks to the combined efforts of the Ultra Beasts and the Expedition Society, we’ve finally cleared out the entire tunnel! Not only that, but we’ve also found a small, hidden village located at the base of Sky Peak! A village consisting solely of Shaymin!”

Shaymin? That sounds familiar. Mick scratches at his head, trying to think a bit deeper. Maybe he should’ve paid a little more attention in history class. Hmmph.

“We may not know much about the Shaymin, but they’re all more than happy to make our acquaintance as we learn more about Sky Peak! And furthermore… On the outskirts of the village, according to the Expedition Society, they’ve found a mountain path leading to the summit of Sky Peak!”

Mick’s jaw drops wide, his head slowly, gradually turning up towards Ralph with the stupidest, biggest smile on his face, while Ralph, meanwhile, stares down at him with an amused smirk. “We’re heading to Sky Peak’s summit, aren’t we?” Ralph asks, fighting to hold back a muffled laugh.

“It’s almost like you read my mind!” Mick eagerly responds, his tail swishing back and forth behind him in excitement. “New village, new location to explore, so many new things to potentially find! This could be our big break, Ralph! If we’re the first to make it to the top, this could be a huge step forward! Higher up the ranks, more important jobs, we NEED to get there as soon as we can!”

Ralph lightly baps the top of Mick’s head with a wing, causing his goggles to slide down over his eyes. “Easy there, amigo. We don’t even have the place marked on our map yet, give them a sec to wrap up before you go bolting out the door.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I know, I know.” Mick’s attention is drawn back to Spinda. Well, not really. His mind wanders, thinking of all the different kinds of things they might find at the summit of Sky Peak, or even the way up there. Treasure, maybe something ancient that nobody else has discovered before, the possibilities are endless! One thing’s for sure. In his mind, one thing is absolutely certain.

Team Shockquatic WILL be the first ever team to ever reach the top of Sky Peak.