Hey, everyone! Another random story based on something in Sableye's PokeDex entry. It eats raw gems and minerals. Then I thought of Crystal Cave and this story came into existence. Yes, I know Sableye are not capable of being recruited until far into the game but I'm bending the rules here. I hope you all like it!

PMD2: Beware of the Hungry Sableye!

"Come on, guys! We're nearly there!" Shi the Mudkip called.

"Sable, keep up! I know you're hungry but you can eat after we make sure Azelf is okay...if the Time Gear hasn't been stolen yet, that is." Ember the Charmander muttered.

"Hungry..." Sable, a young Sableye who Team Flash had found unconscious on the edge of Treasure Town, groaned. His stomach growled again and he looked longingly at the hundreds of crystals he was passing.

"How long until we get there, Shi?" Ember asked, her tail twitching slightly. Her tail was the only thing lighting up the darkness of the tunnels.

"Soon...I think," Shi admitted. "I hope we get there before Grovyle does. Azelf and the Time Gear might be in danger."

"The whole world will be in danger if we don't hurry up!" Ember growled. "Sable, pick up the pace!"

"Right," the Sableye groaned, speeding up a touch. Suddenly, he found his claws breaking a crystal off the wall. He glanced warily at his leaders. Well...I am hungry after all this traveling. How do those guys stand it? Maybe a little bite won't hurt... He gnawed on the gem, feeling it break beneath his razor-sharp teeth.

As they got farther into the cave, they entered a room with three giant crystals in it. Sable simply stared in awe and his stomach only growled more. After the crystals turned blue, a huge cave mouth erupted from the ground...made entirely of crystals. FOOD!! The Sableye pounced, gnawing happily on a gem.

"AAAH! Sable, stop!" Shi cried.

"Sable, you greedy brat!" Ember snapped. "Get off there and let's go! We have to get the Time Gear!"

"No! Hungry!" Sable growled, continuing to devour the crystals one by one.

"Now what?" the Mudkip asked.

"What else? We drag him off there and keep going!" Ember replied, already climbing to reach the hungry Sableye. "Come on, brat! Get over here before I burn you!"

"No! Hungry!" Sable had a limited vocabulary and could barely form a complete sentence, usually saying one word at a time. The Sableye climbed higher and resumed feeding. "My food! Mine!"

"I don't care about those dumb crystals!" the Charmander spat, reaching up to grab his foot. "We have to go! NOW GET DOWN FROM HERE!!" She tossed him over her shoulder toward the ground far below.

Once she got down, Ember dragged Sable through the cave mouth. Shi followed her, quietly gathering some crystals to feed their Dark/Ghost-type companion. Sable didn't wake up until they had discovered Grovyle trying to kill Azelf to get the Time Gear. The trio quickly leaped to his rescue.

"Sorry, Grovyle, but you have to beat us if you want to hurt Azelf!" Ember hissed.

"We can't let you take that Time Gear, Grovyle!" Shi agreed. "I don't know what your intentions are but this must stop!"

"Evil!" Sable spat.

"Fine! Then I'll just have to deal with you three before I make Azelf hand over the Time Gear." Grovyle said. "I apologize for doing this. I have nothing against you but this is something I must do."

"Whatever! We have our secret weapon, right, Shi?" Ember chuckled.

"Yeah!" the Mudkip nodded.

Sable was shoved forward, much to his displeasure. He didn't enjoy fighting, preferring to avoid it as much as possible. Grovyle simply laughed. "You hope to have a single Sableye defeat me? You must be a group of rookies! Getting this Time Gear will be easier than I thought!"

"Wait until Sable shows his true colors. Shi, toss in...the crystal." Ember smirked.

"Yes!" The Mudkip pulled out a single dark blue crystal, attracting Sable's full attention. "Go fetch, Sable!" She tossed the crystal as far as she could, watching happily at it skidded between Grovyle's feet and tapped the crystals behind him.

"That's your plan?" Grovyle held back a laugh. "Do you think tossing a crystal at me will have any effect?"

"Nope, but a hungry Sableye will. Go on, Sable!" Ember cried.

"What?" Then Grovyle realized what was happening. "...Crud!"

Sable launched himself at Grovyle, biting the Grass-type's arm and clawing in desperation to get at the crystal behind Grovyle. Grovyle yelped, clawing back and attempting to dislodge the hungry Pokemon from his arm. The Sableye refused to let go, continuing to gnaw on his arm while his claws swung wildly through the air. Then Shi and Ember attacked together, hurting Grovyle even more.

After a long struggle, a final Flamethrower from Ember managed to knock Grovyle out. As he collapsed, Grovyle noticed the Sableye leaping over him and eating the crystal that had been tossed behind him by the Mudkip. I get it now, he thought. That Sableye must have been pretty hungry if it was willing to attack me just to get that particular crystal when there are hundreds more around us. Clever rookies...clever.

"We did it!" Shi cheered.

"We sure did!" Ember nodded. "And it was all thanks to Sable. Who knew a hungry Sableye could be so strong? Good thing he's on our side."

"Mine!" Sable hissed, gnawing on the crystal happily. "Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine!" he sang.

Now! Grovyle reached out and grabbed Sable's foot, staggering to his feet. Sable screeched, struggling in the Grass-type's grip. Shi and Ember stood stiff as their ally was tossed into them, knocking all three Team Flash members to the ground. Grovyle huffed angrily, stalking toward Azelf.

"Leave Azelf alone!" Ember coughed, dragging herself between the advancing predator and the unconscious victim.

"Get out of my way!" Grovyle barked. "You don't understand how badly I need that Time Gear!"

"Is it worth killing someone over?" Ember demanded.

"As of now, yes!" Grovyle confirmed. "Now move or else!"

"No!" Ember growled.

Ember, Shi thought. Get out of there. I can't lose you, Ember. You're my best friend. Ember!

Just as Grovyle raised his arm to unleash a Leaf Blade attack, Sable struck with a Fury Swipes. Grovyle shouted, fighting back against the enraged and hungry Sableye. "I lost to you once! It won't happen again!" Grovyle shouted, managing to knock Sable away.

Dusknoir appeared in front of Ember and stared in surprise at the battle happening in front of him. "What's going on here?"

"Sable is hungry and mad, so he's taking it out on Grovyle." The Charmander coughed. "Sable is pretty dangerous if he's peeved about something. Grovyle tried to kill me and Sable saved me." Then she noticed something. "Where did you come from?"

"As a Ghost-type Pokemon, I can travel wherever I wish." Dusknoir replied. "It seems my assistance against Grovyle is not needed. Your Sableye companion is handling things quite fine alone."

"I guess so," Shi muttered. "You get him, Sable!"

Grovyle snapped, tossing Sable aside and glaring at Dusknoir. "How like you is it to send one of your lackeys along to help catch me, Dusknoir? Well, I've had quite enough here for one day. I'll return for this Time Gear another day." Grabbing a Luminous Orb, he activated it and used Dig to escape.

"Curses! It seems he has escaped again." Dusknoir glanced at Sable before vanishing. What an impressive Sableye. I'll be sure to search for him once I return to the future. He'll make a great addition to my army of Sableye minions.

After the Guild brought Azelf and Team Flash back to the guild, Shi and Ember celebrated Sable's victorious fight by gathering as many crystals from Crystal Cave as possible and hiding them around the guild. The Sableye enjoyed searching for his food, like doing a scavenger hunt where you can eat what you find. Sable remained happy the rest of the day.

"Food!" he cheered.

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So, how was that for a random story? The fight against Grovyle ended up being put in just so I could explore a bit more on how far Sable will go for food. He's a picky eater, after all (that explains why he ignored the other crystals and aimed for the one behind Grovyle). I had fun writing this. Please review!