Water dripped from the ceiling of the underground cavern and onto Dana's helmet as she walked through the passageways. The droplet trickled down and onto the curly red hair that was haphazardly tied together at the back of her neck, but the archaeologist hardly noticed. Instead, she was focused on navigating the familiar tunnels. It was cold down there and smelled like a mixture of dirt and brine: her favorite smell in the morning—or was it the afternoon? Regardless, the scent would normally leave the redhead feeling relaxed, but she was on a mission that kept her far from it.
Dana shifted the pickaxe on her shoulder before turning to the tall pokémon beside her. "Could you hurry it up? We need to get as much as we can for the big conference next week."
Her trusty Gabite snorted as if to tell her that he really didn't care.
"Hey, you can keep most of the gems if we can find good fossils to showcase," she told him. "How's that sound?"
The cave pokémon grumbled before nipping at her elbow in protest.
She winced as she pulled away. "Hey! What did I tell you about biting?"
Gabite closed his eyes and snorted as he turned away, though he continued walking at his trainer's side.
The woman lowered her tone as she admitted, "I know it's a lot more work than usual, but the conference is next week and we really need to make up for all those specimens that were stolen yesterday." She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked down and scoffed. "I can't believe that Maria trusted the museum to keep everything safe after what happened last time." Dana waved her free arm around as her voice grew higher in pitch. "What the heck is wrong with people—stealing those perfect scientific specimens? Who knows if we'll ever find another fossil in such prime condition again? I mean... maybe we'll eventually find something close, but we'll probably never find anything as good."
Gabite froze midway through her verbal tirade, his senses directing him to the wall at their right. A low roar emitted from his throat in an attempt to gather her attention without echoing through the whole underground. She halted her train of thought before stepping aside and placing her hand against the cool rocky surface. Once the scientist located a stable place to begin, she raised her pickaxe and carefully chipped away at the wall. In her search, she managed to uncover a few glittering gems about the size of a marble—not good enough for the exhibition. With a pout, the redhead plucked them from their perches and handed them to Gabite before backing away. Her pokémon's eyes gleamed as he stared at the sparkling jewels between his fingers.
As the two of them pressed onward, Dana returned to her rant. "Maria's never going to tell Roark like it is, and this'll just happen all over again!"
Gabite grunted as he inspected one of the shinier gems.
"You know what?" She clenched her free fist as a fierce grin tugged at her lips. "Maybe I should tell him myself. It's not like our specimens were the only ones lost—the miners lost plenty too. He needs to help set up a real security system for the place."
As she went on and on again, Gabite's eyes went wide. After a series of excited grunts and whistles, he leaned in and nipped at her elbow again.
Dana's free hand flew to the sore spot as she reminded him, "Hey, it hurts when you do that!"
The cave pokémon snorted as he pointed to the wall behind her. Raising an eyebrow, she turned to take a look, and her jaw dropped at the sight. In that large section of wall—probably a good three meters across, spanning from the cavern floor to the ceiling—she could see several pieces of fossil jutting out. To be more accurate, Gabite's new find looked like it could be one massive fossil. The archaeologist's lips curved into a wide grin as she grabbed her pickaxe and went straight to work.