The cave was dark, I couldn't see anything. Togetic, my last pokemon, had just fainted, and her flash faded away.
I knew I should never have entered the cave without a few revives or an excape rope. I was too confident.
I had been wandering alone in complete darkness for a few hours already. I was tired, scared, and my belly was growling for food. Needless to say, I was an easy prey for all the wild pokemons in there. I kept moving foward blindly, dragging my sore feet on the ground. All the wild pokemons' growls seemed to be louder and closer by the minute, echoing in the most distorted manner on the cave's stone walls, making all sounds seem like surrounding me rather than coming from a specific direction. Hunger and thirst started to make me feel and hear things that weren't really there... I'd feel things brush swiftly against my body, hear deep growls behind my ears, or see glowing orbs rush around the corner of my eyes.
I looked at my PokeGear, 23:47. Spending the night up was too risky, I needed to rest. And thinking about calling for help was useless, I was not getting any phone signal on my PokeGear. I was on my own and nobody knew where I was, so if I wanted to come out alive, it was best for me to regain some strength.
I started to feel the walls and stone around me, searching for a hole in which I could hide myself from the bigger pokemons.
I found a hole just big enough to crawl in. Carefully, I slid in, trying not to make loud noises that'd attract attention on myself uselessly. I found myself in a smaller room, I could tell by the fact that I heard no pokemon cry from that place.
It was the right place to sleep, I'd be safe there, or so I hoped.
I barely slept on that night. I constantly felt like I was being observed by an unseen presence, and as the night went on, this presence only grew stronger. It drove me crazy, for it felt like a thousand eyes were staring at me, silently waiting for me to fall asleep before attacking and devouring me. I took off a coat from my backpack and used it as a blacket, pulling it above my head. Although I knew it was a useless thing to do, it helped me feel less vulnerable somehow, and I fell asleep.
Later that night I awoke to the sizzling sound of something sniffing the entrance of the hole on the other side of the cave's wall. I didn't know what it was, but I knew that it was looking for a meal, and I could very well be it. At the thought of it, I started to sweat as my fear rose. Upon trying to move away from this pokemon's nose, my hand hit a small rock which rolled down some small cliff, resonating through the chamber I was in. The pokemon stopped sniffing and went silent for a second... then it growled. A slow, deep, and menacing growl. It was a marowak! At this point I was panicking. Would it try to come inside and get me?
Suddently, the room was illuminated with a strong flash. I fell back, holding my eyes in pain, as I heard the marowak let out a panicked cry and run away. This was too much. What had just happened? Where was that flash from? I didn't know. What I did know is that my retinas were awefully burning from the sudden flash after being in complete darkness for so long. The presence around me only grew stronger, only adding to the pain I was in and the extreme fatigue my body was undergoing, I started to cry. At this point, I think I gave up. I didn't know what would happen to me, but my mind had accepted the worst of outcomes. After about an hour of sobbing, sleep once again took over me.
I awoke to the sound of water dripping next to my ears. It surprised me a bit, but then I thought it might be raining outside, and water was seeping through. I soon noticed a hollow rock in which the dripping water had accumulated. I hadn't noticed that rock there before, but then again, being completely blind to my surroundings could easily make me miss things out. I grabbed the rock and drank its content, although the water tasted awefully ferrous, it felt wonderful as it rehydrated my throat.
I noticed a smell in the air that wasn't there before. Fish. It smelled like fresh fish. The smell was coming from right next to me too.
I felt the floor around me with my hand, and grabbed a small fish lying there. Some small pokemon must've caught it at night while I slept, and dropped it as it noticed me and ran away in fright. I was so hungry... I ate it wouthout thinking.
It wasn't much, but it gave me the strength I needed to get up and keep going. I crawled out of the hole back into the cavern.
My hand suddently stepped on something small and smooth which shreiked and ran away. I jumped. What on earth was that thing? A tarentula?
I heard scratching on the walls and rocks all around me, and the multiple presence came back, stronger than before. It came closer and closer as I was walking; in fact, it was following me.
I tried to ignore it at first, but it soon proved to be useless. That scrathing sound, following me around... was this place haunted? A part of me wanted to know what it was, yet another part of me didn't really want to know. I listened to the latter and walked faster.
Sometimes, as I was going to take a turn, I'd hear a loud "TIK" sound coming from the way I wanted to go, which always scared me and made me run in the opposite direction.
This happened multiple times. There WAS something following me, and it wasn't trying to hide its presence at all. I was wondering why it didn't attack me right there and then, what was it waiting for? Was it chasing its prey around until exhaustion of the said prey? Thoughts were rushing through my mind, and without even knowing, I found myself running. I knew I was done for, and my whole body was shaking.
Then, I saw the light. A faint light right ahead of me! Hope rushed in and I was given a boost of energy to keep runing until I reached that exit. It was all too good to be true, was I hallucinating?
Luckily, I was not, and I reached the end of the cave. I welcomed the light, which seemed so bright although it was raining.
The scratching had stopped. Whatever was following me through the entire cave was not following me anymore. I took a deep breath and turned around to finally see what it was...
...and what I saw made me drop to my knees.
Hundreds of tiny yellow soft fur balls where standing there at the entrance, looking at me.
Joltiks.
I then understood everything.
They had been watching over me all along... they scared off the wild marowak to protect me... they fed me fish and water... and ultimately... they showed me the way out of the cave.
I cried.