With my new Pokémon fastened securely in its ball in the loop in my belt, I began to try to slowly make my way out of the cave. I came across too many forks in the path to count, choosing whichever one seemed to slope down to the greatest degree. When I judged that the Rhyhorn was likely too many twists and turns away to find me again, I lit my lantern and was relieved to be able to travel by lanternlight rather than by touch and feel. At some point I stopped to eat some of the dry rations that I'd packed from the Cressellian chest.
I briefly released my new Pokémon, but it was still unconscious. The only way I knew it wasn't dead was that the Pokéball had worked on it – Pokéballs wouldn't interact with dead Pokémon.
Now that I had a bit of a respite, I studied the Pokémon in greater detail than I'd had the opportunity to when I'd first encountered it. Its body was made of a hard, blue-tinged metal. The opening that I thought might have been an eye socket was actually two small holes intersecting along one edge, like two spheres of a snowman. An X-shaped scar criss-crossed the larger of the two holes, which was centrally placed on the sphere of its head. All told, the Pokémon's body was barely two feet long. It must be very densely built for how heavy it was at that size. I imagined it must have some physical attacks that packed quite a bit of punch – something like Tackle or Take Down would be effective – not very exciting attacks, but they would get the job done with a Pokémon this heavy, especially if it could use whatever force allowed it to move around to move at quick speeds. Given its metal casing, I wondered if the Pokémon was a Steel type. Given its display against the Rhyhorn, I was fairly confident in assessing it as a psychic type. That would be a very powerful combination of types – or, it would be, if the two Houses arrayed against me weren't those that specialized in Fire and Dark-type Pokémon, which were super-effective against Steel and Psychic, respectively.
Oh, well. Beggars couldn't be choosers. And one of the first things that Cressellian cadets learned was that a well-trained Pokémon could overcome any type disadvantage. Proper training often had the edge over innate ability.
I opened a tin of Pokémon food and placed it next to what I thought was the Pokémon's head, seeing if the smell would entice it to awake. Not that I was even sure that it could smell. After a few minutes with no response, I packed my things back up, returned the Pokémon to its Pokéball, and set out again, spelunking for my way out of the cave.
I encountered several more Pokémon as I walked, but nothing as aggressive as the pack of Rhyhorn. I saw some Zubat and Woobat perched high amonst the stalagtites, scattering as my lanternlight touched them. I saw Geodudes and Gravellers, but they didn't seem to be interested enough in me to stir themselves from their bouldery perches.
After a time, I grew tired and figured I should probably sleep. Whether it was night or not I wasn't sure, but I wouldn't be much good to Vannarae if I stumbled from the cave like the living dead. I didn't release the Pokémon, opting to instead let it rest in the healing embrace of its Pokéball. I found an out-of-the-way alcove, shut off my lantern, ate some more of my rations and slept.
When I awoke, the darkness of the cave was unchanged. I was still tired, but with no indication of how long I'd slept, I shook the crick out of my back, lit my lantern, and continued on my way.
I took more turns, chose paths of a fork on little more than a whim, and even crept past a line of boulders that I realized to be a sleeping Onix. I didn't want to try my luck escaping that when it was awake.
At one point I came to a fork in the path. Both paths seemed to go off at the same elevation, so I was about to choose one at random, when all of a sudden a Spearow flapped past me from the other fork. I jumped out of the way of its flapping wings, but it didn't stop to interact with me. It cast one glance over its shoulder, then continued flying into the darkness of the cave.
Now I wasn't an expert on Pokémon habitats, but I was fairly sure that Spearow didn't live in caves. Which meant that it had likely come in from the outside. At the speed it had been moving, it had almost appeared that it was fleeing from something.
I began to run down the tunnel the Spearow had emerged from. After a few minutes, the cave around me began to lighten. Gradually it grew brighter and brighter until the light of my lantern was no longer necessary.
I could see an arch of blinding white light.
An exit.
A grin split my face as I erupted into the blinding day under a clear blue sky.
The grin quickly turned into a rictus as my eyes adjusted and I could see the scene before me: Princess Vannarae, clothing scuffed and hair mussed up, with her back pressed against the stone side of Mt. Fehu. In front of her, Belen Daguz, looking with grim determination upon a Pokémon battle that was unfolding.
Vanta was on the field, and looked much the worse for wear. The Zorua was breathing heavily and its fur was matted down in places with blood.
On the other side of the field were two trainers in the crimson uniforms of House Wunjo. Both had Pokémon released, though only one was currently engaged in battle – a female trainer was battling Vanta with a Combusken. I could immediately see why Vanta was so poorly off – Combusken, the pre-evolution of the Blaziken wielded with such viciousness by Duke Wunjo himself, was fighting-type in addition to fire. Its fighting-type attacks would be devastatingly effective against the dark-type Zorua.
The other Wunjo trainer had what I recognized as a Talonflame – A fire/flying dual-type Pokémon that was a powerful third evolution. It would be many levels of strength beyond either Zorua or Combusken to have already evolved twice. No doubt the only reason it wasn't fighting instead of Combusken was that it was the Wunjo trainers' method of travel. They'd probably seen Belen and Rae emerge from the mountain from the skies on Talonflame's back and dived down to apprehend them. Belen had been right – Wunjo's forces had been hot on his heels. Even if Vanta could somehow deal with the Combusken, it would be both weakened and overwhelmingly overmatched by the Talonflame.
But I had an idea how we might deal with the pair of Wunjo trainers and buy us enough time to escape the area and get to safety. It would be risky, but I couldn't see a way out of this that wasn't. Here was hoping the healing properties of Charmander's Pokéball had been enough to bring my new Pokémon back into fighting shape. And that it was willing to help out its new trainer, despite my not having actually, you know, trained it.
Rae heard my boots crunching on the gravel outside the cave and turned to me. "Jessin! You're alive!" The relief in her voice was palpable. "This is bad," she said. "I don't know if Belen and Vanta can win this."
At Rae's exclamation, the three Pokémon trainers turned and noticed me as well.
"Is that the other one?" the Talonflame's trainer asked.
"Don't worry about her," the Combusken's trainer responded. "The Duke said she doesn't have any Pokémon. This Zorua is all we have to worry about."
"Is that what the traitor said?" I said, trying to project a confidence into my voice that I didn't feel, a pang going through me at the reminder of Charmander's demise. "I'm afraid you've gotten some bad intel." I raised my Pokéball, hoping against hope that more than an unconscious pile of metal would emerge from it.
"Thunderarm, I choose you!" I shouted, and in a flash of red light, my Pokémon emerged.
It was not a corpse. It emerged floating 5 feet off the ground like it had been when it had saved me from the Rhyhorn. As it emerged, it spun in the air to face me with the unsettlingly empty eye socket. A metallic, droning hum emanated from it. I met its unseeing gaze and nodded. Please, I willed it. I don't know if it sensed my thoughts or merely thought it would roll with the situation, but the Pokémon spun to "face" the other combatants on the field, as if I truly was is trainer and we had endured many battles together.
"What is that?" the Talonflame's trainer asked.
"That's a…" Belen began, his eyes wide with surprise.
"It's my Thunderarm," I cut him off quickly. "The final evolution of Sparkfinger. A psychic and electric type. Just right to fry up a pair of chickens, wouldn't you say?"
Catching on, Belen allowed himself to grin. "Indeed. Let's see how you like it with the type advantage turned against you, hmm?"
I wasn't going to give the Wunjo trainers too much time to collect their thoughts. I could only hope that my Pokémon was rare enough that if I hadn't recognized it, they wouldn't either. "Thunderarm, use a psychic attack on the Combusken!" I pointed at the yellow-and-red, bipedal chicken that was threatening Vanta. I hoped that I hadn't been wrong about the nature of the attack the Pokémon had used to stop the Rhyhorn in its tracks.
My Pokémon tilted in the air and turned to look back at me. I suddenly realized that while it must have some method of sensing those around it, it must not know how to identify which one was Combusken – it couldn't see me pointing.
"The Pokémon second-nearest to us," I clarified.
The Pokémon's droning hum intensified and it turned back to its opponent. It began to glow blue, and suddenly the Combusken did as well. Combusken's face stretched in suprise as it was lifted off the ground, and its talons scrabbled for purchase.
It didn't find it. My Pokémon used its psychic powers to batter Combusken repeatedly against the ground until it shut its eyes and fell unconscious.
"Combusken, return!" its trainer shouted in distress, returning the Pokémon to its Pokéball in a beam of red light.
I released a breath, impressed that my plan had worked so flawlessly thus far. I knew psychic was strong against fighting, but I was still impressed that my Pokémon had managed to take out the Combusken in just one attack. It made the con I was trying to pull that much more believable.
"Shit!" the Combusken's trainer said. She took a step backwards. "Merrow, do you what that thing is? Can Talonflame take it?"
The Talonflame's trainer – Merrow, apparently – had a look of worry on his face. "I don't know, I've never heard of a Thunderarm!"
"If it takes out Talonflame, we have no way out of here. Isn't it better for us to escape and get word back to the Duke about their location? We can't take the risk!"
"Oh no, you're not getting away!" This came from Belen. "Not after what you did to my Zorua! Jessin, have Thunderarm zap that bird out of the sky!" As he said it, Belen suddenly grasped at his chest and gave a short scream, falling to his knees in pain.
"Belen!" I shouted, running to him. Had he taken a wound from the Wunjo trainers? My "Thunderarm" followed me, ignoring the Wunjo trainers for the moment.
"Come on, Merrow! Now's our chance!"
Merrow spared my Pokémon an uncertain look, but nodded and mounted up on the flying Pokémon behind his partner and took to the air. "We'll be back for you soon, traitors!" he shouted down when he judged himself a safe distance from whatever electric attacks my Pokémon might know. My Pokémon increased the volume of its drone to a threatening level and Talonflame veered away on an escape course.
When I was sure they weren't circling back for a surprise attack, I bent down over Belen. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," he said, shrugging off my ministrations and getting to his feet. He grinned. "I guess I sold it?"
My eyes widened as I realized he'd been faking it – providing the suspicious Merrow a reason why I wasn't pressing the attack with my supposed electric-type Pokémon. I punched Belen in the shoulder, but couldn't prevent an answering grin from spreading on my own face.
"Thunderarm?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I had about ten seconds to come up with that!" The Pokémon in question floated over to us and I laid a hand on its back. "Thank you, friend. Sorry to put you in a dangerous situation like that – it was an emergency."
The Pokémon droned in a high, pulsating chirp. Was that forgiveness? Recrimination? If this Pokémon was going to stay with me, I'd have to learn how to interpret the noises it made.
"Say, do you know what Pokémon this is? It seemed like you might, earlier," I asked Belen.
"You don't?" Belen asked.
I shook my head.
"It's a Beldum," Belen said. "I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it – they're very rare, and not from this area at all. I haven't seen one in person before, just illustrations. Though this one seems to have been blinded – in the illustrations I've seen, they have a red eye in that socket. How'd you come across it, anyway?"
"It saved me from that Rhyhorn with a psychic attack after I tripped over it," I said. "But it seemed to be hurt, so I caught it so that my Pokéball would heal it. Is it a psychic-type?"
"Psychic and steel," Belen said, confirming my suppositions. "A good thing our little play worked – that Talonflame would have cooked it with a fire attack."
I winced at that. "Speaking of, we had better get out of here before they find reinforcements and come back for us."
At that moment, Rae got to us. "Jessin, you're alive!" she leapt through the air and threw her arms around me, sending us both tumbling to the ground.
"Oof," I grunted. "A little less than I was a moment ago, but yeah!"
"Sorry," Rae said sheepishly, and got up off me. Belen extended a hand and pulled me to my feet.
"Who's this? You caught a new Pokémon?"
"Kind of," Jessin said. "Mostly I was just trying to protect it. It's a Beldum, according to Belen."
"Cool!" Rae said. "Is it going to travel with us?"
"That's a question for it, I suppose," I said. "What do you say, Beldum? Do you want to keep travelling with us, with me as your trainer, or do you want to be released back into the wild? I'll be happy to let you go if that's what you want – but I'd also love to have you as my Pokémon. It's going to be a dangerous journey, though. If you come with us, I can't promise your safety."
You could never be sure how much Pokémon would understand – some were smarter than others, and those captured by Pokéballs become even smarter through faerie magic and the bond it formed between them and their trainers. But the Beldum moved its body in a way that approximated a nod. It floated forward and tapped its Pokéball at my waist. It trilled happily.
I smiled, trying not to think of what had happend to the last Pokémon to inhabit that ball. "I guess that settles that, then. Welcome to the team, Beldum!"
"What are you going to name it?" Rae asked.
I shook my head. "That is a question for another day. After we're well away from the place where are enemies know to find us. For now, Beldum will do. Beldum, return!" I held up its Pokéball and returned it before clasping the ball into the slot at my waist.
"Vanta, you too!" Belen returned his battered Pokémon to its Pokéball for a healing rest. "I'm agreed that we should get out of here, but where to?" He looked up warily at the skies.
"You said this was Mt. Fehu, right?" Rae asked.
Belen nodded.
"Then we ought to be pretty close to Fehu City. Duke Fehu will take us in."
I frowned. "Are you sure we can trust him? How do you know he's not in league with Wunjo?"
"If he was, my mother never said anything about it," Belen said. "As far as I knew, only Houses Wunjo and Daguz were in on the plan.
"Still, it might be better to keep our heads low until there's a little more info out there about what's going on. Even if Fehu isn't a traitor, is he really willing to stick out his neck for you? What do you know about him."
"Oh, I've met him at a half-dozen stuffy functions," Rae said. "And what I know about him is that he is a Duke of Edda. It doesn't matter if he likes me or not – he is honor-bound to restore me to my throne as a loyal vassal of the kingdom."
Belen looked at me questioningly.
Finally, I relented with a shrug. "Well, it's a direction to walk, at least."
