The sounds of the human's footsteps continued to reach Nidorina's sensitive ears; with a mixture of relief that he had made it this far without losing himself, and the consternation that it was about damn time he did something right, she returned to sniffing the cave floor for the faintest scent of the Clefairy left behind by the creature's passing. On the surface, with its relative plethora of different smells and scents, the Nidorina would have never found a trail at all; however, down here, there was only the smell of rock and still air, and soon the blue discerned a faint and alien scent – Clefairy.

The Nidorina continued on, guided only by her nose and her burning curiosity; in the pitch black, there was nothing to see by, since the mushrooms only grew in the natural passages that lined each side, and not the tunnel the Onix had recently bored. Gradually, other smells began to intermingle, and Nidorina dreaded the possibility that the Clefairy trail would be lost, until she realized the smells the scent trail was being muddled in, were all very similar – and growing in strength.

There must be others of its kind here; one of them has to be the one I met on the mountainside. The Nidorina thought; judging by the of the sounds still echoing in the cave passage behind her, the human was still on her tail – he had simply fallen far behind. However, the scent trails of the Clefairy were not yet strong enough even altogether that she felt they wouldn't be lost in the human's ambient scents when he joined her; thus, reluctantly, the Nidorina moved off again alone.

The sounds of the mountain rumbling somewhere to the fore made the Nidorina nervous; the Onix had might not yet have retraced its path down this tunnel, which would only mean it was still somewhere ahead. However, eventually, the scent trail the blue followed reached a comfortably strong presence of body that the Nidorina slackened her pace; she became confident that it was strong enough she might be able to follow it even in the presence of the human, and so finally stopped to listen for the biped's progress and wait for him to join her.

"Although you have delayed, it is good that you have come." The sudden noise in the otherwise silent cavern startled Nidorina so much that surprise stunned her completely, and she froze, unable to even cry out in surprise. When she was again in control of her faculties and certain her heart had not stopped, the blue rounded on the soft voice of the speaker, her eyes searching blindly in the dark. "Who are you? Where are you?!" She demanded of the darkness in a barely hushed voice.

"You know who, or at least what I am – but, that is not important. It is not why you were brought here." The voice, soft, gentle, and melodic, reached out to her from the darkness; in the tight confines of the cave, it seemed to come from everywhere at once, and yet each time the Nidorina decided on the direction it likely came from, the source of the voice seemed to change again, dancing at the edge of her perceptions.

"'Brought'? I came here of my own volition – I met one of your kind once before; it may have even been you specifically, in fact. You saved my human – although I am not at all ungrateful, I wanted to know how, and why. Why did you disappear? What is this place?" The Nidorina spoke. "The answer to those questions will come in time. The taker you spoke of will be along, but for now, we have much to discuss. You can be trusted; come with me, mountain-sister." The voice said; Nidorina blinked in bewilderment.

The odd creature had spoken each sentence as a statement of fact, rather than question the Nidorina; although how the creature could be so certain of its statement was lost on the blue, she nevertheless felt relief at knowing the human would in fact find his way to her, somehow. Seemingly materializing out of the gloom, Nidorina now sensed the definite presence of the Clefairy beside her, walking now instead of hopping along.

" Make no mistake: I was sent to guide you here, mountain-sister. You are the first visitor to have been purposefully brought into our sanctuary in many years; we rarely leave it, and have never purposefully allowed takers to discover its presence. Greetings." The odd pink being said in its quiet, sing-song voice. "'Takers'?" The Nidorina repeated blankly; a brief stroke of intuition struck the blue, and her brow furrowed. "...Do you mean 'humans'?" The Nidorina asked, falling into step beside the Clefairy.

"That is what you call them, yes. Humans, Takers… They come, and they take. They take the Pokemon of the mountain away; they try to take our sisters and brothers away; they try to take the precious heart of the mountain away. They take, and they never leave anything but disharmony and emptiness behind them, and bring more of their kind, which always seek to take ever more. Thus, we have come to know them as takers; it is an unfortunate truth, but it is one we have had to learn to live with." The Clefairy said; nothing in her tone betrayed anger or resentment; Nidorina wondered at why the creature seemed almost passive in her description of their plight.

The Nidorina felt somewhat bewildered by the odd explanation – something about the Clefairy's logic seemed sound… And yet at the same time, the implications made the Nidorina uncomfortable; her thoughts drifted back to the human still fumbling his way blindly down the tunnel somewhere far behind – was he a taker? Although it was true he would undoubtedly 'take' them away from the mountain in time, both she and Featherbeak had joined him willingly.

"…Why have you brought me here? Brought us here, if visitors are not welcome?" Nidorina asked, feeling a subtle nervousness creep into her. "We do not allow takers to find our home, but you are not truly a servant of theft; this was easy to see – thus, you are here. However, the one you travel with was another matter entirely." The Clefairy said, turning to look down the tunnel where sounds of the human picking his way through the rock continued to echo.

"What do you mean by that?" The Nidorina asked, cautiously. The Clefairy was silent for a few moments – whether it was to listen to the progress of the human, to gather its thoughts, or some other reason altogether, the Nidorina was at a loss to guess at what. "The one you travel with – his intentions were difficult to read at first, and he was originally slated for removal if he tried to venture where he did not belong." The Clefairy replied, still with no inflections in her tone; Nidorina paused.

"'Removal'?" The blue repeated nervously, dreading the implications. "Removal." The Clefairy reaffirmed, its tone neutral. "We are already few enough; like you, we reserve the right to defend ourselves. He would have been compelled to either leave, or leave us alone; there are many ways to trick and misdirect takers so that they leave of their own accord. And if all else failed, we would have removed him ourselves, as we have sometimes had to do in the past." The Clefairy responded.

The Nidorina's spines raised slightly – the direction the conversation was going did not bode well. However, as she chose her next words, the blue let out a defeated sigh – a mental image of Featherbeak, staring silently at her, passed through the Nidorina's mind: the human's actions had spoken for themselves – it was finally time for the blue to admit that which Featherbeak probably already knew and she had not wanted to admit all along.

"You might have led me here because you want or need something from me, but if you hurt my human companion in any way, I will leave. Immediately." The Nidorina said, gradually feeling the beginnings of protectiveness stir within her; although the Nidorina dearly hoped to avoid conflict with the mysterious Clefairy, the threat was not an idle one. "…I have spent time in his company, watching the things he does. He is harmless, and an idiot, and while he may be a harmless idiot, he is my harmless idiot. He's not a "taker" as you call him." The blue declared.

The Clefairy was silent for a few moments, before it finally spoke again. "...There was much debate on that subject." It remarked, unconvinced; further, the Nidorina could not tell if the comment was sarcasm or truth. "Although it was not you he was after when he first arrived on the Mountain, he did come here to take, whether you realize it or not, mountain-sister." The Clefairy explained, sobering the Nidorina.

"I too will admit, he has changed much – very much – in the past few days, and that is the only reason we have brought you both here. He has been difficult to read from afar; that is why I was sent to study him closer, and to check up you." The Clefairy said; this statement stopped Nidorina in her tracks. "It may please you to note that I determined your sentiments about him to be true." The Clefairy remarked.

"I observed his attempt at capturing you from afar, but I realized he had only been trying to defend himself, per your remarks on his… Inexperience… I would never have intervened and saved him from ascending to the great beyond if I had learned otherwise." The Clefairy explained; the encounter had seemed so incidental – Nidorina could hardly believe it had all been premeditated.

" You two are both highly unconventional in your own ways, but there that is not necessarily a weakness. That your positive influence might rub off was the primary reason we decision to spare your companion, and that decision has begun to pay off – he might be ready to help us now." The Clefairy said. Nidorina stayed rooted in place. "What are you? How can you know all this?" She asked.

"That is not important. You have seen the serpent that now plagues this mountain; it collapses our homes, risks leading the takers to us, and has unintentionally threatened to destroy that which is more precious to us than you could ever imagine. We cannot wait any longer; the time has come for you to act." The Clefairy explained, evenly, and the Nidorina warily regarded the Clefairy's words skeptically for a moment, since she could not see the Pokémon itself in the blackness.

"…You talk of all this foresight, and you saved my human from death. You sound as if you aren't exactly weak and defenseless; why, I'll bet you could easily deal with that Onix yourselves. Why do you need help from my human and I?" Nidorina asked. The Clefairy fell silent, listening for the human, still working his way cautiously along by feel in the dark. "I returned the life to the outsider which you nearly took from him yourself. For a gift so precious, a simple favor is all we ask in return." The Clefairy replied.

"I'm… Not ungrateful, and I'm not unsympathetic to your plight. I only want to know why you seem to think we'll do so much better a job dealing with this Onix than you." The Nidorina pressed, unwilling to be guilt-tripped into silence. The Clefairy paused, evidently listening for the human, who was now beginning to pick up speed; Nidorina guessed he must have been close enough to begin hearing their conversation, and sped up.

"Regarding the serpent: Yes, we could easily banish it from this place ourselves – but, that is not in our best long-term interest. As for myself, I am not hiding anything – I gave only specific answers to the questions you asked." The Clefairy answered, evidently contented to fall silent and remain so now that the human approached. "That still wasn't a straight answer." Nidorina insisted, after it became apparent no additional responses were forthcoming. "That is because now I am not answering your questions." It finally replied.

"You're rather nosy, for not being a taker." The Clefairy remarked, but hesitated for a moment, before finally speaking. "You were born here; you were raised here. You were once as much a part of this mountain as we are; in some ways, you will always will be, mountain-sister." The mysterious creature said; the past-tense wording of its response made the Nidorina frown. "For that reason, we wanted to keep this matter 'within the family', so to speak, before you drifted from here and embraced the ways of the outsider." The Clefairy explained.

Nidorina bristled at this statement, but the creature spoke again before she could protest. "As for involving your human, should you two prevail over the serpent, then it may be that the human will embrace the ways of the mountain – and if he does, then he may yet prove to be useful to us in the future, as a sometime-ally. " At this, Nidorina said nothing, merely falling silent for a moment.

"I suppose you already know that there is another human here, up on the surface?" Nidorina asked. "Yes. My revealing myself to you with her there was a calculated risk; she will try to follow you, but she will be led intentionally astray of this place, for her own safety and ours. We cannot risk exposing ourselves to her; her curiosity will only want to bring more and more of her kind here – however well-intentioned they may be at first – and that we simply cannot allow."

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"The outsider, is he here?" A new voice in the darkness asked, and the human started slightly, as did Nidorina; he mumbled something in human speak, reaching out to place a hand on Nidorina's flank; the simple knowledge that he was here brought her a small measure of comfort, though he said nothing. "Yes, elder. And the mountain-pup is here as well." This reference made the Nidorina's ears twitch; the Nidorina was caught off guard by this new and unknown being's even more eerie silence; she'd listened her hardest and never heard any hint of anyone other than the human join them.

"We are both here; what happens now?" Nidorina asked, wishing for once that she had been born a Zubat, that she may see what else inhabited the subterranean cavern the guide had brought them to sometime earlier. "The serpent approaches – although it does not realize it yet, its course will finally bring it directly into contact with our home and our source of power; we must halt its advance here, or it will bring utter calamity upon us. Your outsider and you will need to meet it head on." The being said; the sing-song voice betrayed no emotion at all, despite the apparent gravity of the situation.

" You make it sound as if you've been expecting this Onix to attack all along." Nidorina observed. "We have. This has not been the first time it has run afoul of our kind in the past lunar cycle; the serpent ails, and its condition is driving it increasingly mad, making it strike out against anything and everything in its path, including us. Come." The mysterious Elder bade her, and together, Alex and the Nidorina shuffled blindly along until gradually, she discerned light somewhere ahead – the human picked up his speed, and the Nidorina followed.

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The pair exited the tunnel and found themselves standing in a small open-air chamber in which dozens of Clefairy industriously moved about; late evening sun poured through the skylight-like hole in the cavern ceiling, illuminating an enormous glittering mass in the center of the cavern. The reflective shine of a large pile of small glittering rocks illuminated the Clefairy as they bustled about it, seemingly hard at work transporting the brilliantly scintillating shards of what may have once been a much larger stone to and fro; the sight was one that Alex was totally unprepared for.

There were many of the incredibly rare pink creatures going and coming, and unfortunately, the longer Alex watched, the more it became apparent that these Pokemon's almost regimented work speed was not natural; desperation fueled them, and with a low rumbling that came and went every now and then it didn't take long for him to decide their unusual behavior was closely linked with that of the Onix rampaging through the mountain.

Almost all of the Clefairy ignored Alex entirely in their work, very few randomly pausing to regard him with varying degrees of curiosity, and of those few, even less of them seemed to take interest in the presence of Nidorina. For her part, Nidorina watched them come and go impassively from her place seated beside Alex; more than a few of them nursed tell-tale injuries that made Alex's heart bleed in sympathy.

If Ranger Jenny was right about how rare these creatures are, any trainer in the world would probably kill for the opportunity to find this place, Alex thought, uncomfortably. Capturing even just one of these Clefairy would probably make me famous, and Ranger Jenny wouldn't even bat an eyelash if I went for one of the weaker ones and claimed I wanted to rescue and rehabilitate a fainted one I found in the tunnels. However, the more Alex looked upon the creatures, the less attractive the idea became, until at last he finally brushed the thoughts from his mind – he was perfectly content with the companionship his new Nidorina and Noctowl offered.

The thought of stealing one of these Clefairy from its home rankled in Alex's mind just as much as had the idea of stealing the Nidorina away against her will; even though several of the creatures easily stood within arm's reach, watching him, Alex instead moved closer to the Nidorina and rested a hand fondly on her head – encouraged, the curious onlookers drew in a little closer.

"...If only Ranger Jenny could be here to see this–" Alex began to mumble to himself aloud, stopping mid-sentence. Crap! Jenny! She's probably going nuts looking for me! Alex thought, suddenly frantic to return to the surface. However, as Alex turned to regard the yawning black tunnel they had just exited, a conspicuously larger Clefairy – in actuality, a unicorn of unicorns: a Clefable, if Alex's memory served him correctly – approached unseen from beside them. It turned to their erstwhile guide, and the two seemed to have an otherwise silent exchange, and turned to him.

"Cle-fa-ble." It said softly, and to Alex's mystification, it began using hand gestures: First it simulated a waving, slithering motion with one hand, pointed at itself, then smacked a balled fist into its other hand. Next, it pointed to Alex and Nidorina, back to itself, and then at one of many caves that presumably lead away from the chamber, and the oddly reflective rock at the center of the chamber around which all the Clefairy seemed to be working; the Clefable then concluded by pointing to all the other Clefairy working uninterrupted, and then the three of them again, and finished by signing a passable imitation of a Hitmonchan raising his guard to box with.

This is too much to take in… If it's telling me what I think it's telling me... Alex thought. It was obvious the first gesture was in reference to the Onix; it didn't take a behavioral psychologist to realize the second half of the exchange clearly constituted as a plea for help. "Nidoooo…." The Nidorina said, turning to regard Alex in the same way the Clefairy were; the niggling suspicion that Nidorina could understand the Clefairy on some level struck Alex, and for a moment he wished sorely that he could understand Pokemon-speak.

For a few moments, Alex's mind raced as he glanced at the assembly of Clefairy; one by one they all gradually began to stop, staring at him. They must be afraid that Onix is going to attack this place, Alex realized. Protective instincts welled up within Alex as he turned to regard the Nidorina – it would be her that would bear the brunt of the fight on her shoulders, and the thought that he might already have to say goodbye to the personable blue should something happen to her in the fight hurt too terribly to even think about.

"I want to help you guys, I really do…" Alex muttered aloud; it had not been his intention to get dragged into the fight alone – their original plan had called for Jenny helping him confront the Onix with her Heracross, not him alone with his Nidorina and possibly the help of a Clefable. Then again, the original plan also called for sticking together and avoiding the thing until more help arrived, but it's too late for that now too, isn't it? Alex silently berated himself.

" My human doesn't seem to want to help you." The Nidorina observed; the Clefable smiled – it was the first display of emotion the blue had seen out of one of the creatures yet. "No… He's concerned about you, and what could happen to you in the coming fight. He won't force you into danger without your consent." The Clefable corrected, surprising the Nidorina.

" That would be wonderful – if it were true. How do you know?" The Nidorina asked quietly, trying to suppress the burst of hope she secretly felt that the Clefable's observation might be true. "I am an elder; it is my responsibility to use my wisdom and intuition to guide my brethren in times of crisis such as this one, Mountain-daughter. Reading this human is not so difficult for one as incredibly old and world-versed as I." The Clefable stated, lazily.

" Although I congratulate you on your good fortune and wish you much luck by his side, the fact remains that we still need your help, and time is running out." The Clefable explained, after a moment. "If you are to help us, then you must communicate your willingness to fight in this cause to your human. You must make him understand your intent."

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Quietly, the Nidorina rose, and quietly walked to sit beside the Clefable; Alex inhaled deeply, unable to resist the surge of fear that filled him, both for her sake and his own – the Nidorina had evidently understood the Clefable after all, and chosen a side. "I… Don't know if you can understand me or not, but… Well, it looks like we're here to help." Alex said to the Clefable; without saying a word more, the Clefable turned and began leading them along, leaving their Clefairy guide behind – the Nidorina waited patiently as Alex moved to her side.

Together the trio entered a different tunnel passage, which still remained pitch black; however, a low rumble reached them and it set Alex's heart to beating faster – the longer they walked, the louder the occasional rumbles became; with his hand upon her back for comfort and to make sure he didn't get lost, Alex could sense the Nidorina begin to tense up as well.

Their guide presumably continued to move somewhere up ahead, though Alex couldn't see anything; that lack of sensory perception made the darkness become oppressive, but still the Nidorina did not turn tail and flee – If she has the guts to press on, then so can I; I won't leave her in here, Alex resolved. After a time they arrived in a rather large subterranean chamber similar to the one at the peak of the mountain; the Clefable must have stopped, because Nidorina did as well.

"Cle-fable." A dainty voice quietly whispered out in front of them, and it was answered by a vocalization from the Nidorina. Their voices echoed in the chamber; tense moments passed, and eventually the two fell silent. Alex nervously reached for the ball that contained the Noctowl, which he imagined would soon rise out of habit – it was probably beginning to get dark soon, and the creature had slept most of the day away.

Ranger Jenny was right… I really shouldn't be using this poor bird to battle with in his condition – with his wing broken, he'll probably be more of a hindrance and a danger to himself than anything else. Alex fretted; however, a low, steady rumble that did not fade away began to build up, and the Nidorina's spines began to rise. We'll need absolutely all the help we can get… Oh, I only pray he can avoid having to do any heavy fighting! Alex thought helplessly, releasing the Noctowl, and hoping the noise wouldn't be detected by the Onix.

"Cle-fa-ble…. Cle-fa-ble… Cle-fa-ble…" The Clefable began an odd sing-song chant beside Alex – it was swiftly ignored as he tried vainly to widen his eyes and see through the dark, to catch even a glimpse of the Onix before it was upon them; the Noctowl hooted from beside Alex, first questioningly, and then with alarm as it probably realized where it must have been.

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"Where are we? What is going on?!" Featherbeak asked in alarm, easily pinpointing a very disconcerting rumble from almost directly ahead of them with his keen hearing; from beside him in the dark, Nidorina answered. "We're below ground; we're going to encounter the Onyx we chased off last night soon." Nidorina responded, though her blind, unseeing eyes rolled around fearfully in her head as she tried to imagine where the Onix would appear from in the dark.

The chanting of the Clefable in the darkness somewhere near Featherbeak caught his attention, and he gasped in shock – however, it seemed to be concentrating on its chant, and added nothing to the conversation. "This Clefable and all of its kind need our help; that Onix is on it's on its way here, and if we don't stop it it's going to massacre them and lay wasteto their home; I don't know what in the world the human was thinking of by releasing you, but get to safety Featherbeak!" Nidorina commanded, her voice extremely tense with concern.

"Nonsense! There's nowhere for me to run, and in any event I'm not leaving you two. I can hear the Onix; it will be upon us soon – if really want to bring it down as quickly as possible, our only chance will be to surprise it." Featherbeak responded; on the tail of that statement, a tangible, almost electric tingle in the air suddenly caught the group's attention; Featherbeak paused. "Is it doing what I think it's doing?" He asked in wonder, cocking his head back directly ahead of them to where the rumbling was growing louder – the rocky floor of the cave was beginning to shake beneath their feet.

"I don't know – it said something about helping out in the coming battle just before the human released you, but it's just been sitting there babbling that stupid chant over and over again." Nidorina said, a nervous edge creeping in her voice; in listening for just a few more seconds, Featherbeak shook his head – Featherbeak strongly guessed it was an incantation, not a chant.

Before he could explain the purpose of the Clefable's spell and the significance of its rhythmic chant, a soft glow began to emit from the pink creature's finger-tips, which grew quickly in intensity, illuminating the cave until the entire cavern was filled with bright light – Alex covered his eyes with a grunt of pain, Featherbeak was forced to bury his face beneath his good wing, and the Nidorina squalled in surprise and discomfort, blinking.

"What are you doing!?" The blue demanded harshly of the Clefable, who only raised its hands higher, making the cave grow lighter. "No!" The Clefable called, its melodic voice ringing clearly like a bell in the cave over the rumble of the Onix, "Let your eyes adjust to the brightness of Flash; we will be ready when the serpent bursts into this cavern, and it will not." The Clefable answered; tense moments passed in silence as the three of them all blinked away the haze caused by the blinding light.

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Alex's eyes began to adjust to the small sun the Clefable seemed to be generating from its finger-tips, and the shaking under his feet reached a fever pitch; Nidorina stood in front of him, squared off for a fight and with a harsh grimace on her face – beside her, the Noctowl stood on the floor of the cave, defying his haggard and decrepit appearance by standing firmly expectant and tall, as if he'd been battling all his life; neither of them no longer seemed ready to bolt, having committed themselves to the coming fight.

Alex swallowed; the pounding of his heart began to fade slightly as memories of the past few days began to replay in his head: from his first encounter with the Nidorina, to the sting he suffered by accident, the incidents with the Graveller and Ekans, her stuffy companionship at first, the wild flight at the top of the mountain, and finally, the momentarily icy direction their relations took after the incident with the Pokeballs, all began to press down upon him.

I can't keep dragging them down with my inexperience, Alex reminded himself. *I* wouldn't willingly follow me either if I knew how much of a dolt I've been acting like – I can't keep expecting them to carry me along – I promised the Nidorina I'd get better; that starts now. Alex resolved, working to sublimate his fear; his mind began to clear, pushing away distracting thoughts and focusing on the fight to come. Dropping to a knee beside the blue, he pointed to his nose. "Nidorina, when that thing arrives, use your poison sting attack on it like you did with the Graveller." He ordered.

…Unfortunately, the blue only turned and looked at Alex quizzically, never having been given a battle command by a human thus far in her entire life – she clearly did not understand him. A moment later, the wall directly across from them through exploded, sending chunks of rock bouncing everywhere deafeningly. "GROAHAR..." The Onyx rumbled, its massive head plowing into the cavern that would serve as the battleground.

"GROAHARRHHGH!" The Onyx roared in surprise, as the blinding light of the Clefable struck it square in the eyes; it blinked and tried to shut them – leaping from the tips of the boulders the Onix had knocked loose and running at full speed, Nidorina closed the distance between her and the giant rock snake in seconds; Alex's breath caught in his throat as the Nidorina took a flying leap, and head-butted the creature as hard as she could. The Onyx recoiled in shock, its head smacking into the roof of the cave and threatening to collapse the entire cavern.

"No! I said poison sting! Use your poison sting!" Alex cried and pantomimed desperately at the Nidorina, as several chunks of rock tumbled from cracks now smashed into the ceiling, and a thick cloud of dust and sand filled the air; realizing the purpose of the blinding light ahead of it and that it was now under attack, the Onix immediately retaliated. Though nearly blinded by the haze of dust, Nidorina spotted the giant shadow of the serpent explode into motion, and she narrowly avoided being bitten in half by its mighty jaws as the rock serpent shot forward – instead, it pulverized a rock the blue jumped off at the last moment.

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"You're welcomed to join this fight! Any time!" Nidorina shouted at the Clefable over the earsplitting crash of rock on rock as Onyx spat out the granulated remains of the boulder in its mouth and retreated cautiously, squinting against the fading light of the Clefable's finger-tips. "I already have! If I had not blinded it, it would have eaten half of you just now and crushed the rest of us!" The Clefable answered, its sibilant voice carrying over the din of battle to Nidorina's ears.

"We have to find a way to actually stop it – and soon! – or it'll bring the whole mountain down on top of our heads!" The blue yelled, until Featherbeak's voice cut her off. "Ready your next attack. I'll try distract it as long as we can!" The elderly Noctowl said, stiffly hopping forward a few paces. Featherbeak's mind raced – a distraction was much easier said than done with him being nearly useless in his condition; he could hardly move without hurting, let alone attack.

"Featherbeak, you stay out of this! It's too dangerous for you to–!" Nidorina cried out shrilly in fear, until the human cut her off, shouting out a string of words that sounded like gibberish to Nidorina. "Aha! A capital strategy! " Featherbeak cried out, evidently understanding and recognizing the words the human had used, and giving thanks to Arceus that old age and infirmity had not lessened his grasp on the technique.

Clearing his mind of the fear of battle, Featherbeak began to focus his thoughts on the Onix somewhere before him in the dark, habitually rocking his head back and forth in a gentle cadence that had brought comforting rest on many sleepless nights in Nidorina's youth: Sleep. We will be gone when you awaken; just go to sleep for now…. There is no need to fight – relax, and sleep.

The bombardment of soothing thoughts soon made the Onix's heavy stone eyelids begin to sink lower and lower as Featherbeak's Hypnosis began to take effect. The rock creature began to settle down; a moment later the rock Pokémon yawned, on the cusp of slumber…. And then a rock dislodged itself from the ceiling where the Onix hit it earlier. The basketball sized stone fell a short distance before smacking into the Onix's head; the loud thump echoed in the darkness, breaking Featherbeak's hypnotic spell entirely.

A loud grating rumble filled the cavern as lucidness returned to the Onix, and its already angry tone became one of almost rabid fury. " It's enraging itself. If it begins to attack with Rage, we won't be able to stop it!" Featherbeak yelled, a nervous quaver entering his voice – Nidorina took a step back, startled at having heard such fear in the old Noctowl in a long time. The Clefable shouted its sing-song chant; the pink Pokémon's fingers began to adopt the unique glow that heralded its metronome attack, but the flash did little this time to illuminate the hazy, dusty cavern, and the Onix's eyes were already clenched shut as it concentrated on infuriating itself.

An instant later, the rock Pokémon shot forward toward; though the Clefable tried to react, the Onix's uncoordinated, furious lunge still caught the pink creature too quickly for it to properly react – it attempted to dance away, and received a glancing blow that sent the Clefable sprawling bodily. Consumed in its wild fury, it began to violently thrash around like a possessed whip, slamming into the cavern walls and ceiling, flailing madly. Featherbeak saw the snake rear up to squash him as well – he'd never be able to escape it on his own in time; time slowed, as he watched his doom begin to fall upon him. He clicked his beak once, clenching it tightly.

An instant before he was crushed into owl paste, Featherbeak felt himself suddenly become weightless: "Return! RETURN!" Alex yelled, aiming at the Noctowl and firing his pokeball's red beam of light directly at him; the Onix's head came crashing down, and slammed against the cave floor. Sensing the blood Its rage built and now in full force, the Onix reared back again, focusing a savage, hateful glare at the source of the horribly familiar burst of scarlet light; standing with Featherbeak's ball clutched in his hand, Alex froze, looked up at where he imagined the Onix to be – the Clefable's light source had winked out entirely once it had been flattened.

With a loud roar, the Onix darted forward like a cobra – and was intercepted by a different flash of light in the dark that nearly stole Alex's breath away. The Nidorina, realizing she no longer had to worry about Featherbeak anymore thanks to Alex's thinking dashed forward – leaping with all of the powerful muscle in her stout legs, the Nidorina whirled, aiming her Iron Tail directly at where the Onix was preparing to thrash again; the deafening crack of the impact against the Onix made Alex's ears ring, and the attack threw back the Onix with such force that its head slammed into the cavern wall behind it, again jarring loose an unnerving amount of debris from the rumbling cavern.

If I survive this, I'm never stepping foot outside my room in my life again, Alex thought to himself absently; the dust and shards of flying rock in the cave had begun to reach epidemic levels, and Alex coughed without being able to stop himself. A loud, low groan from the far side of the cave audible over the clatter of rocks settling, signaled that the Onix had been dealt a severe blow by the Nidorina's iron tail; although it was still too dark to see, from the lack of sound, it had fainted or was very close to fainting. That's just as well… I'll have my Nidorina for company. Alex thought, feeling a tightness in his chest as his worry returned to the blue – she had gone quiet also.

Ignoring the defeated Onix, Alex stumbled over loose boulders, feeling around in the dark for the Nidorina. "Nidorina!" Alex called shakily; the echo against the cave walls startled him, but he ignored the fear in his frantic scramble to locate the blue. Crackling rocks from beside him signaled movement; hurriedly feeling his way through the choking dust and dark, his fingers touched spines for the first time since the fight started. The Nidorina moaned; evidently she had been struck by a falling rock. But to Alex's immense relief, she got unsteadily to her feet after a few seconds and gently shook her head.

"Are you okay? You did wonderfully in here!" Alex declared softly into her ear, hugging her tightly; in spite of the pain of having been nearly flattened by an Onix, the Nidorina licked his cheek gently and leaned into him for support – though it would have been nice to have avoided being crushed, the most important thing to her at that point was that the human had been fast enough to save Featherbeak, who would have been killed for sure. Rocks tumbled as the Onix shifted weakly, regaining its own senses; Alex's heart caught in his throat as he heard it right itself.

"Nidorina, I know you're hurt, but now is our only chance to finish that monster off, once and for all. Quickly, use your poison sting attack!" He said, more insistently than before; she evidently still didn't understand his command, because no sound of her preparing to move to attack penetrated the darkness. "Poison. Sting." He repeated more slowly, and then gently putting a hand on her ear, he worked traced his finger underneath the largest crested spines that bordered it, and tugged on them gently. "Sting. Sting." He said; and then gently booped her on the nose where she had accidentally stung him that first day on the mountainside.

Evidently this finally engendered understanding of what he wanted in the Nidorina, because she steadied herself and quickly began picking her way across the ground; terrified, Alex debated whether or not to stay or go, and after just a moment's hesitation, he advanced behind her. Dust and tiny rocks continued to snow on Alex from the ceiling above; in the instant he removed his hand from Nidorina's back to rub a few sandy pebbles from his eyes, the blue moved forward and snarled out a challenge. "I said STING the damn thing, not warn it we were coming!" Alex cried out, exasperated.

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"You!" Nidorina accused the fallen Onix, sharply. "You almost killed Featherbeak! And my human!" Nidorina snarled at the Onix, past the pain of the numerous bruises she had probably collected in the scuffle once again. "…M-more humans? They are here already again?" The Onix slurred, its gravelly voice tight with pain and misery. "Yes, MY human! He wants me to finish you off, and probably with good reason, but I'll give you one more chance: Give up. In your condition, you wouldn't survive a full dose of my most potent toxins; please, don't make me to have to finish you off!" Nidorina demanded.

The Onix made a noise that sounded like a cross between a snort and a challenge. "Do whatever you must, but know that I won't submit; I won't go back and become an experiment again – ever!" The Onix retorted as sharply as it could in its faint condition. Nidorina paused, perplexed at the wounded creature's statement. "Experiment?" The blue repeated, hesitantly. "What in the world are you talking about?" She asked. Although the Onix shifted, it was only barely – it took let out a shaky groan, finally too weak to do much more than lay there

"Humans… Human came for me in my mountain; they were dressed in black and red, and their Pokemon were as twisted and cruel as they. They sent their slaves to beat me like you did until I was weak enough to capture." The Onix spoke, pain thick in its voice. " They took me to a place where nightmares become real – human devices everywhere, beeping, buzzing, hurting…!" The creature began to babble, sounding half-mad as it began to remember its ordeal.

"They did something to me there – they made me hurt in ways I could never imagine. I still hurt; it hurts now, and will continue to hurt as long as I live. I cannot sleep; I cannot eat, I cannot think, I can't function like this; there is only pain… So much pain! …And it must end!" The Onix cried out, inconsolable; having never left the mountain in her entire life, the Onix's story at first sounded completely outlandish to Nidorina… However, listening to the utterly defeated and mentally broken Onix before her, doubt began to form in her mind; the creature's tone was too full of agony, of despair, to even begin to be a ruse, or a lie – already, the docile blue ceased thoughts of harming the Onix any further, and instead feeling grave concern.

"If what you say is true… Won't you allow my human to help you?" Nidorina asked. "He is clumsy and weak, but he carries with him an odd liquid that removes pain, and he is not wicked like your humans were – he has used this liquid on me before. At first I did not like him, but he has proven himself friendly, and has not done anything to harm me or the Noctowl you nearly crushed; he is very different from the humans you describe. He will help you!" The Nidorina urged. Almost immediately, the Onix scoffed sharply, sending a cloud of dust billowing into the Nidorina's face.

"I won't fall for trickery and lies, soft-skin. Let's end this now – I won't submit to more torture. One of the two of us isn't leaving this cavern alive, and I don't care if it's not going to be me!" It threatened, with bitter finality. Nidorina growled in frustration, her heart weighing heavily; she didn't want to finish the ailing creature off, but this Onix clearly couldn't be reasoned with. "An entire colony of peaceful Clefairy and Clefable live just beyond this passage, and you would have destroyed them and their home in your madness. Live or die, you can't be allowed to hurt anyone else." Nidorina finally squared off, ready to resume mortal combat with the rock beast.

Seconds passed, but the Onix made no move; it fell silent and the abruptness of the silence made the Nidorina hesitate in striking the final blow. "You're… You're bluffing. Clefairy only exist in one place in the world, and it is far from here. It has to be!" The Onix said, confused. "I'm not bluffing; didn't you see it when you attacked it earlier?" Nidorina asked. The Onix remained silent for some time, so Nidorina sat listening intently for any shift or indication that the serpent might try to gather the strength to strike again.

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Alex had effectively no idea what in the world Nidorina and the Onix seemed to be talking about; at times their discussion seemed to border on barely restrained argument, and at others, pleading and begging; however, Alex became aware of one thing – gradually, the longer Nidorina spoke, the less outwardly dangerous the Onix's demeanor seemed to become. Although it took a considerable leap of faith, Alex quietly and gently began to take steps back across the cave – immediately the Onix tensed and went silent, but no effort to attack materialized after Alex reached the tunnel they'd come through.

Feeling around in the dark, his fingers touched very soft, almost downy-like fur in the dark. "Cle-fable." The owner of the fur replied, sitting up with his help in the dark unsteadily. "You're alright… Thank goodness!" He said to the pink creature, although he knew the Clefable – like the Nidorina – probably couldn't understand him; it reached out and rested a minuscule paw on his own hand for a moment, patting it gently; awestruck, Alex touched it with his other hand.

Wow… I got to touch a real, live Clefable – Mom will never believe me in a million years when I tell her about any of this; nobody will, unless I captured this one to prove it, Alex thought. This Clefable was there, weakened and ripe for capture, but… After fighting this hard to keep them from getting wiped out, it be a crime against all good and decency to take it away from its home forever. Alex thought, again letting any thought of capturing the Clefable fade from his mind: No... Nidorina's enough for me. And the Noctowl. The pink creature accepted the human's help standing up.

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A tiny throat cleared itself of the dust hanging in the air of the cave. "I have nothing else to offer you in the way of reassurance, other than to voice my support for the Nidorina." The Clefable said in its lilting sing-song voice, stiffly brushing itself off daintily, and beginning to pick its way through the field of fallen rocks along the cave floor, even in total darkness – the Onix fell silent, evidently bewildered by the truth of the Clefable.

"Know that this particular human was no friend of ours initially; in fact, it was not our intention to involve him in our affairs even after we realized that he visited the mountain. However, this Nidorina and him have forged the beginnings of a very powerful partnership – and, although the practice of forceful enslavement of Pokemon falls beyond the concerns or experience of me or my people, we do know that humans who can convince Pokemon to follow them rather than subjugating them, are very rare indeed, and highly desirable as companions." The Clefable said, as it approached.

"I would add that your description of the takers that have injured you is familiar to me. They have attacked our home and us before – this human is not one of them." The pink fairy added, certainty and stiffness in her tone. The Onix was silent for a long while – its mind worked. "...There is only one mountain where your kind are rumored to exist… That can only mean that I must have traveled much farther from my home range in my madness than I thought." The rock-serpent eventually remarked, its voice still taught with pain.

"I do not know what ails you, nor can I help you." The Clefable said somewhat bluntly. "But, if anything can, it is likely this human. To be fair, I will admit that I cannot guarantee your safety, but for what it is worth, and at the risk of sounding horribly vain, if we – in our infinite rarity – have little to fear from him in the way of capture, then a common Onix should have even less to be worried about where exploitation is concerned." The Clefable stated, without ego. Even so, the Onix let out a great and contemptuous rumble at this statement, but did not argue.

"What would you have me do then? I loathe the idea of being trapped in the human's ball!" It demanded, angrily – the Nidorina reeled back and dropped to her rump as if slapped by such a statement. Those very words might have come from her own mouth just a night before. "...It is not so bad once you get used to it; and he will free you from time to time, and care for you the way he cares for me and the Noctowl that was with me." Nidorina said shakily; they were more or less the same words Featherbeak had used on her just the day previously.

"You should speak with my Noctowl friend; he has spent most of his life traveling with humans and he convinced me to give this one a chance. He is convinced this one is kind!" The Nidorina urged. The Onix let out a rumble of protest. "I don't believe you." It stated, with bitter finality. "Please… Don't let pain cloud your judgment. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. How could you possibly lose anything more than your life?" The Nidorina pleaded; the Onix was silent for a while longer, then sighed deeply.

"If this is some kind of trick, or another lie… " It threatened fiercely, but trailed off as its voice broke, too aggrieved to continue; there was an exhaustion – an utter, all consuming tiredness of life itself – in the Onix's voice that the blue realized was not physical. It had been something the blue had never seen before in another living creature thus far in life, and seeing what terrible toll it had taken on the Onix pierced the Nidorina to the very core.

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The sound of footsteps clumsily crossing the rock-strewn cave floor scattering pebbles as she went, alerted Alex to Nidorina's approach. A moment later, the blue bumped into his knee, making him jump. "What's going on?" Alex demanded, nervously; Nidorina snuffled slightly, digging her nose into his leg. "What? What is it?" He asked more insistently, still trying to keep his ears peeled for any sign of aggression from the Onix; Nidorina bit down on his pant-leg and jerked, nearly pulling his jeans off.

"Ow! What are you doing?" He asked, and then realized she was not trying to get at his jeans themselves, but something in his pocket. Withdrawing the contents – his handful of pokéballs – he paused as she ceased her nipping and sat. "Is it the Noctowl you want?" The human asked; releasing Featherbeak a moment later – however, Nidorina scratched at him once with a paw as Featherbeak materialized.

"...Are we leaving? What about the Onix?!" Alex tried again; however Nidorina vocalized impatiently at him in response. A moment later, a tiny hand touched his other pant leg; the Clefable had soundlessly approached, and tugged at it gently. "What's–?" He began to ask, when the entire cave began to rumble. "What's going on!?" Alex demanded, as the Onix approached; he wanted to run, but the Clefable held him fast, willing him to stay put; even the Nidorina moved to block his retreat in the dark. The sounds of the Onix became deafening, and the sensation of a massive presence in front of him made him flinch – until the Onix stopped. It let out a long, low, and somewhat threatening growl at him, blowing Alex's hair and clothes back as it did so… But, it made no other move.

Having flinched mightily, Alex opened an eye – a useless gesture in the darkness – and paused. "What–?" He began to ask, until the memory of Nidorina's attempts to reach the pokéballs in his pocket dawned on him. "It wants to come with me?!" He demanded in sheer disbelief. Slowly, Clefable's pressure on his leg eased; in the absence of any other explanation, it was the only logical answer. The Onix rumbled once as Alex reached out tentatively and touched its massive snout in the dark – the creature did not shy away from his grasp… Or eat his arm off.

Numbed, but deciding to seize the moment before the Onix changed its mind, Alex expanded an empty pokéball ball with a whir, and touched it to the serpent's nose. A bright red flash momentarily illuminated the cave, and the last thing Alex could see of the giant Pokemon before it turned to a featureless cloud of red energy were its gigantic pair of stony eyes staring balefully down at him.

Swallowing deeply and clenching the now-filled and now far heavier than usual pokéball containing the Onix, Alex shook his head slowly in mute disbelief. That's it: I must actually still be dying on a hillside somewhere from that first accidental poisoning I got from the Nidorina – I have to be in a coma and dreaming. Or hallucinating. This is unbelievable.