"What the fuck is this?"
"Well, that's just what happens y'know? It'll take a while, so for the time being you can either wait or take the old road around."
Jack scratched his head vigorously as he stared at the miners standing around the entrance to Mount Moon. It was amazing how quickly they'd all moved in on the work, but for there being eight of them they were moving incredibly slow.
"So," Lappe began, "you got any idea just how long it'll take to open back up the entrance?"
"Well," one of the miners slammed his pick into the ground, clearly agitated at the duo's questions, "we been workin' on it ever since the first Seedot fell somewhere in the middle there. It's not an easy thing to say right now, we don't know if the cave-in is just at the entrance or if it goes on deeper into the caves. For now we're just focusing our energy on the entrance and hoping this is the end of it… if I really had to say, then this part will take around four or five days. If the collapse extends even further in, then, well… I can't really say. Anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. It'd honestly be easier to dig a whole new tunnel than clear out the whole cave in this way, but that's not a luxury we really have. Mount Moon is just too expansive, and is still being expanded… or at least it was… oh Arceus it just hit me… I've never seen a dead body, I can't imagine what'll happen if we end up digging someone up out of a pile somewhere deeper in. I think, I think I'ma be sick."
The miner rushed off into one of the tents that had been set up for the workers to sleep in, leaving Jack and Lappe alone. The sound of the miner hurling was not only still audible, but the smell that came with it was moving fast as well. The duo held their noses shut as they rushed into the safety if the Pokemon center.
"So Jack, what's the plan?" Lappe plopped down into one of the seats designed for Pokemon of his size and then leaned back in it, his head resting on the back of the seat and facing his friend. "Like he said, it could open up in a few days, but it could also take a whole lot longer."
"You know we don't have time for that." Jack sighed and walked over to the counter where a man dressed in blue was running the convenience shop. "Do you sell cigarettes here?"
"Of course. Although we only have two kinds in stock; Timid Yellows and Comfy Shorts."
"Give me a pack of shorts then."
Jack paid the attendant and nodded his head at Lappe as he went out the door, the Pokemon jumping up to follow after him.
"Don't fuckin' hold out on me now. You best be ready to give me one of those."
"If you had any cash I'd have had you pay for them yourself since you forgot my pack at home. But yeah, sure, you can have one. I'm not exactly loaded at the moment though, so we'll need to make this pack last until we find a way to make some quick cash."
"We could always do what the rest of trainers do and pick fights with another one."
"But we're not trainers, are we?"
"Nah. Well, at least not like the rest of them."
"Obviously."
"But for the sake of getting vengeance… we do have to get stronger…"
"Does that mean we just throw all our morals to the wayside then?"
"Nah man, that's not what I was getting at at all."
"Well let's just not worry about it right now. Once we start hurting for cash it'll probably figure itself out."
Jack took a final puff on his cigarette and then tossed it off into the grass. The miner who'd rushed away earlier was just leaving his tent with his hands over his gut and his face drained of its color.
"Hey man, you doin alright?" Jack walked up to the burly man and began to pat him on the back.
"Y-yeah… I'll be fine, just need to get back to work and get my mind off of things."
"Ah, I see. Well, I think we've made a decision. Do you know where exactly this old road around Mt. Moon is?"
"Yeah, though you won't find it on any normal map and the roads there are more just like guidelines through the mountains rather than actual directions set in stone… though they are actually set in stone… anyways, I'll be back. I've got just the thing for you back in my tent."
The miner made his way back into his temporary house and began to rustle around inside of it, looking for whatever it was he'd decided to give to the duo.
"Got it!" The man shouted out from his tent and then emerged, drenched in sweat and a big smile on his face. "Been holding on to this one for a while, just waiting for my retirement so I could explore Kanto the way they did in the old days… but with the way things've been going, I don't think I'll be able to live out that dream." The man stared down at the rolled up paper in his hand and then up at Jack. "It'll be a hard journey up around the mountain, but if you're adamant about finding a way around quickly then you'll need this. I'm sure you'll get more use out of it than myself. If you open it up, it's actually got a lay of the entire land with old and new paths alike. It should come in handy if you run into another predicament like this one on down the road."
Jack nodded his head and smiled, putting out his hand for the miner to shake. "Hey, thanks man. I really appreciate it."
The miner smiled and then held on firmly to the boy's hand. "Be careful up there. No telling when the last time someone set foot on those paths."
Jack squeezed the man's hand back, though his grip paled in comparison to the much more developed miner's. "As long as I've got Lappe I'm sure we'll be fine."
