Beach Cave, Riolu's POV
As soon as we enter the cave, the scenery shifts. Whereas the outside of the cave had a rusty brown color, the floor seems to be a coral pink. The walls look like something akin to a dark cobalt blue, and the ceiling is roughly the same, from what I can see. The two of us are in a large room, with a single exit off to the side. I look at the Lagomorph adjacent to me, who's still revved for a fight.
She looks at me and goes, "Well? What are we waiting for?"
I chuckle.
"As good as the enthusiasm is, I'm not too sure how everything works. You may have to explain some of this to me."
"Right. My mistake. Come on, you'll probably learn better in action."
She grabs my hand and drags me to the exit. It leads to a narrow hallway, only wide enough for 1 at a time.
"Should I lead?"
"If you want to."
So. I'm on point. Alright. The walk down the corridor is a quiet one, as the Buneary's attention seems to be elsewhere. The entire floor continues this way. We go through 2 more rooms and 2 more corridors. At the end of the last corridor, we enter a small room. In said room is a small hole in the floor, containing what looks like a natural set of stairs. I look at the Buneary, confused. She gestures to the set of stairs, so…
"Down we go?"
"Yeah. If I had to guess, I'd say that the crooks are near the third floor."
I nod. We walk down the stairs, and… Arrive in another room. This one looks the same, but there's something in the middle of the room. There's also a second exit. First things first, I check out the item. It looks like a seed. Not quite sure, I pick it up and bring it over to my ally.
She looks at it. Then she chuckles.
"Hold onto that. It'll be pretty helpful next time we have to fight something."
We then turn our attention to the next issue. After some deliberation, we decide to go through the exit on the short wall. That passage leads to a smaller room, and this one isn't empty. A Kabuto is snacking on… something blue. When it catches a glimpse of us, it chitters angrily before advancing at us. At this moment, the Buneary pipes up.
"I know you said you were a human, but please, please, please tell me you know how Pokémon fight."
"I have… some idea. Hold on."
I rack my brain trying to remember what a Riolu would use at this level of power. An idea clicks into my head. I get into a good position to accelerate rapidly. I tense up, and then kick off. As I do, time seems to slow down. I feel a surge of power in my feet as I lunge, strike the Kabuto, and retreat back to my former position.
"That was Quick Attack. Nice, but…"
I nod. "Not very effective on a rock type. Hey, it's still damage. That, and unless I'm mistaken, Riolu don't have access to any fighting type moves at the level of power I'm at."
"Well… this could be a problem. I know exactly two moves that aren't normal type, and they might be less helpful than the normal type moves."
The Kabuto attempts to claw at me, but I dodge out of the way before the Buneary lunges at it with a Quick Attack. The thing seems to have had enough, and it scuttles off. We celebrate for a moment, before investigating what the Kabuto was eating. On closer inspection… "It's an Oran berry."
The Buneary laughs. "Well, if that wasn't anticlimactic. Hey, there's a second one here. It's completely untouched."
I come over for a closer look, only to feel a sharp pain in my back. I whirl around to find a Corsola, staring at me. I don't even bother going for a Quick Attack, and start throwing punches. The fight is a bit longer then I would like, but I emerge triumphant anyways. The Buneary passes me the Oran berry, which I scarf down gratefully.
"Do you think those two are having as much trouble as we are?"
She ponders for a moment.
"Probably more. By my estimate, they're probably approaching the fourth floor. We should hurry."
Thankfully, the stairs are in that same room.
The third floor is our fastest one yet. We encounter three Shellos, but can take them out fast thanks to their lack of a rock typing. The fourth floor is basically empty, save for another one of those odd seeds. As we enter the room with the stairs, we see something purple going down them. The Buneary seems to get nervous again.
"It's time, isn't it?"
I nod. "Remember: play to your strengths."
She looks at me, takes a deep breath, and we descend the stairs…
