Basil the Bulbasaur rammed another Trainer's Jigglypuff, sending it slamming against some rocky walls. "That's my win!" Ignis exclaimed.
The lass opposite to her side grimaced. "Jigglypuff! Argh..." She reluctantly recalled her Pokémon back and pulled out some Pokédollars. "Here you go..."
Ignis hesitantly accepted the cash- it still felt extremely wrong no matter how many times she won against other Trainers- and shoved it inside her pocket. "Right. Cute Jigglypuff, by the way."
"Uh, thanks." The girl walked towards where Ignis and the group were heading.
The ravenette then remembered there being another Pokémon Center before the entrance of Mt. Moon. "Right, I guess I should go heal there first, too." She turned her head slightly. "Terra, Hana. Ready to go?"
Said two aforementioned girls were observing some pictures that Terra took this time- the brunette didn't want to be the only one who didn't take pictures. They glanced at Ignis, who seemed to be patiently waiting for them. "Uh, right. Coming," Terra said and put her phone away.
"Miss Terra, would you mind sending me that picture later?" Hana asked.
The brunette snickered. "Sure. Great meme quality expression on that Jigglypuff right there."
Ignis raised an eyebrow, but decided not to question it. When she turned back, she saw her Bulbasaur twitching. "Basil? What's wrong, boy? ...or girl." Eh, screw gender issues for now, she thought. Suddenly, Basil's body glowed white, to the surprise of the three. They all realized what was happening though.
"I-iggy! She's... uh, he's... um-"
"Evolving!" Hana finished. "...perhaps the Pokédex can tell the gender," she suggested.
Ignis blinked. Right, that thing. She quickly pulled her Pokédex out, while at the same time also tapping some icons on her mobile phone. On one hand, she examined the Pokédex analysis of what was still currently regarded as a Bulbasaur- "He's male!" she said. On the other hand, she quickly opened her camera app and recorded the evolution, watching the scene raw with her eyes rather than the phone.
Sad, because she didn't realize the angle was quite off and the camera only barely caught the bottom of Basil's face and his feet.
Disregarding that, her gaze was captured by the sight. She didn't think Pokémon evolution in real life would actually be this beautiful- contrary to what she expected, her Bulbasaur was indeed glowing but didn't become completely white. She could see his skin bulging and growing, and some unknown white dust flew from nowhere to form new traits for him.
Basil let out a roar filled with pride, and when the light died down, as she stopped recording, what stood in her Bulbasaur's place was now an Ivysaur.
"Holy shit, Basil! You evolved! This is great!" Ignis cheered. She picked him up happily, but almost fell down. "Whoa. Heavy fella. Oh well, you're amazing!"
The Ivysaur smiled. "Saur!"
"Wow, I already knew how an Ivysaur would look like, but..." Terra said. "He still looks a lot cooler now!"
Hana stared at the evolved starter. "I do not know much about Pokémon yet, so this is quite a surprise to me," she said. "I wonder how Emma will look like when she evolves..."
"Your Charmander? I can guarantee, the final form is hella cool," Ignis said.
"I see... We must keep training then, Emma!" Hana said, to her Charmander's delight.
"Anyways, let's head on to the Pokémon Center ahead! Then we'll go through Mt. Moon!"
Few minutes later, after having the local Nurse Joy heal their Pokémon, the trio were ready to depart.
They stood at the entrance of Mt. Moon, peering into the cave. "Huuhh... kinda eerie, isn't it?" Ignis said.
Terra groaned. "Please don't try to scare us..."
"Uh, that wasn't an attempt."
Hana patted the brunette. "I-it is alright, Miss Terra. You have a swords wielder like me around," she said. However...
"Your legs are shaking, Hana," Ignis pointed out.
The blonde's face turned red. "N-no, that is just... excitement. Yes. Dangerous opponents await inside, after all."
Shrugging, Ignis took the first step into the cave. "Well, in case anything bad happens, we should stick together, I suppose." The two exchanged glances before hesitantly following after the ravenette. They both grabbed each side of her arm, looking around nervously. "...it's not even that dark in here."
"I-it's still pretty dark," Terra said. "...actually I think it's getting darker the further we're in..."
"...Hana, you okay?" Ignis shifted her focus to the blonde.
Said swordswielder nodded quietly.
"Man, you must be really afraid of the dark." However, Ignis noticed that perhaps Terra wasn't wrong- the cave walls seemed to become darker in color, less light reaching her eyes.
Few minutes of walking passed, and soon the only source of light they had were frequent glowing stones embedded in the walls.
She wasn't even sure how deep they were in the cave.
Seconds passed.
Minutes passed.
At some point, Hana let go of her side, most likely trying to brave through the cave without holding someone closely.
More seconds passed.
More minutes passed.
Ignis blinked. The quietness of their exploration so far felt rather awkward to her. She decided to strike up a conversation.
"Rather silent journey so far, isn't it?" she asked.
Terra simply nodded. "Y-yeah..."
Ignis noticed more glowing stones appearing in the walls. "...kinda romantic feel to it," she muttered. Wait, wouldn't this situation be...?
"...Iggy," the brunette suddenly said. "Y-you know, um... I want to tell you something..."
Uh oh. "Y... yeah?"
Beat.
"I just... think that right now's a good chance... with no interruptions..."
"U-uh huh. Go on..." Ignis had an inkling of what she was going to say. However, something else was bothering her, so her focus wasn't much on her friend's words right now. That's odd... not a single wild Pokémon has attacked us yet, she thought. She felt Terra grab her hand, causing her to blush slightly, but it didn't affect her too much. C-could she choose any better timing...
Terra gulped. "Um... Iggy... r-right now, I'm..."
Speaking of which, there should be plenty of Zubat in caves... Ignis recalled. She looked up, but saw nothing on the caves.
"...I'm..."
Ignis frowned, but kept listening to the brunette as her eyes darted around. Were cave exploration supposed to be this peaceful?
"...n-not feeling so well..." Terra fell to her knees.
Huh? Ignis turned sideways. "T-Terra?" she asked, kneeling down to examine the girl. The heck? Is she sick? She touched the brunette's forehead. Nothing out of the ordinary. "W-what's wrong, Terra?"
"M-my head's hurting..." the brunette said.
Ignis shook her head. What the heck's going on with Mt. Moon? Of course, now that her companion seemed to be doing not so well, Terra was now of a higher priority than Mt. Moon's oddities. "U-uh, hang on to me. I'll get us out of the cave soon enough... I hope." She wasn't sure if that was possible so far, but whatever.
Terra's head hurts. Headaches, she recognized. Why out of nowhere, though? And so suddenly?
Wait... that reminds me of the Confusion status in the games... she thought. And when she thought of the Confusion status... Zubat. Her eyes widened. Were we being tailed by Zubat...?
From the corner of her ears, she began hearing the noise of wings flapping. Welp, here comes the Zubat.
But Zubat were quite small, and their wings shouldn't make flaps as loud as what she was hearing. She slowly walked forward, Terra's arms around her neck, as she tried to look back. "What the hell could also be here...?"
Slowly, a different bat Pokémon appeared from the darkness. Her eyes widened-
"What the shit, that's a Golbat..." she muttered. The Golbat seemed to be taking its time, flying really slowly towards them. "What is it even doing here... oh."
Zubat lived in caves, sure, but just because they were the only one from their evolutionary line you could encounter in the game, it didn't mean their evolved forms couldn't be found there. She kept forgetting that this was no longer a game, and that this was a reality now- her new reality.
"Shit, shit, shit... bats suck blood..." The ravenette tried to increase her speed, but Terra wasn't exactly someone light that you could easily carry without being slowed down. She looked back- the Golbat was inching closer.
...wait, where the heck was Hana?
Ignis tensed her eyes, trying to make out the shape of a person with blonde hair, but couldn't see anyone behind the incoming Golbat. "H-Hana!? Where the hell...!?"
Shit, it's getting closer. Figuring there wasn't any safe way out of this, she grinned and gently put Terra down.
"I-Iggy..." the brunette whimpered.
"S'alright, Terra. I'll finish this soon enough." Ignis grabbed her Pokéball. "Basil! Relying on you here!" she said as she summoned her starter Pokémon. She had recalled him as he couldn't do anything to help with light sources, and she figured it was better to have him contained rather than somehow lose him in a cave- assuming it could happen. Although, she supposed the walk to this point was extremely easy, as they had only been walking in a straight direction- but seeing as somehow Hana disappeared, it might have been possible to lose someone after all. "Basil, Leech Seed with Sleep Powder!"
Nodding, her starter Pokémon prepared its seeds and shot it randomly towards the Golbat's direction. It successfully dodged it, but some Zubat that appeared within seconds were hit by it and wrapped in sprouting vines, falling to the ground. The Golbat didn't seem to care at all, though, and proceeded near them.
"Shit, that did nothing to the Golbat..." Ignis muttered. She didn't know exactly how much blood these creatures could or would drink, but Golbat sure are huge as hell. She didn't want to risk becoming as thing as a stick... nor see Terra become a stick. "V-Vine Whip!"
Basil shot out some vines, aimed at Golbat. The bat dodged them again, and to Ignis surprised, it violently flapped its wings. Barely visible blades of air formed and were sent cutting through her Ivysaur's vines, causing it to flinch and jump back instinctively.
"A-Air Cutter!" Ignis assumed. She cursed herself for forgetting Golbat had Flying-type moves, something her starter was weak against. "God, this isn't turning out so well..." And Hana might be in danger too... Fearing for the worst, she turned to the Ivysaur. "Basil, carry Terra and run up ahead. I'll save some time," she said.
Basil blinked, then stared at her with its jaws dropped. She knew what his expression said right away: Are you for real?
She grinned, although her Pokémon could tell it was forced, even if a bit smug. "Nah, don't worry. I got a plan."
"...s-saur!" Nodding, the Grass-type grabbed Terra with its newly-grown vines and held her above him. He ran off towards what they all hoped was an exit.
Ignis watched her Pokémon and friend disappear into the shadows, before turning back to the Golbat, who, for unknown reasons, waited patiently. "Heh. It's just you and me now, asshole!"
Even though she couldn't exactly tell, the Golbat seemed to be grinning despite its wide open jaw. It charged straight towards the girl, who dodged sideways.
"Hah! You'll have to- urgh!" She crashed into the walls. "Crap, that hurts..."
Golbat flew towards her again.
She paled, but brought her arm up in defense. "Get lost!" she shouted.
Instead, the Golbat dug its fangs inside her arm. She yelped in pain, but tensed her arm. The Golbat's eyes seemed smug, and then it began to drain blood from her.
To its confusion, the Trainer grinned. Ignis stared Golbat straight into the eye. "Got you in one place now, you damned bat."
The Golbat rolled its eyes. It was obviously thinking something amongst the lines of: What can you do now?
She snickered. "At the cost of some blood, I wouldn't really care if I can capture something powerful."
It didn't seem so smug anymore, just confused. Then it saw Ignis use its other hand to reach for a Pokéball. The Golbat widened its eyes- it knew what that device was for.
Suddenly, she pinned the Golbat to the wall, her arm trapped with its fangs, it trapped by her arm and the wall. "Too bad for you, Golbat. It seems I have the winning advantage here," she whispered. The Golbat gulped, before she tapped its forehead with the Pokéball.
Soon, the Golbat disappeared, contained within her Pokéball. She sighed and weakly picked it up- it shook three times, before it stopped moving.
Ignis smiled. "Yes! Got a Golbat!" she exclaimed. "Extremely lucky, too... would've been impossible if I didn't trap it..." She pocketed the Pokéball, then stared at the two holes in her arms. Small amounts of blood trickled from her wounds. "Urgh. That's not good..."
Suddenly, more Zubat screeches were heard from behind. She turned around- shit! I forgot Golbat wasn't the only pest here!
She paled as a swarm of Zubat approached her. She might just leave this cave with a bit more holes than expected... if she could leave at all. Bracing herself, she prepared to make a run for it-
"Chuuuuu!"
Yellow sparks spread throughout the cave, electrocuting the purple bats everywhere. She flinched as they all dropped to the ground, twitching but unconscious. Slowly, a Pikachu emerged from the darkness. "A-a Pikachu...? Wait, are you...?"
"Pika pi!" the Pikachu hissed, then motioned for her to run.
She blinked. "...o-oh, right." She turned around and ran, Pikachu following her. "Thanks, Pikachu! What're you doing here though?"
The Pikachu glared at her. "Pika pi, pikachu!"
Ignis grimaced. "As I thought, of course I can't understand." The running lasted for a bit over ten seconds, in silence. She eventually reached what seemed like an open clearing of the cave- sunlight poured from the circular open space of the cave's roof. She covered her eyes- "G-gah. Bright..." Then she spotted Basil keeping guard over a resting Terra, while several pink fairy-like Pokémon were watching out of curiosity. She stared. "C-Clefairy!? ...a-and Clefable too...!? W-wait no, Terra!"
The girl ran over to Basil, who smiled at the safety of his Trainer.
"Thanks, Basil. You did great." She petted the Grass-type shortly, and then gently caressed Terra's head. "You'll be alright here, Terra. I'll... go find Hana for now. Just wait a bit more." She turned around to run back where she came from, to Pikachu's confusion.
"P-pika!" the Pikachu yelled, stopping her in her tracks.
She smiled at the rodent. "Take care of them for me, and we'll talk later. 'kay?"
Without waiting for a response she probably wouldn't understand anyways, she ran back inside the entrance she had just exited.
Then she collapsed.