Chapter 10: The Quaking Earth
It was a mad dash back to the village as Dustin and Poochyena struggled to keep pace with Cutiefly. When they arrived, a crowd had gathered in the town square. Dustin could hear the panicked shouts of various Pokemon from the gathered crowd, and Arcanine did little to ease the concerns.
"There has been a cave-in in the main mineshaft, yes. I can confirm that. Rest assured we have a digging crew heading towards the accident site now, but-"
"What about my husband?" A Rattata said, pushing to the front of the crowd. "He and the rest of his crew were in that shaft! How quickly will they be able to get to them?"
"Please understand, we're doing our best!" Arcanine stated. "Unfortunately we called our carts to that area back and had them suspended for cleaning and repair, so we don't have quick access to that area of the shaft-"
"So that's it then? We're supposed to wait here and just hope that someone reaches them before they run out of air?"
"Rattata I understand your concerns, but the only access tunnel to this shaft is mostly blocked off. Early reports say there's a gap that theoretically could be fit through, but there's no one available small enough that's willing to do that."
"I'll do it."
A voice from behind. The gathered crowd, Dustin's crew included, turned to see a Mienfoo walking towards the square with a look of determination.
"I'll go into the shaft and save them," she said with a steeled resolve.
"We can't trust you to make it down there!" Arcanine balked. "You're a stranger to this town! For all we know, you could've caused this cave-in to begin with!"
"How could she? She's been in the hospital!" Poochyena retorted. "We'll go with her. We'll find those miners and get them out while there's still time."
Arcanine seemed unconvinced, but Poochyena stared him down. Her eyes shone with determination.
"...Fine. Get in there and do whatever you can. You'll need the minecart to access the tunnel. There's a system in place to suspend it for repairs, you'll have to disable it first," Arcanine said, before muttering a good luck under his breath. Dustin, Poochyena, Cutiefly, and Shari all exchanged a quick nod before rushing to the entrance of the mines.
"First, we need to verify that we're completely prepared," Dustin said, stopping everyone. "Shari, I meant to ask this earlier but are you really sure that you're ok? You've been pretty bad about staying awake from what I heard."
There was more Dustin wanted to say, but he held his tongue for now. Whatever he saw back in that lab wasn't worth asking about now, not with lives on the line.
"I'm fine. Not totally sure what did it, but it was like a switch flipped in my head!" she exclaimed. Dustin tensed up with that metaphor, but Shari continued. "I feel wide awake. Still don't really remember anything, but I'm ready for action."
"And I can help keep everyone healthy," Cutiefly added. "If there's any healing that needs to be done, I can do it. I'll keep her awake."
"...Ok. Guess that answers my questions. Let's go."
With Dustin's lead, the four crossed the threshold into the mines. The entrance was a wide open space. A track ran through it down a hall to the back leading deeper into the mines. Tracing it to its origin, Dustin saw that it ran up the wall where the minecart was suspended with some kind of gear and pulley system. There was a staircase carved into the stone beside it allowing access, but he didn't completely understand exactly what he was looking at. Looking back to the rest of his party, he could see that they were equally lost.
Poochyena walked over to a switch in the ground that appeared connected to the pulley system and pawed at it to no avail. Cutiefly went to investigate the cart itself, and reported that there appeared to be some kind of metal device holding it in place. It became clear that they'd have to deactivate this pulley system somehow in order to free the cart, but what were they supposed to do? Tinkering with the switch didn't appear to do anything, and Cutiefly couldn't find anything about the cart itself aside from the metal device. Dustin stood there puzzled until Shari spoke up.
"There was a quake, right?"
"Yeah, there was," Cutiefly responded. "A big nasty one!"
"Well...what if it knocked something out of place? Obviously that switch is supposed to work somehow, but if it isn't working that must mean something isn't where it's supposed to be right?"
"That makes sense to me," Dustin said, "But what could be missing?"
Shari grinned and held up a gear. "I found this on the ground a second ago. I wasn't entirely sure what it was, but looking here…" she pointed to an empty slot in the side of the switch, "I think I found out where it goes."
Dustin was surprised, partially that Shari had figured it out and partially because she noticed that detail. He'd seen the empty slot himself, but he had assumed that's simply how this machine had been designed. That said, he hadn't entirely felt on his game since the cave earlier. He watched as Shari inserted the gear into the slot.
"...I think everyone should go ahead and get in the cart. I get the feeling that once I flip this switch it's going to come at us faster than we can get into it," Shari said.
"Good thinking," Dustin said. "Cutiefly? Can you flip the switch? We can grab you when the cart comes by."
"Roger!" Cutiefly responded, happily flitting to the switch as the others climbed the stairs and positioned themselves into the cart. With a thumbs up from Dustin, Cutiefly flipped the switch. The cart was released from suspension, dropping onto the track and racing down the wall. Shari nabbed Cutiefly from the air as the cart zoomed by, hugging her tight against her chest.
The cart soared down the track, propelling itself down a series of twists and turns as it travelled into the next shaft. Everyone held on for dear life and the track suddenly dropped down a hill, sending them almost into a freefall before ricocheting back up another hill. Eventually the cart lost its momentum and slowed to a stop in a large room. Lucky enough, it was where the group had intended to stop as they could see a prominent rockfall blocking the track further ahead as well as a crew of Drilbur fruitlessly attempting to excavate it.
Everyone exited the cart in various states of nauseous. Dustin was the first to lose his lunch while the others simply stumbled about for a few moments. Shari released Cutiefly from her hold, and Cutiefly promptly dropped to the ground.
"Whoever designed that system is a sicko. I don't see how any of that was productive," Cutiefly moaned.
"Everyone got their head back on?" Shari asked, leaning against a wall.
"Yeah," Poochyena panted, "I think so."
The group walked over to the collapsed tunnel, looking for the gap that Arcanine mentioned. Dustin found it with ease, and with a little aid from the Drilbur, the team pushed through into the darkness of the other side. They stumbled about blind, reaching for the walls and attempting to make sense of their surroundings.
"We didn't think to bring a torch, did we?" Cutiefly asked, bumping repeatedly against Shari.
"I have flint, but I don't have anything to burn," Dustin responded, striking his flint against the wall and momentarily lighting the room with a shower of sparks.
"Hey wait, isn't this shaft held up by a wooden structure?" Shari asked.
"Yes!" Cutiefly responded, "There's a series of wooden frames they use to hold the shafts up. If a section fell, the structure would too...OH!"
Shari smiled, not that anyone would've seen. She patted the wall and guided herself back towards the rockfall. Digging around, she managed to find a decently sized plank of splintered wood. She walked it back to Dustin, and together they managed to get it lit. Luckily it was dry. Getting it lit took a few attempts, but sure enough it started to burn and light up the path.
"That's better!" Poochyena said.
"Let's keep that quick thinking going," Dustin added as the group began progressing once more, "We'll need it moving forward. That's only the first rockfall, we need to be ready for a second."
The group continued along the shaft. It was a mess, fallen rocks and broken wooden framing all along the way alongside torn up minecart tracks. Every so often the ground would start to heave for a few moments before settling once again. The further the group descended into the mines, the more common the tremors seemed to become.
"Something really isn't right here," Cutiefly finally said after a series of several tremors back to back. "There's never been this much seismic activity around here. This just doesn't make sense."
Suddenly, Dustin threw his arms out and stopped the group in their tracks.
"Hold it! I think I have our answer," he said, pointing ahead to a freshly opened fissure in the ground. It split the path ahead clean in two, having torn through the minecart tracks. Peering down, Dustin could see a river of bubbling magma flowing below the earth.
"A...volcano? This place is a volcano!" Poochyena exclaimed in awe.
"Wait, if this place is a volcano, that means…"
"It's going to erupt," Shari said, finishing Cutiefly's sentence. "The tremors...they're not just random occurrences. They're signs that this place is getting ready to blow."
"But wait, if it blows that means the whole village is in danger!" Poochyena yelped.
"Focus on the mission!" Dustin snapped. "We can't worry about that yet. There's still people trapped down here, and they're running out of air as we speak. If we waste time worrying about this new development we waste time we could be using to save them. We need a way to get across this chasm."
"Are any of the fallen wooden structures long enough to reach across?" Shari asked, pointing to a pile of rubble nearby."
"Possibly," Dustin said, attempting to mentally measure the gap to no avail. Suddenly, he had an idea. He turned to Cutiefly. "Hey, I have a length of rope. Can you carry it across? We can use it to mark the distance and compare it against the wood we have here."
"S-sure!" she responded, taking a length of rope in hand. With great care, she flitted across the gap and rested the rope against the ground. She folded it off and carried it back, Dustin doing the same with his end. Together they compared the distance against the cracked bits of wood they could find in the rubble pile. Eventually they found a plank that would make the gap, however it was fairly thin. It wouldn't be easy to cross.
"Cutiefly, I need you to help stabilize us as we cross. You're the only one who can fly, we're counting on you here," Dustin said, looking to Cutiefly. Her eyes were wide, a mixture of anxiety and excitement. She gave an eager nod, and helped Dustin balance his way across the plank. Poochyena followed, almost slipping halfway across but managing to save herself. Shari, however, was hesitant. She would make it to the edge of her side of the fissure before stumbling back, not even attempting to get on the plank.
"Come on Shari!" Poochyena cheered. "You can do it, I believe in you! Don't be scared!"
Shari attempted once more to muster her courage, but every time she reached the edge to step on the plank all she could feel was the world spinning around her. Her head went light, and she could feel her ears ringing. She began to panic, breathing heavily until she felt a tiny hand in her own.
"I'm here!" Cutiefly said. "I'm not very strong, but I promise I won't let you get hurt. We'll do this together."
Shari's breathing slowed, and she finally let out a deep exhale. Nodding to Cutiefly, she took her first step onto the plank. She could feel her stomach drop, but Cutiefly flew right in front of her.
"Just look forward. Don't look down, just look at me, ok?"
"Ok. Just look...at you."
One step. Two steps. Cutiefly floated right in front of Shari and guided each of her steps across. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they made it across. Shari collapsed to the ground, exhausted, as the rest of the group cheered for her.
"You did it, Shari! You really did it!" Cutiefly cheered, hugging Shari's arm.
"I did...yeah. I did," Shari said, giving a gentle smile. "Thank you, Cutiefly. I really couldn't have done it without you.
Cutiefly beamed with pride as Dustin scouted the path ahead. After a moment he motioned for the party to continue along down the shaft, eventually reaching an elevator leading even deeper into the mountain. The group piled in, and descended into the depths of the earth. Everyone began to sweat, the temperature increasing the further they went. Finally the elevator stopped, opening into a shaft that had been clearly damaged by the tremors. Magma had cracked through the ground and began pouring onto the mine floor. There was still a path through, but it was extremely tight. At the other end was another massive rockfall, and the group could hear muffled shouts from the other side. Taking care to avoid accidentally stepping in the magma, and completely coated in sweat, they ran to the rockfall and shouted to the other side.
"Hey! We're the rescue party!" Poochyena barked through the wall. "Are you all ok? We're going to help you get through this!"
"Oh thank goodness! Someone here to help!" a voice cried from the other side.
"What's your situation?" Dustin asked.
"The ground suddenly started shaking and cracking. We have magma pouring through the ground, we're running out of spots to stand. Blaziken has been trying to hold it back with rocks, but he's gone completely unconscious. Something hit him on the head, he's hurt bad."
"Hold tight, we'll get you out of there somehow. Poochyena, ready the Escape Orb you got from Lucario," Dustin said, readying his club. "Shari, how good are you at breaking rocks?"
"Decent I think? I don't really know."
"Well we can work with that," Dustin said, looking over the rockslide. He pointed to three boulders with clear cracks on their surface. "There, those are the weakest ones. If we can break them, the rest should fall away. Cutiefly, stand by to treat injuries."
"Ready to go!" she replied.
Dustin and Shari leapt into action, smacking boulders with clubs and fists until they were reduced to gravel. As the third boulder crumbled away, the wall of rocks gave way and clattered about to the ground. The miners on the other side were finally revealed, a small group of various Pokemon headed by a Blaziken who was completely passed out.
"Poochyena, now!" Dustin shouted. Poochyena responded promptly, throwing an Escape Orb to the ground and wrapping everyone present in a bright light.
When the light faded, they were at the entrance of the mines once again. The gathered crowd was silent for a few moments before erupting in a roarous applause, cheering and crying. Various Pokemon ran forward to embrace their loved ones, crying with joy. Dustin, Poochyena, Shari, and Cutiefly all breathed a sigh of relief.
"You really did it," Arcanine finally said, lumbering over to the group. "I didn't think you'd actually do it."
"We really have Shari to thank for this," Dustin said, looking to the Mienfoo. "It was her quick thinking that actually helped us make it to the bottom."
"Shari, I-" Arcanine began to respond before being interrupted by a massive tremor alongside the sound of something exploding higher up in the sky. The town was stunned into silence and turned their eyes to the mountain, which had become enveloped in smoke.
"What...what is that?" Arcanine said, fear overtaking his voice.
"That's our next problem," Shari responded. "That's a volcano. The bottom of the mines are already overtaken by magma."
"We don't know how long it'll take, but that thing is going to erupt soon," Dustin added.
Arcanine stared at the sky, eyes wide. He turned his fearful gaze to the party.
"What can we do?"
"I don't know," Dustin responded in a quiet voice. "I...I think Miner's Village is done for."