A deathly silence hung within the ancient tunnel below, one that was only broken as a dull thud sounded out from inside. Our rope went taut, and as the Hitmonchan in the group gave our end a tug to test the knot, we all stared down at the rope leading into the dark hole. As silence hung over the group, I took a moment to look around.

It was hard to believe it'd only been a week since I was last here, but alas, here I was. Where there'd just been rubble and sand when that Flygon had airlifted Sinni and I out, there was an excavated wreck of a ruin, no signs of a scuffle anywhere to be seen. Now as we stood in the eerily calm aftermath of my little misadventure, I hugged the rope and prepared to drop, having enough knowledge of what was down there to confidently go in first.

I shimmied down the rope as Rye quickly crawled in after me, climbing along the ceiling and down the curved wall with his weird Treecko fingers to join me at the tunnel's floor. The two of us took a long look at the round brick tunnel as the others slid down, whispering to each other in awe. The Flying-types on the surface, Pike among them, looked down at us before hopping away, clearly content to stay out of the underground as Arden knelt down to examine the floor.

"Look, these are rails. This was a subway, a subway tunnel," Arden whispered to May as she lifted herself and Mavy down with vines. As he pulled his thick, leather-bound Book of Horrors out of his bag to scribble notes down inside, Delcatty eased her way down the rope, taking a couple looks back and forth before turning to address the expeditionary squad now cramped into the tunnel.

"Teams Ruby and Frontier, you head that way with Hitmonchan. I'll accompany Teams Apex, Joules, and Reach. Return here and call up to the 'mons on the surface if you finish before us," she said.

As our group gave a quiet murmur of agreement and dispersed, we walked away from the comforting sunset light and into the murky darkness ahead. As the darkness became thicker around us, Rye shivered at the lack of sunshine, then pulled an odd-looking metal thing and an orb from our bag. Before he could hold it out, he suddenly perked up and handed to me.

"Here, y-you can light it! Uh, just hold it up and say 'activate.' T-try it!" he said. I looked at him, then at the orb in my paws. Chewing my tongue, I gave it a shot.

"Sh-shak-ta-feh," I tried. Nothing happened, so I kept trying. "Shak-teh-fit. Shagh-da-fah. Shack-teh-fay."

"Come on, kid, this is just sad to watch. Just light it for him, 'mon," Arden quietly told Rye.

"Shak-teh-faah!" I yelled one last time. The orb continued to remain dormant in my paws, so Rye just quietly took it from me, looking quite guilty as someone snickered behind us.

"S-sorry," he whispered before holding the orb up. "Activate!"

The Luminous Orb lit up in the Treecko's hands, and as he turned to shine it in towards the others, he placed it in the metal frame I'd seen.

"Uh, so it won't blow up," he explained to me as Delcatty started leading us onward, holding what now looked very much like a lantern. Our footsteps echoed through the vast tunnel as we walked, looking around for any change in the scenery. After a few minutes, though, something painted on the brick wall caught my eye.

"Hey! Sha!" I called, pointing at the faded text. Arden took the lantern from Rye and peered up at it, leafing open his book as we all gathered around.

"Gazette Square station and Gear Terminal, that way. I think we're on the right track," he said before long. "Good call, Oshawott."

As we all murmured in excitement, he chuckled to himself. "Right track, heh."

"Wait, did... d-did you just read that?" Rye asked. Arden shrugged.

"Got translation in the book of horrors here," he reasoned. "Besides, you spend long enough looking over human shit, you start to get a feel for it."

"Over wut now?" Mavy butted in.

"Okay, shit was a poor choice of words. You know, stuff humans made, all that," he said.

"What's a hoo-mon?" Mavy asked. Every head in our party turned to look at the Zigzagoon, who stumbled back and quickly tried to justify himself. "O-okay, sorry I ain't as edu-ma-cated as y'all, but small town, y'know?"

Arden stared for a minute before exchanging a look with May.

"Right, so humans. They... uh, see, at some point they all decided they didn't like shitting in the grass and getting eaten alive, so they took a rock and hurled it at the nearest Pokémon. From there, they basically just took over the world. Those ruins up there, this tunnel here, basically the whole town to the west, that was them," he explained.

"They... why aren't they around, then?" Mavy asked.

"Fuck if I know. Probably pissed off one too many Legends," he said.

"Why would they do that?" Mavy inquired. Arden hesitated for a bit before he scoffed and continued.

"All they wanted to do in the end was stick it to each other. I mean, yeah, they were pretty smart and all. Look around you. But it was driven by... how do I explain? Er, I can sum up their whole shtick by saying they went 'oh yeah? Well, I win infinity plus one' over and over till they flew too close to the sun and fucked everything up. I say fff..."

He stopped himself and took a quick glance over at me.

"Uh... they weren't all bad, you know, but... ugh, y-you get it," he finished.

Mavy gave him a confused look, but apparently deciding he wasn't about to get anywhere with this, he kept zigzagging along silently as I gave the Quilava a look of disdain. I didn't know too much about my formerly fellow featherless bipeds but... wow.

'I know you've got a lot going on right now, but you're not even gonna give us a chance? Okay. As representative of all humanity as far as I know, I dub thee an asshole.'

As an awkward silence hung in the stale air, Rye looked up at the Quilava.

"S-so, uh, humans flew to the sun, too?" he asked.

"What? No, that was just an expression," Arden said.

"A... I don't get it," Rye said. Arden looked around for some sort of way to get out of the explanation to come.

"It's some old human story, i-it's boring," he said hurriedly. Rye kept watching him expectantly for a bit before he sighed. "Okay, so a really long time ago, there was this human Daedalus and his kid Icarus..."

Rounded tunnel, brick walls, a slight curve every now and then, the occasional collapsed bit of ceiling. That was pretty much all I saw over the course of the next half hour or so as we kept walking through the tunnel. Even given the history of the place, it was boring, so it wasn't long before the professional attitude in the air diminished. At present, Mavy was clicking his tongue idly as he zigzagged, Rye was several rounds deep into a game of fire-water-grass with Arden, and I was trying to kick a pebble along with my little feet. Easier said than done, it seemed. Losing another pebble to my apparent inability to kick very well, I sighed and squinted into the distance, biting my lip as I noted it seemed to stretch on forever.

"Fire-water-grass... heh, grass!" Rye said in front of me. Arden rolled his eyes.

"Alright, fine. Best out of eleven, then," he said.

The two pumped their fists again before Arden swore under his breath again, apparently having lost again.

"Fuck, thirteen, then," he said.

I sighed as the two went at it again.

"G-got water, I... uh, wh-what is that?" Rye asked. Arden looked down at the odd sign he'd given and smirked to himself.

"A gun," he said.

"A... what?" Rye asked.

"Gun beats everything," Arden added. Rye stumbled back, his face going a bit pale in the Luminous Orb's light.

"Wh-what? You can't do that!" he cried. "Wh-what even is a gun?!"

"I expect my reward to be paid out in doubloons," Arden said boldly, ignoring a glare from May. Before Rye could object any further, a dull thunk sounded out as he kicked something in the way. Looking down at the offending object, the Treecko yelped and stumbled back at the sight, landing in my paws as Arden looked at the sight with wide eyes, his swindling forgotten.

"Sweet fuck," he whispered.

Rye had kicked what looked to be a bone, human by the looks of it. And it wasn't the only one; before us laid hundreds of bones from dozens of skeletons. Some simply laid there, some clawed at the concrete walls, and one laid next to what seemed to be the remains of a Pokémon. We could only stare in horror for a moment before someone stepped forward to break the grim silence.

"This... d-don't touch them. Just keep going," Delcatty said shakily.

Silence hanging over our party for the first time in a while, we all nodded and continued on. As even Mavy stayed quiet to grimly regard the bones, I just stared at the skulls' faces frozen in time as I passed, my face as still as theirs. Why did I care? I didn't know any of these people, how could I? Something about this was just horrifying to me, though. My fellow humans dead in such a manner... I couldn't shake the guttural feeling this gave me. And what if I did know someone here? The skeleton half-buried in the floor frozen with its jaw hanging open, that could have been my brother for all I knew. What if my family really had been among the dead here? Just... this was too much for me.

As we slowly progressed, more and more skeletons revealed themselves, and as we moved further I found myself shaking involuntarily, my breath picking up as the bodies' hollow eye sockets seemed to stare into me. I probably would've started crying there had a hand not rested on my shoulder to pull me back to reality.

"Beck? I-it's alright, I-I'm here," Rye whispered. Flinching violently at his touch, I looked at him like I'd just awoken from a nightmare, then with another look around at the skeletons- no, the people around me, I huddled up next to him as we continued.

"Wh-wha hah-peh?" I eventually mustered up the courage to ask. Since it seemed Arden was occupied with looking at the dead, May looked back at me.

"It looks like they hunkered down in here, could've been the Ruin or something after, but... s-something happened by the looks of it," she said.

"Sam-thin? Wha?" I asked. My question was answered not very long afterwards as a sudden dead end ahead became visible in the orb-light. As the light shone onto it, a feral Cubone wearing one of the human skulls strewn about hissed at us before scampering up the large mass of concrete, rock, and twisted steel. Getting closer to it, I noted the thing appeared to have collapsed from the ceiling, and after a quick look between the blockage and the skeletons everywhere, I shuddered in morbid understanding as Delcatty peered up into the ceiling hole.

"That Cubone there had to have gone somewhere, and I doubt we're getting past this anytime soon. Come on," she said.

Rye, Mavy, and I all exchanged looks before heading over to the pile of rock. Rye was quick to stick to the side and climb up, stopping at the lowest ledge to pull the two of us up. This continued for a few minutes until we pulled ourselves up to collapse onto the dirt. It seemed the lack of sunlight was starting to affect Rye, though he pushed himself up to face the others, who'd managed to crawl out before us. With all of us up, we turned to examine the dark space we'd found ourselves in. Arden pursed his lips before sending a plume of fire up from the vents on his head, partially illuminating the cavernous space.

Around the gaping hole we'd just climbed out of, a vast expanse of dirt stretched out in all directions, only stopping as seats interrupted it and sloped up to the ruined walls. The superstructure encircling us seemed to be shut tight, though I could somewhat see the darkness through their long-closed windows. An eerie silence hung in the air and debris littered the area, but through it all, I recognized what this place must have been. This... how even...?

A groan rang out from behind me.

"No, no! This... this is a damn stadium! How're we supposed to find jack in a stadium? Great, the Guildmaster's gonna hang our tail ends on his mantel now..." Electrivire said. Delcatty gritted her teeth a bit, hanging her head.

"But it said it led to some sort of station... of course, it was blocked. We can't have been too far off, though," she muttered to herself before looking over at us. "Get your things ready, we'll be splitting off into individual teams once we can get into this place's guts."

As Team Joules mumbled unenthusiastically and started pulling equipment out, May and Arden took a long look around at their dimly lit surroundings.

"Damn... you think Pike would've come if he knew it would be this spacious?" May asked. Arden blinked as if coming out of a daze.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, probably," he said. The two took another glance around before setting their bag down to dig through, though they stopped as the three of us approached.

"D-do you know where we are, sir?" Rye asked. Arden paused for a few seconds before looking around again.

"Can't be sure, but judging by the location? Somewhere in Nimbasa City, I'm sure," he said. "Clearly it was pretty well-built, look at that roof cover. Must be ten feet of sand on top of the thing and it hasn't given in fuck knows how long."

"Hagh... h-how?" I asked.

"They probably battled Pokémon in here. Humans had to build things real sturdy to account for them," May shrugged. "So, you three doing alright so far?"

"Yeah, I... ugh, j-just need a bit," Rye said, taking a seat on the dirt. It looked like the effort of getting us all up here had drained him, and shining the lantern at the yellowing tips of his tail, I got the feeling he wasn't going to get better anytime soon. May seemed to take notice of this, so he pawed some sort of necklace off from around her neck, gesturing Rye to pick it up. Looking down at the pendant, an odd-looking rock, the Treecko hesitantly picked it up only to abruptly yelp and drop it. After shuddering a bit, he looked over himself, seemingly feeling better.

"Wh... what was that?" he asked.

"Sun Stone. Thing's packed with enough solar energy to evolve some Pokémon, it's good to have down here. Just try to let us know if you need another hit, alright?" May asked.

"Er, yes, ma'am. Thank you," Rye said. The Leafeon smiled and started for the end of the stadium's barren field, though stopped abruptly to look back. "You coming, Arden?"

The Quilava just stood there, repeatedly shifting his gaze between me and the hole behind us for a bit before straightening up.

"Just gimme a minute, alright?" he asked. May hesitated briefly before nodding, leaving the three of us alone with Arden. I instinctively backed away from him as he hung his head, looking somewhat reserved for once despite the flames erupting from his head and back. An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment before Mavy cleared his throat.

"So... uh, heard around that you were... well, that Cyndaquil. Y'know, from the war," he said. Arden snorted to himself.

"Yeah, that'd be me, I guess," he said. Mavy hesitated for a bit.

"...Pa told me stories 'bout y'all. I... er..."

"Stories, huh? Did he tell you about when the Resistance decided not to tell anyone that Tyranitar had dug up Kyurem?" Arden asked.

"Uh, no," Mavy said.

"Yep, figured. I'll catch you up later, we got things to do," he said, waving us along as May and Team Joules started on their way. As he walked alongside us on all fours, he looked over at me.

"So, kid. Uh... I'm sorry you had to see that back there. It's never pleasant finding a gravesite," he said solemnly. A chill ran down my spine at the reminder, and I gritted my teeth as we kept walking. Before long, Arden inched towards me.

"So, uh, Oshawott. Beck. Em... sure you've noticed I've been a bit worked up over the last moon. Well, see, the thing is... I..."

He paused, walking along silently for a bit before clearing his throat.

"I-I haven't been trying hard enough. Uh, just talk to me if you want any sort of help. I mean, you've gotten caught up in all this, so maybe I could try to help? I know, I'm Fire and you're Water, but I've got experience in this sort of field," he said. I raised an eyebrow, but gave a little smile nonetheless.

"Yessir, thanks," I said. I was glad to see the Quilava at least trying to open up after what I'd heard back at the river, but something still miffed me. Maybe it was the comments about humans, maybe it was just his overall attitude, I wasn't sure. As Arden gave a weak smirk, we suddenly stopped in our tracks. A concrete wall with a gate embedded into it loomed before us, and with no apparent way to get past this without scaling the wall, we took a moment to look over our surroundings.

Welcome to Big Stadium, home of the Nimbasa Bolts, the faded text on it read. I felt a little shiver go down my spine as we gathered around the old gate. A simple padlock hung from it, though a quick vine-yank from May disintegrated the rusted device and left the doors opening before us. Their hinges creaked for the first time in what must've been centuries as we gazed into the blackness, waiting for someone to speak up.

"Split off into teams. Try your best to make a record for the surveyors and ping us on your badges if you need assistance or find anything noteworthy. Report back here once you're through, I'll be waiting," Delcatty instructed.

Our party murmured among itself as it prepared to split off, the individual teams psyching themselves up in their own respective ways. Mavy hopped in place and quite audibly instructed himself to fuck something up, Luxio popped her neck before lighting up her fur, Arden repeatedly punched himself in the temples... wait, what was that last one?

'Well, I mean, whatever you've gotta do.'

"Alright, s-so, uh, all you gotta know is you tap your badge three times to ping everyone else," Rye instructed us. "N-not really practical, like, you have to get them out of the bag before... uh..."

His hand met the dirty bandanna around his neck.

"...huh. Uh, j-just pin them to your... uhm, things, I guess," he said, bending down to retrieve our badges from the bag.

"Toldja they'd be useful," Mavy sneered. Rye just gave an annoyed twitch of his tail as he stuck the badges on, occasionally looking over at the other teams. Team Joules was the first to venture forth, Luxio's glow briefly lighting up the darkness beyond the door before they vanished. Team Apex was quick to follow, with the two taking a last look around before slinking in. As Delcatty watched us, Rye gripped his lantern tight, uttered what I could only assume was a prayer, and led us into the inky darkness.


The still, dry air hung around us as we continued to walk around the stadium's perimeter, our footsteps being the only sound echoing through the massive steel-and-concrete structure. Occasionally, we'd come across a mound of desert sand having poured in from outside, though they were of little interest to us as Rye muttered directions to himself.

"D-did we take a left, or...? No, no, we've been going straight the whole time, haven't we?" he pondered. Mavy rolled his eyes.

"You're doin' great, Rye," he muttered, peering into what looked to have been a concession stand. I just sighed as the two looked idly around. We'd been at this for fifteen minutes now, and nothing of note had come up. I'd come in wanting to find something, but all I had gotten from this was kinda depressed at the sorry state of what must've been a real sight to see back in the day. That combined with the skeletons back in the tunnel... yeah, I wasn't in the best of moods.

As we climbed over a fallen girder only to find the usual, being a couple more doors and some more sand, Mavy took a look at what the lantern illuminated.

"Did the hoo-mons make this, too?" he asked curiously as we leaned into one of the doors.

"Yeah," I groaned.

"What... kinda Pokémon were they? Like, ah'm seein metal a lot, were they Steel-types?" Mavy pondered. Rye and I exchanged a look.

"They, uh... weren't Pokémon," the Treecko eventually said. Mavy gave him a confused look.

"Scuse me? That don't make sense, what were they if they weren't Pokémon?" he asked.

"Uh... j-just humans, I guess. Like a Hitmonchan or Slaking but without a core," Rye tried.

"No core? How in distortion's that work?" Mavy demanded. Rye gave a frustrated sigh.

"Okay, I don't know how it worked, but... th-they were smart, I guess. Come on, th-the proof's right here!" he gestured around.

"Methinks yer just makin' this up. Like, really now, this is some real backasswards shit you're pushin' here," Mavy said.

"I-I know it sounds weird, but... did you say b-back... it's, uh, assbackwards," Rye said.

"Naw, I know what I said," Mavy said before looking back at me. "Can ya say backasswards, Beck?"

Rye grimaced. "M-Mavy, no-"

"Back-ash-wahds," I sighed. Mavy let out something between a laugh and a whoop as we moved along from the empty rooms, though it seemed Rye wasn't amused.

I just groaned and kept waddling as the two bickered on, though as the lantern swung in Rye's hand, something started nagging at me other than my depressive mood, something that felt like a full moon pulling at my core. Blinking confusedly, I looked up at an inconspicuous-looking wall, only... no, that wasn't a wall. What were those weird rectangles?

Looking around, it seemed we'd come across one of the larger doors to the stands, and just across from it was the aforementioned pair of rusted rectangles; doors, by the looks of it. They didn't have any handles, though, they looked more like... elevators? Whatever they were, a gut feeling itched at me to investigate.

"Ah don't reckon he'll care how I talk to him."

"He does!"

"How ya want me to talk to him, then?"

"I-I don't know, like you'd talk to your brother?"

"Ah, yeah, haven't told you 'bout that, eh? Yep, feral came right outta the Strait and snagged his egg. Lil' hard to talk with the 'mon, y'know?"

"Oh. I... I'm sorry."

"Eh, I hatched a week after. Don't really care."

"Well, that-"

"Hey," I butted in. The two stopped and looked as I headed over, tapping on the rusted metal door. Surely this had to lead somewhere? All we had to do was get this open. Unfortunately, it seemed it wasn't about to be that easy as I gave the door a hard tug.

"You think something's in here?" Rye asked me.

"Sign me the fuck up, sure sounds better than walkin' like this some more," Mavy said, stepping back and charging at the doors. With a dull ring, his Headbutt slammed into the rusted meral, though all it left was a sizable dent. He staggered in place a bit, but Pokémon were thankfully more resilient than that, so the Zigzagoon shook off what I was seriously concerned was a concussion there and scurried off, maybe to find something better to brute-force the door open with. With nothing better to do, Rye and I kept standing there, taking a look around at our surroundings.

"So... wh-what do you think of this place? You know, being a human?" Rye asked.

"Ugh," I responded. Rye gave a little nod.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't wanna," he said, taking a seat on a piece of rubble. Giving the rusted doors an experimental tap with my scalchop, I sighed and sat down to take it all in. Listening in, I could hear ferals scurrying along and another one of our teams shouting at each other in the distance, but nothing more. Looking over my shoulder, I gazed at... a mural? I couldn't tell, it had mostly fallen off the wall. I could make some out, though: text, a backdrop, the faces of this stadium's long-dead players, the Unovan flag proudly waving behind them...

"Rye?" I asked.

"Hm? Yeah?" Rye asked. I opened my mouth to ask him something, but I couldn't seem to scrounge up whatever it was; not just because I couldn't have asked given the language barrier, but because... what would I have asked him?

'Why does the place itself feel like it died? Do you feel just alone in here, too? Have you ever looked at an old picture and realized everyone in it is dead?'

I couldn't figure out how to describe this feeling, and the more I tried to rationalize it, the worse I felt. Rye wouldn't understand, no one could. Why was I only feeling this way now? I just-

"Ey!" Mavy's voice suddenly called from behind the doors. I flinched violently as Rye looked up in shock and confusion. "Found some kinda hole in the wall, y'all might could fit through."

Metallic scurrying started ringing from behind the wall, so Rye and I quickly pushed ourselves off the ground to chase after it. It wasn't long before the lantern's light shone on Mavy popping out of a vent in the wall, shaking a cloud of dust off himself as he grinned proudly.

"Just get on in there. Stay away from them sharp things on the sides there, they hurt like git out if they cutcha," he instructed before heading back in. Rye just stared at the small opening, his breath picking up.

"I-I can't, i-it's too small," he said.

"Come on, now, you can fit," Mavy said.

"I-I know, it's just... agh, I don't know, I-I can't," Rye groaned. Mavy stuck his head back out to complain, though his face suddenly fell before he could share his grievances.

"...this is 'bout Totodile, innit?" he asked. Rye hesitated for a while before shivering and nodding. Both of us just stared, unsure of what to do until I stepped forward.

"Maghee, camahn. Rye, shtay," I said. Mavy blinked, halting for a second to figure out whatever I'd said before giving an "ah, aight" and looping back into the vent. Biting my lip, I looked over at the anxious Rye, putting a comforting paw on his side and taking the lantern from him. After positioning it to shine into the vent, I sighed and dropped to the floor to crawl in.

Immediately regretting keeping my scalchop on my belly as it uncomfortably scraped against the metal of the vent, I crawled after Mavy through the tight space. With a sharp ninety-degree turn, my light was cut off, leaving me blind as I soon shimmied out into a larger room. I rolled onto my back to breathe in the stale air, though stopped as Mavy exclaimed.

"Whoa, careful. That's a long fall, wanna hold off on 'wott puree," he said worriedly. I gulped at this observation and started feeling around, only getting confusion from Mavy. "What, you blind now? Can't ya see?"

"Nah," I replied bluntly. "Is dahk."

A bit of awkward silence hung in the pitch blackness.

"Oh," Mavy said. "Guess you can't see in the dark? Or is that a Ziggy-only deal... aight, fine, hold up an' lemme try something. I swear if ya laugh..."

A moment passed before a dim, pink light suddenly cut through the darkness. Turning my head, I found the source: Mavy making the most exaggerated Lillipup-eyes I could've imagined, said eyes glowing pink to top it off. I stared for a moment before I just busted out laughing at the ridiculous sight, much to the Zigzagoon's annoyance.

"Oh, shut it. You try a Baby-Doll Eyes and not look stupid," he muttered.

Regardless of what Mavy thought, I needed that little lift of spirits. Managing to compose myself, I caught my breath and took a look around. It seemed we'd found ourselves in the elevator's shaft, sitting on some sort of maintenance platform overlooking a twenty-foot drop, at the bottom of which laid what little remained of the cab.

"What in distortion is this?" Mavy whispered, peering down the shaft as he tried expressing his confusion through his Lillipup-eyes.

"Nah, Maghee! Wehr dehr?" I urged.

"Wut? Where there?" Mavy asked.

"Dahr!" I tried again.

"Ah, door, right," he said, turning his ridiculous gaze towards the set of doors. Cautiously making my way over, I shimmied onto the little ledge underneath them and gave them a knock, to which the sound of footfalls quickly responded.

"Beck?" Rye's voice asked.

"Hey. Uh... shaagh," I said, tapping on the door again.

"Alright, uh... g-got any ideas?" Rye asked.

"Ahrb?" I suggested. There was a Luminous Orb in the lantern, and the things could explode, right?

"Arb? Wh... o-orb, you mean the lantern?" Rye asked. I knocked on the door again and made a boom sound to get my idea across, though I was quickly met with vehement rejection.

"No. Nononono, th-that's a bad idea. We need a light, and, uh, if we blow it up we're gonna get buried," Rye said. I nodded to myself, tapping against the rusted metal as I tried to think of another plan.

'Maybe I could try and saw through with my scalchop? ...no, what do you think this is, Bugs Bunnelby? You can't just saw through steel. Uh, I could have Mavy headbutt it a couple more times? No, who knows how much that'd do to him... I could try and Water Gun it? Ugh, it's not powerful enough, you couldn't... or... could you?'

My ears stuck up as I remembered my lessons with Bert, specifically his introducing me to altering my Water Gun. He'd left a dent in stone with one... it was worth a shot.

I took a breath and let energy flow up into a point in my throat, then let loose, trying my best to not launch myself back and down the shaft behind me. As Mavy watched, I inched away from the initial point, seeing I'd left a hole. Giving a mental thanks to whatever dictated the metal's rusting, I kept cutting, soon making a rough square I hoped Rye would fit through. After a few minutes, I exhaustedly made my way back to the platform, plopping down as I panted.

"...R-Rye, pahnd," I managed out.

"P-Pound..." he parroted. A minute's hesitation passed before a loud clang rang out and the cut section disintegrated, raining down into the shaft as light poured in. Before long, Rye squirmed his way through the opening with bag and lantern in hand, first catching sight of us then the long drop below him.

"Ah! Okay, okay, uh..." he muttered. Putting his hands on the wall, he made his way out of my rough opening and crawled along the wall towards us, carefully setting himself down before checking up on us. "Y-you two alright?"

"Wahter," I croaked. As Rye nodded and quickly dug for our canteen, Mavy took another look down the shaft.

"Y'all got the rope, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I-I'll get to it once Beck's done here," Rye said, gesturing to me as I chugged down our water greedily. As I set the now-empty canteen down and let out a relieved gasp to catch my breath, Mavy gave a grimace.

"Water-types," he muttered.

A few minutes went by before Rye unceremoniously threw a length of rope down to the bottom, tugging at the knot he'd tide to hold it before gesturing us on. Mavy and I hugged the rope and let ourselves slide down as the Treecko climbed down the wall after us, and as I adjusted our bag at the bottom, I got a good look around. Apart from the piles of sand framing the scenery, I immediately noticed a few things: first, we looked to be in a subterranean level judging by the pillars I was seeing. They said the stadium was buried in sand, though, so technically... yeah, anyways.

Second, I couldn't help but note the numerous piles of rusted metal strewn about in an orderly grid, some of which had managed to hold together an eerily familiar shape. I couldn't be sure, but I was decently sure I was looking at an array of... cars?

Indeed, as Rye and Mavy warily looked over what I guessed was the stadium's car park, I could pick out a good few mounds of metal that my mind insisted were the remains of ancient automobiles. I just stared blankly at the sight.

'...talk about random. Why're we even down here in the first place?'

I frankly had no clue why my gut had led me here, though I could still feel something tugging at my core and seemingly trying to lead me further in. I couldn't shake the feeling that something or someone was trying to show me the way here, so resigning myself to the waste of time we were surely about to embark on, I waved for Rye and Mavy to follow me. We all looked around at the strange sight as Rye shined the light around at the rusted husks.

"Wut're these?" Mavy asked.

"I-I don't know. Whatever they are, they're old," Rye shrugged. Mavy snorted.

"No shit, Detective Pikachu. Gotta say, ah'm impressed the things held together. Fuck knows how old they are," he said.

"Don't know. At least a thousand years, I think," Rye said. Mavy hummed to himself as he got a good look at the remains of a minivan.

"Well, dayum! Pa always said you could preserve something like a body real well out here in the desert, but... whew! Wonder how much longer they'll hold?" he pondered, giving the van an experimental smack with his tail. A horrid chorus of creaks and groans sounded out as the car promptly collapsed in on itself, leaving a cloud of dust, metal shavings, and a spooked Mavy staring at the artifact he'd just destroyed. "...right, so new plan, don't touch the things."

"Yeah, gaht it," I muttered. Rye gave a frustrated sigh before straightening up, gesturing the lantern in his hand towards the massive room's interior.

"Uh, raccoons like Sentrets and Zigzagoons can see in the dark, right? C-could you split off and look for things? It'd make things a lot quicker," he requested. Mavy furrowed his brow before nodding and zigzagging off into the dark, leaving Rye and I to start checking the ancient cars for anything of note.

I couldn't help but notice a routine forming over the next little while: we peeked into a car, found that most of its contents had either disintegrated or become useless crap over the centuries, and moved on, occasionally getting startled by Mavy's skittering in the distance. Sedans, sports cars, vans, and even what looked like a humvee were scoured, only producing more of the same. After a while, though, something changed.

'Oh. Another plastic bottle down here. Joy. How does plastic even last that long? Uh, anyways, lookit. Another van... huh, the tugging's stronger. Maybe...?'

"H-hey, there's writing on this one. Uh, can you make it out, Beck?" Rye asked, pointing to the side of the rather well-preserved van. I nodded, peering up at it.

Juniper Enterprises, it read. I gave a curious hum as we climbed in, shining the lantern around to investigate this discovery. It seemed about the same as any of the other vans we'd pilfered through in the past little while, save for a couple anomalies on the side.

"Hey... a-are these, like, compartments?" Rye asked. As he got up close, his eyes widened as he found one of them still closed tight. "Hm, maybe-"

"Wait, wait," I said, pushing past Rye to put a paw on one of the little doors. With that, the tugging in my gut ceased, and my ears sticking up in response seemed to get it across to Rye that we'd found something.

"Y-you think something's in there? Let's open it!" he said before excitedly pulling at the little door, though the thing didn't budge. He bit his lip, muttering a bit before suddenly perking up.

"Here, let me just-" he said, fumbling around his neck at his bandanna. As his fingers met his badge, he gave it three quick taps and whispered something into it, causing it to let out a quick hum. "Okay, uh, now we just wait."

Despite our excitement at the apparent discovery, we seemed to be in agreement as to how to pass the time: slumping against the sides of the van, quietly waiting before the scraping of claws suddenly met our ears.

"Hey, what was that all 'bout? Ah was just pokin' 'round and suddenly I just got this... iunno, headache message thing and got pointed here. D'y'all find something?" Mavy asked as he came in.

"Yeah, I think it's something good," Rye smiled, glancing over at me. Mavy gave a proud grin as he curled up next to Rye.

"Well, ah'm takin' a third of the proceeds, then. I was a participant on the team, don't gimme that 'you weren't there' spiel," he said. "And, y'know, the hole in the wall that got us here. Now whaddaya saaaay?"

We both sighed.

"Th-thanks, Mavy," Rye mumbled.

"Yeah, tanks," I said.


May winced as a sudden mild headache shot through her skull, followed by a few easily digestible bits of info. A ping had just gone out from one of the teams in the stadium with them. The Leafeon blinked as she mulled over the brief message.

Team Reach here. Something found, locked. Down metal doors and inside big automatron. Need help retrieving.

May gave a quick relieved sigh, giving a smile to herself as she hopped up from her fruitless studying. Bounding out from the old stands she'd been exploring, she went out into the stadium's ancient seats to retrieve her partner. As expected, Arden had not moved since he'd elected to take a breather and survey the area, and his vacant gaze remained cast at the long-dead field as May trotted down the steps to meet him. Looking down at the charcoal sketch of the stadium he'd drawn in his notebook, she gave the Quilava a quick nudge.

"Ping went out. Rye's team found-" she began.

"I heard it," Arden said. May waited for him to budge for a moment before pursing her lips.

"Need more time to take it in?" she asked.

"Nah, think I'm done," Arden said, pushing himself up to lead the way. "So lockpicking. Shouldn't be too big of an issue for you, huh? Just... the kid said the thing was inside a what now?"

"An automatron, he said," May relayed. Arden smirked to himself.

"Ah, yes. The dreaded automatron. I've told him it's 'automobile' fuck knows how many times," he mused as he and May headed down the stairs back into the stadium's insides.

"I mean, you could've just said car," the Leafeon shrugged.

"Y-yeah, but it just sounds weird. You know, car. Caaaar. I don't know, it just sounds unprofessional," Arden reasoned.

"Carriage, maybe," May suggested.

"Oh, feeling posh today, are we? What are ya, a bloody Darkie?" Arden said, adopting an exaggerated accent.

"You know if anyone actually from the Dark Isles heard that, they would've given you a black eye by now."

"Well, oi'd wallop their arses first an' chase 'em oll the way back tah Spitfireshire, 'ave a pint whole oi'm at it!"

"Oh, Xerneas, that doesn't even sound Darkie anymore. Sounds like you're from a different planet entirely."

"Bollocks."

"Alright, that's enough."

The two continued their banter for a little while before the badge's ping finally led them to the aforementioned set of metal doors, where Team Joules was already waiting for the pair. Arden briefly took note of the hole already cut in the doors before concluding that it was a bit too Treecko-sized for his liking.

"Alright, Electabuzz, help me pry this thing open. On my mark," he commanded. As Luxio and May watched, their partners grabbed a hold of the door and began to pull hard, slowly parting the rusted doors to reveal the elevator shaft and the rope Team Reach had left dangling inside. Arden bent down and momentarily peered down at the long foreboding drop before gesturing grandiosely to the others.

"Anyone volunteer to go into the spooky butthole of death first?" he asked.


As the quiet muttering of the others backed us, the ancient lock clicked up a storm, clearly not content to cooperate with May as she kept trying to pick it with a vine. Rye and I exchanged a glance as she quietly muttered undesirables to herself, though a sudden clunk rang out, spelling out her success. Rye, Mavy, and I quickly ran over to throw open the mystery door as possibilities raced through my head. Maybe the missing Lustrous Orb was in here? Maybe some recording telling me why I was here? Maybe even some sort of feral translator? My eyes sparkling, I bunched in between my partners' heads to behold the compartment's contents: a sack full of...

Paper?

Oh, for-

"Wait, l-look. There's lines on this... i-it's a picture of some kind!" Rye observed, pushing Mavy and I aside so May and Arden could get a look. The two studied what they could for a moment before nodding to themselves.

"We're taking this back to Delcatty. This could be something after all," Arden decided, opening his pack to delicately slide the ancient bag in. Gently closing it, he waved us on and started for the rope, though Luxio and Electabuzz just stood there to watch us go.

"Don't know about you, but we're staying to explore. Are you seeing all this? Too much to not look into," Luxio yelled after us.

"Alright, go ahead and do whatever," Arden called back, arriving at our rope. Gripping it between his paws, he began shimmying up, glaring at Rye as he started climbing up the wall. Seemingly determined not to get beat to the top by the Treecko, he picked up the pace, frantically climbing as Mavy, May, and I looked on.

"He always like this?" Mavy asked as Arden frustratedly swore, having lost the impromptu race.

"Zigzagoon, you have no idea," May said.


"...oh, Arceus. Tyson, come look at this," Delcatty said. The Hitmonchan hobbled over, yawning as morning light pilfered into their tent.

"What've you got?" he asked, looking down at the fragmented paper delicately spread out on the table before them.

"I just finished translating the find. It's a map for sure," Delcatty said. Tyson's eyes narrowed as he skimmed over the human Fletchling-scratch.

"...what's it showing, then?" he asked. Delcatty hesitated.

"You won't believe me," she said.

"Bite me," Tyson responded. Delcatty stood there, reading her notes one last time as if to confirm her own words before giving a disbelieving chuckle.

"I'm pretty sure we just found a map through the Caves of Being."


Author's Note: Ooo. Wonder if that's gonna be important.

Sorry for the wait, exams came up and I ended up realizing I didn't have very much substance for this chapter planned. Weird considering I've had this chapter planned from the beginning, but I'm a bit more concerned that this three-week gap is the longest I've gone without updating Quenched Torch.

Only three weeks.

Damn, I need a life.

Anyways, rate and review, so on and so forth, and I'll see you hopefully not in three weeks again.